How Your Business Can Win Online
|
|
There are lots of websites out there that do little to encourage their customers to stick around or buy their products from them. In this article i'm going to show you a typical example of where a small company has gone wrong with its website.
Company X is a small family run roofing company. They repair, install and insulate roofs. They spend a lot of time and money advertising in the press and exhibiting at consumer shows and events to attract new customers. They are visibly committed to their customers and their needs. They do it well and reap the rewards. They are succeeding offline.
A potential customer sees them at a show they are exhibiting at. She has a brief but informative conversation about her roof with a company representative and takes away some literature to read. She leaves with a highly positive impression of the company and its employees. When she reads the literature she notices that the company has a web site and visits it. Their site looks professional. She looks deeper into the site by clicking a few links.
It only takes a few clicks for her to realise that the website is very thin on content. There's little text and the text that is present is incredibly dull and uninformative. The site looks exactly like the brochure she took away. In fact, thats exactly what the web site is - the brochure online.
The site has a few basic features: you can contact the company, request a quote visit or get their phone number. There's little else of any interest for potential customers. So would she stay and buy from the company? Probably not. At this point she either has to contact the company by phone to get more information or go somewhere else. She's been abandoned by a company that has clearly made little provision for her visit. At best its a dull visit. She doesnt think very highly of the company now.
What went wrong? Why did the company, which made such a positive impression offline, make such a poor impression online?
Has the company put much effort into the site? No.
- Is the web site poorly thought out? Yes.
- Is there anything on the site to keep the customer there/interested? No.
- Did the web site meet the customers needs? No.
- Did the customer have an overall positive impression of the company? No.
- Did they lose the customers business? Very likely, yes.
What can the company do to turn their website around and present a positive impression?
- Spend some time researching their customers needs and re-focus their site around them.
- Visibly apply their offline customer dedication online.
Its critical that their customers perceive some value from visiting their site. Otherwise why would they stay around long enough to even read about their products let alone buy them?
What if they arrived at the web site again? This time the text on the site sounds more interesting and descriptive. The site doesnt look identical to the brochure anymore. There's some real case study examples of how previous customers have benefitted and saved money by using the companies products. How they transformed a cold roof space into a bright and warm usable room, or how they saved a fortune on their heating bill after some roof work was done by the company, etc.
There's also a new quote tool that lets you put in your dimensions and get an immediate quote for the work. There's also a button to get an expert to call you, a tool for seeing what any project work would look like when finished, a reminder tool which tells you when you are due for a roof inspection, ideas for improving your roof space, etc. The list doesnt necessarily stop here. They can add as many features, tools and resources as the customer wants. Starting with the customers most important ones first. On the new site the company also state their dedication to the customer - they make guarantees to respond quickly to any question or comment and help the customer in any way they can at all times.
The customers experience is very different now. She will be happy with her visit and service and have a positive experience of the company. She'll feel the company is very attentive to her needs. Ultimately she'll buy more from the company.
The companies end result is different now too. They'll have more happy and loyal customers and ultimately therefore more recommendations and sales.
Are you making the same mistakes on your website? What can you do to improve your customers website experience?
Useful tips:
- Respond to your users needs.
- Adopt a creative approach.
- Create some interest around your products.
- Make your customer dedication visible.
Good luck!
About The Author
Need to get your business online? contact me now to find out how you can do it for less mailto:peter@dynamiq.co.uk You can see more of my articles to help you get results online at www.dynamiq.co.uk/ezine.
|
|
|
Created & Maintained by Empower! CMS Web Sites
Host2Sell Web Hosting | Emarketing Workshops | Site SEO Review | FREE NewsletterGot Web Traffic But Still Low Sales? Ten Ways To Selling Success - Part 2
Part one of this article is available at www.bookcoaching.com/freearticles/article-34.shtml.
Have you put a lot of effort, time, and money into your site and are frustrated with lackluster sales? Are you planning to put a new Web site and don't know where to start?
If you are like many business professionals out there, you know your subject, you are an expert speaker or coach in your field, and you are even passionate about it. You have great products and services to sell.
But do you tr...(related: Web Design)
How To Choose Web Design Company?
Before deciding on which web design company to choose, you should first determine the main aim and purpose for your upcoming website. Once the aim and purpose have been identified, then only move on to choose a reliable web design company to develop your website.The first step in your searching for a reliable...(related: Web Design)
Offshore Web Design And Development - Use Great Opportunities
Sooner or later every small or medium business owner realizes that he needs a web site for his business. And almost everybody wants to have great web site for affordable price because usually web site design budget is quite limited.There are few ways to find the best solution.
- Somebody prefers to design the site by himself - but it takes much time and labor...(related: Web Design)
Flash - To Use Or Not To Use?
Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using flash for their needs. But the majority sites are not in this list. Let's summaries some facts about flash using on YOUR web site and after that it's you who will have to d...(related: Web Design)
To Flash, Or Not To Flash
When considering whether or not to incorporate Flash into your website, you must also consider the target market you are trying to reach.For instance, a website which serves as a depository for articles and information catering to lawyers would probably not be a good candidate for a Flash "makeover". However, if you are a rock band, you may want to consider it.Those are two very opposite ends of the spectrum, but exemplify ho...(related: Web Design)
Building Your First Web Site?
Before doing anything on the technical side, you need some kind of basic idea to work with. I suggest first getting some paper and a pencil. Start by sketching a layout of how you would like your web page to appear. For example, a simple title at the top, the area in which you would like any content, pictures and so on. Now its time to do some programing!Don't let the word programing scare you. Anyone can learn and there are several sites that offer free tutorials. One such site is http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp. Although it is not necessary to be a top notch programer to build and operate your web site, you should learn the basics of ...(related: Web Design)
Website Design: Color Me Blue
Chris, a new consulting client, asked me to help him increase sales on his affiliate marketing site.As he was describing his site and the problem, I thought, "This is going to be a quick fix."How wrong I was!His site was excellent. Other than a few minor points, it followed all my basic rules for a successful affiliate marketing site.The site was focused around a single theme in a profitable niche, with an excellent selection of high-priced, high-commission products.Chris had gone the extra mile to have his site professionally designed, and it was simple, elegant and user-friendly, employing consistent navigation and a nifty database-driven search results system.He was working directly with his merchant partners to create ad copy that offered his visitors ...(related: Web Design)
Banner Enchancement - Designing Your Banner
A well designed web site is great to have, but what if no one ever comes to it? Most web sites either rely on advertising, or have used advertising at some point in their existence, to get people to come to view the site. This means that your going to have to have not only a well designed web site but also well designed banners to attract your visitors.Tip #1 - Flashy is no Longer CatchyMost people are used to advertisements being on a web page as they browse the Internet and they tend to ignore them all together. In the past, to catch the attention of the surfer, banner designs have flashed bright colors repeatedly and used pictures that change colors. In the Int...(related: Web Design)
Love At First Site: Giving Your Website Visitors The Right Impression
Think of the people who visit your site as blind dates. When youopen the door, your blind date usually knows whether they areattracted to you within the first minute. How do they know? Easy.By how you look, what you say, and how you treat them. If youopen the door wearing the same clothes you wore in 1987, say,"Wow, from my friend's description, I ...(related: Web Design)
Is A Picture Really Worth A Thousand Words?
The great debate: how much copy you should have on your site, particularly on the home page?Do you subscribe to the idea that a picture is worth a thousand words--and therefore images, not a lot of text, should be the main thrust of your home page? Or do words have more power to capture a visitor's attention and compel them to buy--meaning you should aim for powerful copy?As a graphic designer, my natural inclination is to create graphically-rich, light text websites. Since I'm focused on what a site looks like visually, I like using impressive images, bold splashes of color all over the page, and not very much copy. The en...(related: Web Design)
Web Site Design Mistakes
Some wise human once said "Learn from the mistakes of others. There isn't nearly enough time to make them all yourself." Hence this article. Here are five of the most annoying and common web design mistakes.1. Slow download time - Don't be that site that is filled with the coolest gizmos in the world. You know, animation, music and other "cool" things. Why? Because nobody is going to go to it because it takes too long to download. A nice clean site that downloads quickly will get you much further than a site with all the fixings that takes forever to download.2. Unreadable text - If a user has to struggle to read the text on your web site, chances are they won't. Here are some common readability issues:A. Low contrast text and background - Don't u...(related: Web Design)
No More Jargon! Pamper Your Audience!
When your company built its website, did you think about the content (the text) of your site? Did you write it for your customers? The answer to these questions is often 'No.'The first mistake most companies make when filling their website with content is overlooking who they're writing for. The most common group they write it for is themselves. They f...(related: Web Design)
Great E-cover Creation In 5 Steps
There are several graphic software packages available to help you create your own e-covers for your product or service. Most provide you with a set of templates to choose from, and have varying degrees to allow you to modify the templates provided. Regardless of which package you...(related: Web Design)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 Empower! Web Design | All Rights Reserved. | Web Design