When you need a service or a particular product, how often is the high street your first stop to find it? Probably not that often, as it is more likely that you jump online to get some background about features, availability, prices and the like.
The thing is, it’s not just you that does this, it’s your customers too, and that means it is crucial that you have a website that is not just functional but it an integrated part of your sales system. Read on to find out more about this.
To be mobile
Neglecting to have a site that is mobile compatible is a poor choice for your business. This is because almost 50% of people use their phone to search the web a day. Combine this with the fact that their phones are the one item that is always with them and if your website isn’t compatible with this platform you will lose out on leads and sales.
To be clear
Next, neglecting clarity on your website is a big no-no. It needs to be clear and easy for your customers to read and navigate. This is a design issue, and it can help to use a web design specialist to create your site, as they have the experience and know how to implement what works. Something that allows them to create a perfectly clear site that is suited to your customer demographic.
Get them to pay particular attention to line spacing, the colour pallets used, as well as white space to create the best look possible. After all, your website is like an online showroom and storefront all rolled into one, and it is vital that it creates the right instant impression. Otherwise, you risk your customer navigating away before they have really engaged with your product and got to see the benefits that you are offering.
To have metrics
Metrics are vital to improving site performance.
You may not be a massive fan of statistics, but neglecting metrics is never a good idea. This is because the data about the visits and activity on your site is one of the most valuable resources you have.
For one, it gives you a good idea of your click to purchase rate. That is how many of your site visitors are actually making a purchase. It also can show which elements of your site are unsuccessful as you will see a significant number of people navigate away when they get to a page that doesn’t answer their questions or provide what they are looking for.
In this way, you can constantly refine your site to make it even more effective. Something that can seriously improve the customer’s experience, and so increase sales and your success.
To present the opportunity to buy
It may sound crazy, but there are still some sites out there that run as online catalogues and don’t actually present the customer with the opportunity to buy their products.
This is not a good strategy to use in most cases, however, because you are wasting the investment that the customer has made in your product so this far, and making them work hard by having to go away and source your product somewhere else. Something that can cause many a potential sale to be lost.
Instead ensure that there are simple and quick ways to buy your products, including not having to create an account to purchase, and having multiple online ways to pay including PayPal and Apple Pay.
If, for some reason, your business model cannot support the customers buying directly from you, at least include a search feature and links to places that they can buy immediately. The reason for this being that it can help to maintain the momentum of enthusiasm and so make it more likely they will but. Something that allows you to reduce the number of sales you lose in this situation.
To be searchable locally
While the Internet is worldwide, people for the most part still have a need for local stockists and services. That means if you neglect this factor, you could be missing out on the is the value of being connected with people in your area that want your product.
Therefore ensure that you emphasise the locality of your business and create your website SEO around this, so you are sure to feature in any searches that combine your trade and the local that you serve.
After all, one of the most major advantages of being online with your business is the convenience for your customers, and demonstrating that you are local to their needs is something that plays into this. Something that will further advance your chance of success.
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