Have you ever really taken an in-depth look at your website from the perspective of a potential customer? Is it an abject testimonial to the wonders of your company, or does it do everything possible to deliver real value to your customers and prospects?
It’s an easy mistake to make, particularly if you are relatively unknown in your marketplace. You want them to understand what you’re all about, and the best way to do that is by telling them, right?
In this case, maybe not. The difference here is in the presentation. Unless you have zero competition, people have a ton of choices when it comes to using your products and services or someone else’s. It’s your job to engender enough trust for them to consider spending their money with you. This is especially true if your items are expensive. They absolutely need to understand that you have the best solutions for their problems, and in reality, at this point, they could care less about your company.
So how do you go about making a shift in the tone of website to one that embraces the customer, and not the other way around? We’ve identified several ways that can help you make the change. Implementing some of these today might be exactly what you need to start winning with a customer centered website strategy.
Employ Relevant and Useful Content
This is the most effective way you can strengthen your messaging to appeal to your customers and prospects. Make sure that your copy is designed to deliver the benefits of your products and services, and not merely talk about you or your company.
Be very sure any offers are current, and that you have removed any outdated information, particularly when it comes to contact information or social media.
You should also be careful to speak to the layman. Everyone is conversant in the lingo you throw around the back office and you might go right over a potential customer’s head. Be plain spoken, and emphasize benefits, not features.
Consider using each page for a specific purpose. This will help with clarity and also with website SEO, and will help your pages rank for their primary keywords. Make this a reality from your Home page to each individual landing page.
Solve Your Customer’s Problems
They’ve come to you with the hope that you will solve their problem, so don’t disappoint them with a mere listing of what you do, and then tell them to buy. Instead, offers solutions to the problems they’ve come seeking to solve, and do so in a way that helps them make an informed and easy decision.
If possible offer
social proof in the form of previous customer’s testimonials. This can go a very long way in gaining trust and authority. If they can clearly see that others, (especially local) have found that your products and services met and exceeded their needs and expectations, you’re halfway home.
This is also the arena where live chat or your phone number can work wonders. Getting someone answers as soon as you can will often prevent further searching, and get you the initial inquiry to start the sales process.
Improve the User Experience
One of the best ways to drive away potential business is to present a cluttered and confusing website. Make the information relevant! The searcher is seeking readily available within a click or two at most.
People now have an attention span of around 8 seconds, slightly less than that of a goldfish! So it’s become your task to make sure that you do all in your power to make it easy to understand what your message is and present it in an easy to consume fashion.
This means larger fonts, bolder typography and discontinuing the use of distracting pop-ups, auto-playing videos (unless that is the major focus of your page) and above all ads that can potentially take the visitor elsewhere.
Make your site navigation efficient and more user-friendly. This means using more contextual links, and fewer link lists and by no means use more than one menu per page. You don’t need a sidebar menu in addition to your main navigation. An exception to this would be the footer menu, which can contain links like Privacy, TOS, and other pages that don’t need a spot in your main navigation.
To test this for yourself take a “customer tour” through your own site, posing as a person searching for the information you aim to provide here. Are you able to get from point A to point B quickly and efficiently? Does this lead you closer to a buying decision? And are there any roadblocks or confusing turns that need to be addressed?
If you would like help in shifting your website to one that is more customer focused and conversion oriented, please call us today at
(623) 521-1418 or visit our
content strategy page to learn more about this topic.
