When Don Corleone said, “Make me an offer I can’t refuse.”, we didn’t quite anticipate how memorable this line would become. Now every time you hear it, you think of The Godfather. Imagine you are eyeing a product online that you’ve really liked and the seller says these exact words to you. Well, not exact; but if he gives you the option to make him an offer for the price, wouldn’t you be smiling really wide at the screen? We bet you will! And guess what, there are websites that actually have this feature!
“Make-an-Offer” on WooCommerce
Thinking from a seller’s perspective, there’s nothing more profitable than an excited and happy buyer. The ‘make an offer’ feature on WooCommerce has the potential to convert an unsure buyer into a confident one. It gives the seller an opportunity to be flexible while still remaining competitive. And buyers love a flexible vendor who’s open to pricing discussions.
So how does something like this help the seller? Let’s take a look!
Benefits of ‘Make-an-Offer’ to Vendors
As an outsider, this WooCommerce feature wouldn’t look so promising for an e-Commerce website owner. But that’s not the case. There are, in fact, quite a few advantages to a vendor of putting the ball in the customer’s court.
- It is a great way of building customer trust and loyalty. Buyers want to be able to interact with a seller one-on-one. Add to that the chance of negotiating on the price of a product that they have loved, and it’s a sunny day! Customers will trust a seller who promises to consider their offer and actually talks to them. They always love buying from a seller who sells them something at their price. This makes them want to keep coming back.
- The seller can put his negotiating skills to good use by convincing customers to meet him in the middle and fix a win-win price for the product. And it helps him upsell in the process too. He can lead customers to products that would go great with what they want to buy. Or products that they will ‘absolutely need’ down the line; all the while asking them to make him an offer.
- This WooCommerce feature can help seller sell products that are sure to bring in more income. He can strategically place these products open to negotiation and sell more in the process. Products that are bestsellers, popular, or generally a hit with the customers can be popularized further by giving buyers the chance to offer a quote.
- It will also help sell those products that customers have had on their wishlist for a long time but have put off buying for some reason. Many people wait for product prices to go down, and keep them in the wishlist until such times. They can finally think about buying these items if given the chance to make an offer.
If you were wondering where this technique has been used before, you’d be surprised to know that even Amazon has taken advantage of it in the past! Around December 2014, Amazon gave its sellers the option to enable the ‘Make an offer’ feature, allowing buyers to quote prices that were lower than listed ones. Buyers could send a quotation and start negotiations over email, eventually agreeing to a price (or not). It was a big hit with users and managed to grab a lot of attention.
How Do We Do It?
You must be wondering this by now – how do you as a WooCommerce store owner add this feature to your website? And if you’re thinking contact forms, then put it out of your mind right away! You need a dedicated medium of communication for these negotiations. Contact forms are great for customer feedback, post-sales enquiries, reducing website spam, requests for service information, and controlling the influx of vague information by knowing exactly what customers want.
Now if you add ‘Make an Offer’ negotiation enquiries to it too, there’s going to be enough on your plate to make a salad! Instead, opt for a medium that’s exclusively created for customers to make you an offer. If you own a marketplace, you can even automate it such that the concerned seller gets the enquiry directly from the buyer.
Benefits of a Dedicated ‘Make an offer’ Communication Channel
For starters, it puts all the enquiries, offers, and quotations in one place. This helps you find any email immediately without having to sift through hundreds of unrelated ones. Then there is –
- The scope for upselling.
- Letting customers interact with you directly.
- Converting unsure buyers into potential customers.
- Giving buyers the power to negotiate for what they want.
And the best part is that very few websites use the ‘Make an Offer’ feature, which gives you the chance to monetize on it and keep your buyers happy at the same time. This is probably an excellent example of a win-win situation. So why not go for it?
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SL :
how do I integrate this “Make an Offer” to my WooCommerce store?