Creating Customer-Centric Web Sites

February 04, 2010 · by Paul Chaney

In its report, "Why Web Sites Fail," Forrester Research said that every customer who has a bad experience on a Web site will tell 10 other people about it.

According to consulting firm Creative Good, 62 percent of online shoppers have given up at least once while looking for products on a Web site and 42 percent of those actually abandoned the Internet and made their purchases through traditional retail channels.

Web sites used to be nothing more than electronic brochures. Today, however, without a doubt the Internet has become a very interactive environment for users. Sites need to be specifically built in a way that captures the attention of visitors and keeps them coming back.

In this post, we are going to discuss four factors that make for an engaging Web site, one that puts consumers as the central focus. They are:

• Creative (Design)

• Content

• Community

• Customers

Creative

When we think of Web design, we usually think in terms of aesthetics, but there's more to good design than flash animation, color palettes, page layout and attractive imagery. There is also the issue of usability, navigation, and a site's architecture, the way it's arranged in terms of its constituent pieces.

At Bizzuka, the company I serve as Internet marketing director, we take a step-wise approach that begins by asking the client what purpose they want their site to serve. Is it designed more for information sharing, lead generation or as a waypoint somewhere in the sales cycle.

Once that's been determined, we create a site map consisting of the primary "buckets" of information - those comprise the primary navigation, then build out sub-pages relative to that. In other words, we create the hierarchy of the site in a way that makes sense. We want to ensure the navigational structure of the site is most logical it can be.

Next, we work with the client to determine what we refer to as "viewing paths" on the home page that contain the most important information and which leads the user into the site along paths that the client deems they should go.

However, we challenge the client to see the site as the user would and, from the outset, determine what would be of most value to them.

"Engagement involves creating a design that visually makes an impression consistent with the messages that brought them there. It involves creating a design that directs them efficiently to where they want to go and creating a navigation process that is logical and helps people accomplish their task quickly," said Bizzuka CEO John Munsell, and I think that about sums it up!

Content

Your Web site content is the foundation of everything you are hoping to achieve through online marketing. Many people consider content to be king!

Think like a publisher. Like it or not, yours is a media site. Put your journalistic hat on and create content that will be engaging, informative and even entertaining.

Focus your message. In order to engage visitors and to get them involved in the ways that you desire, the content should be focused on communicating the message that you want visitors to receive.

Create content that converts.

"If content is king, conversion is queen." - John Munsell

There is a fine line between getting visitors to do what you want them to do - sign-up for a newsletter, purchase a product, complete a registration form, download a whitepaper, etc. - and what the visitors themselves want to do. I call this Conversion Rate Optimization. You have to create content that converts. Turn clicks into customers.

Here are some ways to do just that:

1. Provide proof - If your company is good at something, showcase it. That may be listing marque clients, providing a portfolio or your work or providing customer testimonials or case studies.

2. Segment your audience by visitor type or visitor intention. If you have more than one type of visitor, you're going to need to create messages that appeal to each persona or visitor type.

3. Use video - video works. Benjamin Wayne, CEO of video service Fliqz, said that 80 percent of visitor traffic will click on a video more than any other type of link. Video increases response rates.

4. People won't buy what they don't understand. Get rid of corporate jargon and clearly explain things in language that your visitors understand.

5. Replace "We," and "Our" with "You," and "Your." Keep your copy customer-centric.

6. Post your contact information where it's easily visible. Visitors should be able to find a phone number or email address (contact form) easily. Include it in your primary or utility navigation.

7. Focus on customer challenges, not features and benefits. The likelihood is that you customer is coming to find an answer to a question or a solution to a problem.

I ask clients, "how often do you want visitors to return to your site?" That's how often you have to update content. If visitors come to your site and find the same old thing as the time before, chances are they will bail. Bounce rates increase as a result, not a metric you want to show the boss.

Two questions to ask: Is it recent? Is it relevant?

Keep in mind you have two audiences visiting your site: Humans and machines (search engine spiders). Make content relevant for both.

Content implies the need for a content management system. If you've got a site of any size, you should be using one.

Community

The destination era of the Web is over. The Web today is much more about shared connections and much less about siloed destinations. In fact, there are those who would say the only Web site is Google. Everything else is just a landing page.

Suffice it to say your Web site needs to be a hub connecting visitors to everywhere else you have a presence online.

I believe that many sites would benefit by the incorporation of peer-to-peer consumer interaction. In other words, while a site may need leading, professional voices or the voice of the company, more important these days is the voice of the consumer. Provide ways for consumers to interact, such as:

1. Forums
2. Blogs
3. Online community
4. Facebook Fan Page
5. Facebook Connect

Customer

One way to create a customer-centric website is by asking the customer what it is they want to see.

1. Use surveys and polls - Gerry McGovern, author of the CustomerCareWords.com site, has a lot of information on how to do this.

2. Incorporate customer feedback forms

3. Rating and review functions

4. Use A/B and multi-variate split testing

5. Use Google Analytics or other metrics program to gauge customer interactivity

6. Test and refine; test and refine

Google Website Optimizer is one tool that allows for the serving of different pages for the purpose of determining which converts better. In other words, split testing lets you know what pages your customers prefer.

Multi-variate testing allows for segments of a page to change, which can serve to give you even greater insight.

Give visitors ways by which they can get involved and let them know you value their input.

By keeping these four factors - Creative, Content, Community and Customer - top-of-mind, you can be assured your site will be much more customer-centric.

This post is filed under The Social Retailer and has the following keyword tags: social media, website design.

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