From the Customer's Point of View
Checking for Errors
The other day I decided to indulge in a more expensive coffee for myself. I don’t do this often but for some reason I decided I needed a treat. I spent 10 minutes driving around in a circle trying to find a parking place at the local coffee shop. I finally got too frustrated and left opting for a different coffee shop down the street that offered a drive-thru and more parking.
As I sat waiting for my Latte I started thinking about how my experience with getting coffee could relate to my site. If my customers can’t figure out how to checkout, or they can’t find the information they need, they will do the same thing I did. They will leave. I spent the remainder of my day going over my site with a fine tooth comb. With the holiday rush around the corner I don’t want anyone leaving my site because they couldn’t find a “parking space”.
I was amazed at the little errors I found. I found important information in my shopping cart and my Customer Service page that needed to be updated. I also found that I had an entire section that was full of discontinued items – yikes! I realized that my site needed some professional tweaking as well. I am looking into having some enhancements done in the near future and I look forward to how they will help our customers have a better shopping experience with us.
I think it’s easy to get busy and not check the little things on our sites. If you can step back and shop your site like a customer you may be amazed at what you find. Maybe by finding and fixing these little things now you can ensure your customers will have an easier time shopping, and of course buying from you!
Good Luck!
2 Comments
Wes Grasty says:
Good advice! There will always be some aspects of our site that we have overlooked, so make sure to show prominently a toll free number, contact email address, and live chat.
John says:
Thanks for the article...
As an e-commerce marketer I have found the need for intricate revision processes. Even with an IT dept., Marketing Strategist, Copy Writer etc... small yet integral flaws can make their way into web copy and ultimately disrupt function or aesthetic appeal for the customer.
It is always a good idea to maintain a working document or spreadsheet containing needed editorial changes (grammatical, url-related, content and language etc...) that your peers and colleagues can access and fix as they go.
Best,
