One of your highest priorities when it comes to designing and creating your website must be to make that website as customer friendly as possible. If you can do this, you will have a much easier time persuading people to buy from you or to use your services – it will also help you to beat the competition.
The problem is, many business owners don’t necessarily know what it takes to have a customer friendly website when they are designing one or having one designed; they might not even take the idea into account. This can be a problem, and it can slow business or even halt it altogether depending on how difficult the website is to use.
If that sounds like you and you want to ensure your website is customer friendly but you’re not sure where to start, read on for some useful tips to get you started.
Be Clear About What You Do
Something that will never help you to convert website visitors into customers is having a website that is not clear and does not explain what it is you do. You have around 15 seconds to explain your business to anyone who comes to your website, so it needs to be clear and concise, and it needs to be right there on the homepage if possible (without making the website too cluttered). If the needs of the customer aren’t addressed within those first 15 seconds and they aren’t sure if your business is the one they want, they will go elsewhere and you will have lost a potential sale.
It is therefore extremely important to show your USP (unique selling proposition) as soon as anyone gets to your website, and certainly within the first 10 seconds. Your USP is a statement that describes what it is you do and what issues you can solve. It might also show how you are different from your competitors. This is an important element within your business, so you should take your time to think about it and craft it well.
Contact Information
It’s great to have lots of information about your business and even yourself and your team on your website, but it’s not necessarily enough. Some people will come to your website not to discover more about what you do, but to find ways to get in touch with you. A contact page that is easy to find and navigate is crucial for making a customer friendly website.
Not only will having this information easy to access be beneficial for your customers and therefore to you, but it will also provide an element of trust. Imagine if you were searching for contact details on a website and you were unable to find anything that would help you; it would seem very strange and you might be concerned that the business you were thinking about using was hiding something if they ‘refused’ to show any contact details. It could be a scam, for example.
If you don’t like the idea of putting your phone number on the website, buy a new one specifically for your business. You can divert this to your cellphone so you can still be in touch with your customers, but they won’t know your personal number.
Make The Choices Simple Ones
The more choices someone has, the longer it will take for them to make a decision – this is known as Hick’s Law. It makes sense; if there are only two choices, working out which one to choose is a simpler task that requires less time and effort than having to look at five choices or more, for example.
The issue here is that the longer someone has to be on your website thinking about which choice to make, the less chance there is of them actually buying something. They should be able to go to your site, see a small number of choices, and buy what they want (or get in touch to find out more in some cases). If there are lots of choices, they might feel overwhelmed or run out of time, or simply not be able to make a decision. When this happens, they will leave your website without having bought anything.
The tip, then, is to make the choices simple and few. Rather than disappointing your customers, this will help them to buy, and help you to be successful. They key is to ensure the choices you offer aren’t too similar to one another, otherwise the decision will still be a hard one.
Show What You Know
Customers like to be able to trust the website they are buying from. They like to be able to gather enough information to be sure they are making the right choice. They like to buy from experts so that, if there is a problem or they have a query, they can ask a question and be sure of getting the right answer.
Having a blog on your website, or a link to a vlog (video blog), or a frequently asked questions sections, or anything similar will help to show that you know what you are talking about and that you are an expert when it comes to selling your particular items and services. Trust will be formed if you can prove you have plenty of experience in creating Altium component links, or you know how to set up a specific piece of equipment, or you can prove that you have been working in a certain sector for a long time and therefore have a lot of knowledge. This trust is hugely important when it comes to growing your business and can certainly add to your bottom line.
There are other ways to prove your knowledge if you don’t feel you have the skills or time to write a blog. You might:
- Write an eBook and sell it on your site
- Offer free downloads
- Have a chat facility
- Use your social media accounts to answer questions and engage with your customers
- Give talks and workshops
Simplify Your Menus
As well as having a website and having enough information on your website to keep customers informed, it is also important to make the website itself a simple one to navigate. People don’t want to come to your site and have to think too hard about where different pages are, or how they can checkout if they want to buy something. When there are plenty of other sites around that offer easy navigation, that’s where they will prefer to go.
Keep the menu choices simple, and make sure there aren’t too many of them. You can add sub-menus if this will keep your website clean and uncluttered but ensure there is only a small number of options on the main menu. Your potential customers will be pleased to find a website that is simple to use, and they will be happier to come back time and again.
Include A Call To Action
A call to action (CTA) is a simple thing. It’s a few words, or a button, or a link to click that will help customers take the next step. Sometimes people browsing a website will need a little nudge to get in touch or buy items or take whatever action it is you as a business owner want them to take. It really is as simple as telling them what they need to do next. Although it may sound unnecessary, having a clear CTA on your website really can boost sales.
In order to write a good CTA, using commanding verbs such as ‘buy’, ‘order’, ‘download’ or ‘click’ at the start.
