Does your website make buying easy?

I recently visited the website of a local retail outlet/visitor centre to look for information about Christmas events, opening times and so forth.

Hard to believe it, but I had to hunt around for this information – and even when I found it there was nothing about seasonal offers. And yet this company spends a lot of effort on making its retail outlet vibrant and welcoming.

Websites need to be more like their retail counterparts. With the vast majority of visitors leaving after viewing just one page, it's critical that the landing page (usually the homepage) does the job.

There are four questions people ask when they land on a website, and you need to answer them. Fast!

1. Who are these people?
Transparent contact details, a real address and phone number, photos of actual people who work for the company, or of the premises... all of these help in building trust.

2. What are they selling?
Sounds obvious, but is it? Ask a handful of people who don't know your business to take a look and give you their opinion.

3. Why should I stick around? (or, what's in it for me?)
The big one – how many sites have you seen with 'Welcome to our website! We are the largest provider of X in the country, servicing blue chip clients to the highest standards of blah... our excellent record is second-to-none...' etc. Who cares? I want to know what you're going to do for me, how you're going to solve my problem!

4. What do I do next?
When time is short, we like to be told. Think airport signs and announcements. How annoying is it not to be able to find crucial flight information? Tell us what to do! Clear instructions, calls-to-action, active verbs (shop now, buy now, find out here...)

Putting yourself in the shoes of your customer is good old fashioned marketing. What are they likely to be looking for when they come to your site? What's on their mind? How can you get their attention in those few second before they click away?

Make buying easy

If there's one mantra worth keeping in mind at all times, it's this. As Steve Krug said, 'Don't make me think!'

So many sales are lost because of clunky navigation, too-clever copy, design-gone-mad and 404 errors. Get rid of the splash pages and the broken links, fix the forms, the spelling mistakes and the black backgrounds, upgrade to a decent content management system and make buying easy. And have a happy Christmas!



Robin Houghton of Eggbox Marketing is an online marketing specialist and author of eTips: monthly marketing advice and ideas for small businesses. Sign up at eggboxmarketing.co.uk/etips.