Overcoming the Five Barriers to Purchase

We all know that a website is often the first point of contact with a potential client.

However, too few companies use their website to do one of the most important things it exists to do—overcome barriers to purchase.

In the industrial and B2B sectors, where complex services and long sales cycles are the norm, these barriers can be particularly challenging.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t overcome them. In fact, a well-crafted website can do a lot of the heavy lifting before your sales team has even had their first conversation with a prospect.

Five standard objections

In his book, The Personal MBA, Josh Kaufman outlines five standard objections that appear in sales of all kinds.

Understanding these objections—and strategically addressing them on your website—can transform your digital presence from an information repository into a powerful aid to the sales team.

1. It costs too much. For many people, spending money feels like a loss. The human tendency towards loss aversion means humans are often looking for reasons not to do a deal.
2. It won’t work. People are naturally skeptical. If the claim about your product or service is too big, or if you haven’t done a good job illustrating how and why your product or service is solving a problem, people simply won’t believe your solution will work.
3. It won’t work for me. With this objection, the prospect believes your claim, but thinks their situation is unique. Therefore, the solution might work, just not for them.
4. I can wait. The prospect doesn’t believe they have a problem that needs to be solved right now, even if it’s clear they do. There’s no sense of urgency.
5. It’s too difficult. People are busy and generally overwhelmed. If the offer you’re making requires effort from the prospect, they may believe that their contribution will be too hard to manage.

While these objections are typically encountered in face-to-face sales interactions, they don’t disappear in the digital realm.

By strategically designing your website’s content strategy, you can proactively tackle these objections before they become roadblocks in the customer’s journey.

Address the barriers

Here’s how each of these five barriers can be effectively addressed on your website.

It costs too much.

Price and pricing theory are business topics that have been studied for nearly as long as businesses have been around, but they’re still woefully misunderstood by most business owners and sales practitioners. (For a good primer on the subject, see Ron Baker’s Implementing Value Pricing.)

While you can’t overcome every single price objection on your website, you can certainly use it to frame your offer and make it remarkably clear that the value of your offer (your product, service, etc.) far exceeds the asking price.

This can be done in various ways in various places on your website, and it should be an intentional effort.

It won’t work.

It won’t work for me.

These two objections are best addressed by using social proof, a concept introduced by Robert Cialdini, a writer and thought leader in social psychology.

According to Cialdini, “we view a behavior as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it.”

In an often-cited article on Tech Crunch, Aileen Lee, partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, writes about five types of social proof.

1. Expert: When a respected figure in your field vouches for your offerings or aligns with your brand
2. Celebrity: When a public figure or well-known personality promotes your products.
3. User: When your existing clientele recommends your offerings based on their firsthand experiences.
4. The wisdom of the crowd: This occurs when a substantial number of individuals are seen supporting your brand.
5. The wisdom of your friends: This happens when people observe their acquaintances approving of your product.

There’s also one other form of social proof you might come across and it’s one that we see a lot in the industrial and construction space.

6. Certification: This involves receiving a formal acknowledgment from a respected entity in your industry.

The more forms of social proof you can include on your website, the better your chances of overcoming this objection.

I can wait. It’s too difficult.

According to Kaufman, these two objections are best overcome through education-based selling, which is a sales approach that focuses on providing valuable information and knowledge to potential customers, rather than relying on aggressive sales tactics or promotions.

As you might imagine, the goal is to educate prospects about their problems and potential solutions, positioning your brand as a trusted expert and advisor.

This means your website should be the place where you regularly publish insightful thought leadership content that is unique, interesting, and actionable.

Once you occupy the “trusted expert advisor” role in your prospect’s mind, it’s only a matter of time before they enter the buying cycle and come to you for help.

A dynamic sales tool

By strategically addressing these five barriers to purchase on your website, you’re not just providing information—you’re actively guiding potential clients through their decision-making process.

The idea is to create a powerful website that does some of the hard work for you, setting the stage for increased conversions and long-term business growth.