61. Digital Base Camp: Create a Great Web Site
A Web site is ground zero for digital marketing. Although marketers have moved away from promoting their Web site home page like a billboard or brochure, it’s a digital base camp for linking to content, directing inquiries, posting comments, distributing marketing and sales material, and hosting microsite landing pages in an email campaign.
Customer engagement has changed the way people interact with a Web site. The homepage is often the place visitors engage on a blog, or they may visit the “workroom” of a site to custom design a product or submit product ideas. Web site home pages feature blogs prominently and many Web sites are now created on platforms designed for blogs (like WordPress and Typepad), so site owners can make a blog the main focus and easily change the content on their own.
Your company Web site is a fast and efficient means for people to research and learn about products, services, people, and companies before making a buying decision. In business markets, it can be a central point for presenting thought leadership. In consumer markets, even if buyers don’t purchase online, they will do research to compare features and prices before making a purchase.
It’s more important than ever to create a captivating Web site that is designed for multiple uses and different types of users. Web sites are a focal point for collaboration and document sharing, networking, gathering information and research, broadcasting, developing products and services, and delivering knowledge, training, and development.
As you update your business Web site, evaluate all the potential ways you can use your site to make your business more efficient and productive. Consider four broad areas for content design and Web site development: informational, transactional, participative, and collaborative.
Because people have become accustomed to a self-serve world, make it easy for them to access and download standard information such as product and service brochures, staff directories, job postings, directions, calendars, and event information. Transactions should be streamlined as well. Make it simple for people to register for events and Webcasts, sign up for newsletters, download reports, register for training, take a course, make payments, order products and services, or fill out and submit an application.
Encourage participation and collaboration through your Web site by developing a blog to communicate with customers and respond to their needs and requests. Create a workroom for clients to streamline work on projects. Host Webinars and live events for prospects, customers, and employees. Post presentations, podcasts, and videos that inform, educate, and/or sell.
Your Web site will be the primary conduit from which many of your other marketing programs will flow. All of the other new media tactics that are described in this section can be integrated with your Web site. But before moving on to other types of digital media, let’s review a few points that will help you design a more effective site.
Design for User Experience
Designing an effective Web site begins by focusing on the customer experience. Usability is critical and the site should be designed around how customers will read, search, and find information. Start by mapping out how customers interact with your site. Evaluate recent Web metrics to discover how the most popular pages are prioritized and try to infer what series of decisions users make. If you design the site this way instead of following the typical hierarchy of Web site navigation frames, you should arrive at a simple but elegant framework that is geared to how customers make decisions.
Users like simplicity and they want information delivered fast. They want to view sites that are free from clutter, easy to read, intuitive to navigate, quick to download, and protective of their privacy. A user also wants to be able to contact a company through multiple means such as email or by phone, and often they want multiple choices of interaction (click to chat, call now, and so on) if help is needed.
If a customer is a repeat visitor to your site, make use of cookies to welcome customers back by using information the customer has already provided. When shopping online, the user expects to see product details and pictures, pricing information, shipping costs, and delivery information. She also wants an easy-to-use shopping cart with the ability to add and delete items, pay through a secure site, and receive an order confirmation via email. The ability to track delivery is also becoming more important to consumers.
If your goal as a B2B company is to build a database of people who are interested in your products and services, you will probably need to offer something of value, such as a free report or article, to encourage registration. Ask users if they are interested in receiving information from your company so you have their permission to send it to them. It will also help you understand their needs so you can customize information based on individual preferences and cultivate a relationship with your customers.
One of the most important factors to keep in mind as you develop a Web site and other types of digital marketing is that everything is connected. If your goal is to target customers that make ample use of mobile devices, consider this in your initial design and strategy. Design a Web site version for mobile devices.
Make Your Web Site Interactive and Targeted
Web sites are evolving beyond simple, static pages. Interactive capabilities enable consumers to experience and interact with your brand, which facilitates the opportunity for them to emotionally connect to your products and services. Interactivity captivates a user’s attention quickly, and you can lead the user to a purchase decision by giving them exactly the information that you want them to see.
Even flat collateral materials can become interactive. Use multimedia to create interactive brochures which allow readers to turn pages in a company brochure, product catalog, or other sales collateral materials. Tutorials, videos, and interactive slide shows keep users engaged in the content as it educates, informs, or entertains.
As marketers use a growing number of digital marketing channels to reach consumers, the use of microsites is becoming more important. Microsites are Web site landing pages that take the visitor to a specific part of a company Web site, or even to a completely different Web site and URL. Microsites are a much more effective way to target market, advertise, and direct promotions than simply listing a company Web site in marketing materials. For example, if you wanted to advertise a training seminar to customers and prospects, it is much more effective to promote a Web site with messaging and content for the program than it would be to list a company URL and hope the visitor will find the training program buried deep within the site. The fewer the clicks, the better.
Companies also use microsites to extend their brand. Smirnoff Vodka created a site where visitors can interact with a “virtual bartender” to mix any combination of ingredients to see if various combinations would taste good together. The user selects the combination of ingredients and the virtual bartender drinks the concoction and makes a face to convey his approval, disapproval, or disgust.
Burger King’s “subservient chicken” Web site featured an actor dressed in a chicken costume who would respond to commands made by the user. If the user asked the chicken to “do jumping jacks” or “jump up and down on the couch,” the chicken responded. The promotion was designed to promote a new chicken sandwich, as well as Burger King’s brand message of “Have it Your Way.” More than 54 million people visited the site during the initial launch week and the average person spent eight minutes on the Web site.
Developing online communities, blogs, and resources in a company’s Web site encourages personal communication with customers. For example, a consumer product company may want to create special communities of interest, such as new mothers wanting to exchange ideas through a discussion forum or by joining a new mother’s online community. Such sites usually feature a vast array of resources for similar topics as a way to provide value to customers.
Integrated Technologies Deliver Better Customer Service
If your company Web site facilitates decisions for complex sales like a site that helps students decide which college to attend, you should consider integrating customer service technologies to improve the customer experience. Live chat offered via the Web or phone provides instantaneous gratification to customers who wish to speak with someone who will help them find what they need. Studies show that companies that use this technology see an increase in sales of 25 percent or more and an 80 percent improvement in customer satisfaction. Companies can chose from a variety of live chat technologies:
1. Online chat enables users to click a button to “chat online with a customer service representative.” It’s a simple way for a customer service agent to answer questions and exchange information with the customer in real-time.
2. An option to “talk with a live person” is a great alternative for customers who prefer to speak to a real person and ask questions. If a customer prefers this option, she simply clicks on the phone icon and in less than a minute their phone rings and a service representative is there to help.
3. Sensory technology detects if a customer is shopping on the Web site. A chat window appears and a service representative asks, “May I help you find what you are looking for?” It’s as if the customer walks into a store and is greeted by a salesperson. This type of technology is used by customers who prefer personal assistance. It’s an ideal option for companies that offer hundreds of products because customers won’t have to click though dozens of pages to find what they need.
Implementing a technology like the integrated sensory technology shouldn’t create the image of a salesperson stalking a customer. If the customer replies that he or she is “just looking,” then the salesperson can say, “Just let me know if you need help.” Companies that use this technology report that engaging in live chat with a customer greatly increases the probability of a sale. It is reported that upwards of 70 percent of online orders are terminated before finalizing the sale at checkout. If you review Web reports and see that your company has a similar situation and you are losing potential customers, you should add this technology to your CRM capabilities and test if it makes a difference in customer conversion rates (in other words, if it transitions lookers to buyers). You can also use a survey tool, such as Biz Rate, to evaluate a customer’s experience and measure satisfaction levels right after he purchases from your Web site.
Provide Value For Free
From day one, the democratization of the Internet provided free and easy access to information. When someone visits a Web site, they want to find what they are looking for, and almost always expect to find something of value to them—for free. This doesn’t mean give away services for free, it means providing value through ideas and access to information.
For example, if you have a resource section on your Web site, you can provide links to other Web sites that are relevant to your customers. This could include information resources, reports, white papers, articles, associations and organizations, tools and gadgets, podcasts, and so on. If your company produces Webinars or newsletters, you may want to list an archive so people can find information on certain topics pertaining to your business.
You can also communicate information about social causes that are important to your company. For example, Patagonia, a Seattle-based company that sells outdoor clothing and sports gear, is known for their passionate support of environmental causes. They post videos about these issues and concerns on their Web site; in turn, these videos help them build their brand by creating an emotional connection with their customers.