Ever noticed that Google has the world’s simplest homepage? Or got lost on a website trying desperately to find a phone number?
Businesses often fall into the trap of supplying too much information. In their efforts to impress, they don’t realise they are losing customers through information overload. They forget that the goal of a website is to offer a great customer experience that helps make the customer fall in love with the brand or service they are selling.
We’re often told to write more content that contains useful terms for SEO purposes. And that for business efficiency the directors would like their customers to complete complicated purchases online, rather than talk to a human. But it’s very easy to forget how the customer is feeling in amongst all these business goals and expert recommendations.
So when you land on your home page, ask yourself three simple questions:
- Is it clear where the customer needs to go?
- When they get there, is there a simple call to action?
- And will that help the customer?
Such is the scope of the digital world now that patience wears incredibly thin.
Such is the scope of the digital world now that patience wears incredibly thin. On average, people stay on a web page for an average of between 5-15 seconds, so if it’s not immediately clear where they need to go, you’re either going to lose them, or prompt a frustrated phone call.
When the customer does find the page they need, there is nothing worse than being given too many options for what to do next. In fact, for a best practise customer journey the most efficient call to action is often a single brightly coloured button displaying one or two words, such as ‘buy now’, or ‘read more’, or ‘confirm details’. The customer can be confident that by clicking on that link they will go to a page they expect: either to complete a sale, find out more details or reaffirm what they are trying to do on that page.
With this in mind, say less and you’ll often find you engage more.
Your choice of call to action can then be adapted to suit your business needs. For example, if the purchase is actually too complex to be completed online, and you have an efficient telephony system, a simple ‘call this number’ will take the customer on to the best next stage in your process.
If, however, this might lead to a lengthy wait listening to on-hold music, then use your website to collect the customer’s query, and manage their expectations for a suitable response time. A button with ‘Enter your details for a response within 24 hours’ will be a quick and easy way to let your customer know that you’re on it, but that they won’t receive an immediate response.
So why not go onto your website right now and take your own customers’ journey? Does every single word or page need to be there, are your instructions as simple as possible, and does your customer will feel good about your business at the end of their experience?
If you’d like us to audit your website, email [email protected] or give us a call on 03333 220 022 to find out how we could help.
OnBrand | Smart marketing using customer knowledge for digital, audio, social and events
