How Simon Sinek can help you build a better webshop

Simon Sinek, the creator of the popular marketing strategy 'The golden circle', inspires million of marketeers worldwide. The golden circle is the foundation for a perfect webshop. By implementing this strategy you can improve your online sales. How? Start with why!

"I’m a huge fan of Simon Sinek. His TedTalk has been viewed millions of times on YouTube, his books are extremely successful (and easy to understand) and he inspired me to build a better Garden Connect" - Edwin Meijer, founder Garden Connect

 

Meet Simon Sinek

If you haven't heard of Simon Sinek yet it’s time to meet him so you can understand how he can help you build a better webshop. Have a look at his TedTalk below or scroll down and continue reading this blog.

I can highly recommend figuring out your own why - it’s more complicated than you might think!

 

The Golden Circle

As you might have seen in the TedTalk above, Simon explains how his concept, the golden circle, works and how it helps business to become truly successful. The golden circle is actually a black & white circle if you draw it. As you can see in the picture below, Garden Connect founder Edwin Meijer has drawn an example of a golden circle showing the what, how and why of Garden Connect.

According to Simon, businesses who are able to find and define their why are more successful compared to businesses who only understand what they do (selling plants!) or how they do that (as cheap as possible!). Apart from the management tips Simon shows you based on the golden circle, you can use his concept to build a better webshop. Surprising? Not at all! We’ll explain how you can use the golden circle to build a more successful webshop.

 

What

When a customer ends up on a product page, they need to be able to see what they can buy from you. That’s an essential yet boring part of your product page:

• Name of the product
• Photos
• Size
• Colour
• Number of seats
• Price
• Etc.

However, having that information on your webshop is far from the final step. It’s purely a prerequisite to becoming successful: it doesn’t make you successful by itself. Why is this?

It’s not unique. 

The technical information about your products can be found on any webshop including Amazon. You need to have it, it takes time to get done but it's still only a what. 

Our customer Cowell’s Garden Centre is showing exactly what you need to know before you order a plant on their webshop.

 

How

Once people understand your product it is time to take it to the next step. You need to show them how they can order and obtain the product. This is the first point where you can start to differentiate from other webshops:

• How long will the delivery take?
• How much are the shipping costs?
• How long do you have to return the product if you’re not satisfied?
• How does your customer service work?
• Etc.

These things are essential to understand for your future customers. If they don’t know how they can get the product delivered, can you expect them to place an order? 

'How' gives you an opportunity to make a difference. But it’s still a marginal difference. That’s where the Why comes in.

 

Why

Do you genuinely know why people should buy from your webshop? What makes you different compared to Amazon? You know there are many things making you different and better than Amazon. Being a local, family-owned shop which is part of the community is just one of them. But can the visitor find them on your product page and webshop? Do they understand why they should buy from you specifically?

Simon Sinek sees a 'why' for a business as a vision, a dream or something you believe in. A long term idea. But your customers are on your webshop right now and you should convince them to order right now. Why people should order from your webshop are unique selling points which are hard to copy:

• Award-Winning Weber department
• Growing plants since 1947
• Biggest garden furniture showroom of Nottingham
• 3-year plant guarantee
• Etc.

GCA members offer a plant guarantee: a good USP to take away doubts of your visitors.

In a webshop, you need to guide your customers to the next step and you should do this every step of the way. Most customers want to be convinced they are making the right decision. You need to take away their insecurities. They are looking for confirmation. Your how and why give them that confirmation.

 

What, how and why on one page

Once visitors end up on your webshop they should understand what you’re offering to them. It should be clear how the order process works and what they can expect after hitting the “buy” button. You need to make it obvious why they should buy from you. If you managed to answer all questions asked in the golden circle, you’ve built the perfect product page and got yourself a step closer to having a great webshop.

Simon didn’t invent his model to help you to build a better webshop. He created it to help you to build a better business but if you’ve been able to identify your “why”, it’s a lot easier to build a better webshop. After all, selling what everyone is selling in the same way everyone else is, is a lot harder than selling something no one else is in a way only you can do it!