Customer Objection Hunting: Everything you need to know to improve conversions!

But before we get started on any designs, there is a huge piece of research to be done – discovering customer objections, or what we like to call objection hunting. Hunting down those reasons why customers might not purchase on your website. Is it the price? Is it the lack of information available on your site? Whatever the reason, we discover customer objections and design to handle them straight away!

What is Objection Handling vs Objection Hunting?

Objection handling is a phrase commonly used in sales training material and techniques. According to Selling Signals:  

Objection handling is the act of tactfully responding to a lead’s concern by showing empathy and stating a sound rebuttal that overcomes their hesitation and continues moving the deal forward. Sales objections can occur at any point in the sales process, so it’s important to prepare for them. 

Whilst we define Objection Hunting as the design-led process of a similar technique: 

Objection Hunting is the act of seeking out possible customer objections to a product or service and using these objections to inform a strategic digital design that helps to overcome this customer hesitation and increase online conversion rates. 

In simple terms, it’s basically the same thing, but we’re doing the handling in the design work rather than the sales pitch. 

Why is Objection Hunting important? 

In Objection Handling (note the difference now), we know that typically leads or potential customers will have a number of reasons why they do not want to buy your product or service. It could be that the price is too high, it could be that the service doesn’t have all the features they had hoped for or even something as simple as, they would like to try before they buy. 

Objection Hunting is important because it enables us to strategically design a website around the main concerns a customer might have. Depending on the service or product you, our client, provide, we can design a site that takes your customers on a journey and answers their queries along the way using FAQs, customer testimonials, external credibility and more. 

How does Objection Hunting affect conversion? 

Let’s take a look at a great example around try before you buy. We worked with a client who offers luxury Hot Tubs, however, their website wasn’t converting to appointments with a sales representative. Through our research with both the sales team and customers, we were able to identify a key objection that customers of our Hot Tub client had – 

Given the high investment required to purchase a Hot Tub, I want to test them out at the showroom before I choose one. However, I don’t really feel comfortable being in swimwear around sales representatives I don’t know and it’s not clear how this ‘try before you buy’ process works. 

Key queries our client would receive include: 

• Where are your showrooms located? 
• Will I be able to get changed?
• Can I test the hot tubs in private? 
• I don’t want to try these out with a stranger, can I bring a friend? 
• What should I bring?
• Is there somewhere safe I can store my valuables? 

This information was key in our design process as we were able to include the answers to all these questions and more, helping customers feel comfortable and enabling them to book a Hot Tub test confidently. This helped to increase bookings for a ‘wet-test’, which was the main objective of this website design. 

How can I discover customer objections?

There are a number of ways to find out what typical objections your leads or potential customers have, here are a few of the tactics we use to discover customer objections: 

1. 1. Speak to the sales team – It’s likely they’ve heard it before, from price queries to questioning the value, the sales team (if available) will be a huge resource. 
   2. Review customer queries – If you have a chatbot in place on your site or a direct information email, check what people regularly ask you about.
   3. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes – If you were going to purchase that item/trip/service, what would YOU want to know? Chances are it’s very similar!
   4. Identify the problem you are solving – By doing this, you’re getting into the ‘why’ of your product/service. Why you are selling what you sell. 
   5. Do a deep dive on Google – Yes that’s right Google search is your friend. Using your thoughts from points three and four, start searching on both Google search, shopping and YouTube. Identify key phrases and use those to continue the search. Phrases like ‘fix my…; and ‘How can fix my…’ are great for finding “how-to” videos and product reviews. 

Collate all these phrases, terms and questions in a spreadsheet, however, try not to get too niche on product-specific information, keep it industry-wide. Whilst this is great for low-priced consumer products, it doesn’t always work the same way for products such as the Hot Tub, as this item has a higher price point and requires a longer sales process.  

Let’s take a look at an example…

Void Homme sells beard pencils (like eyebrow pencils but for the beard). However, their “why”, the problem they are solving is ‘lack of confidence due to patchy beard’. Void’s product gives bearded people a solution to this and ultimately boosts their confidence. 

In this journey to confidence, potential Void customers are likely to have some concerns around using what is essentially a make-up item to improve their appearance. By putting yourself in the customer’s shoes you can start to identify what they would be concerned about too.

In this example, key concerns we identified through a Google deep dive were:

• How can I fix my patchy beard? 
• Which product is the best to fix my patchy beard? 
• How long does this take to use? I don’t want to spend ages applying this stuff.
• Will it rub off in the rain or if I get sweaty? 
• I have a short beard, will it be really obvious I’m wearing it?
• I have a long beard, will it even make a difference?
• Do they have a colour that suits my hair/skin tone? 
• Do other people use this product? 
• What are the benefits of a permanent fix vs. a temporary fix? 
• Will it suit my beard style? 
• What is the product made from? 

For this client, once we had found as much information as possible, we refined our design plans to suit the features and USP of their product. We incorporated clear and explanatory sections on the product page, helping a customer to understand the answers to all these concerns. 

Should I look at my competition’s customer objections?

Absolutely. As you can see in the Void Homme example above we have designed a clear checklist showing the benefits of Void’s product versus the other alternatives on the market. Reviewing the competition is also a great way to find more objections that customers have, that you can address in your website design. 

When objection hunting with our clients, we work closely with them to identify key competitors and draw up clear comparison spreadsheets. This way we can review objections against all the unique selling points our client’s product offers. It also ensures we spot gaps that competitors haven’t addressed so that we can incorporate them into our design.

How does objection hunting link to design?

Imagine you are browsing online, looking for an adventure holiday destination – perhaps skiing or hiking. When you come across a website that offers this type of trip, subconsciously you will use the 5-second rule to observe the following: can this company help me? Do they do the thing I’m looking for? (or offer the product I need) and can I trust them? 

Let’s use a client example to bring this to life, Adventure Base:

In the first 5 seconds of landing on the Adventure Base homepage, you can easily see that the website design answers all of those questions. Firstly the company name has the word ‘adventure’ in it, so that’s a great start 😉. But in all seriousness, the header reads ‘Memorable Adventures. Human Experiences.’ The tagline and orange CTA button give a clear indication that this is the website you’ve been looking for. 

And can you trust them? Well given that there are a number of positive customer testimonials displaying just below the header, then it looks like the answer to that question is yes! 

During our project with Adventure Base, we worked very closely with the sales team to identify all the questions and queries leads had prior to booking a trip. We used this insight to design a website that filled a potential customer with excitement and a clear understanding of what was available through Adventure Base.

Read more: Award-winning adventures – an intrepid digital journey with Adventure Base

What are the key elements we can incorporate into web design to help manage objections?

Whilst every project is different, there are some key elements that are likely to pop up on every site that we design. Improving conversion is our main focus on all our client projects, so we design to meet that goal. 

• Who, What, Why – Ensure that this is clearly communicated in the first 5 seconds of landing on the website. 
• Credibility / Social Proof – This could be in the form of testimonials, press coverage, big stats or positive product reviews. 
• Show Services/Products – Explain how each option answers and solves a user’s concerns.
• Showcase the Team – Typically on b2b websites where the sales cycle is longer and the investment is usually higher, showcasing the team is an important section as it puts a face behind the product or service.
• Personalise it – Anything behind this is bespoke. We discover customer objections and design around them. 

Read more: How to improve sign ups for SaaS 

How does this differ between business-to-business and consumer companies?

Consumers typically have a more transactional approach to browsing for products online and this is reflected in their website design. Usually, the person that is browsing is the purchase decision-maker making that sales cycle less complicated and shorter. If they like your item and you’ve solved their concerns, then hey they’ll probably buy from you! 

For business, to business companies, their website design has to take into consideration the longer, more complex sales cycle. From awareness to consideration to decision, we ensure each of these sites addresses the full sales cycle. In business, purchasing decisions its likely that a number of decision-makers will be involved, each with a different set of objections.

During one project for education software, we created specific pages for the headteacher and teachers to showcase the benefits that each user would receive by using the software. We were able to discover and combat objections through these thoughtful pages tailored for each user.   

In Conclusion: Objection Hunting is crucial to improving conversions

Through extensive research, or in some cases, extensive Googling just like a potential customer would, we can identify all the key pieces of information they are looking for. Once you start seeing all those queries and questions come together the project becomes even more exciting. We work together with clients to design elements that suit the objection and present the information clearly to the customer. Our meticulous approach helps to drive engagement on the site, and thus the results we really want – conversions! 

If you’re looking for more conversions on your website then you’re in the right place. Fill in our Project Planner below to get started with a free audit of your current website.