Is your website working to its full potential?

By Maddy Saint (Octagon Blue) and James Saunders (Site-Report.com)

Your website can do far more than just promote your products and services. In this article we will explore the real potential of the internet. A large percentage of business websites are failing to reach their true potential - is yours one of them? People that are serious about their website are out there making money and gaining new customers right now. They've worked smarter - they've really put the internet to work for them and they are seeing the true potential for return on their website investment. Can you say the same?

A website provides a means of reaching your customers in a way that no other medium before it has. Direct mail or traditional forms of advertising only give you the means to communicate to your customers. The onus is then on the customer to use another means of communication to contact you (telephone, post, fax).

A website is interactive

But more than that, it allows your visitors to respond instantly. So even if they are visiting your website after your business has closed for the day, they can still interact with you straight away.

How are companies failing to exploit this potential?

As the internet has developed, a standard company website has evolved. Unfortunately, this means many companies have blindly followed this 'standard' rather than thinking creatively about how they are going to develop their website.

This 'standard website' is rather tired and often executed poorly and consists of several of the following elements; home page with short intro to the company, about us page with a company history and what the company does now, products or services page with a few photos and some text about the main things the company provides and a contact us page. If the site is really adventurous, it could even have a contact us form! In reality not all sites are as bad as this, but this has become the 'unimaginative' company website. But is this the sort of information that your site visitors are looking for? Have you even considered what your visitors might want when they come to your site?

So, how do you make the most of this potential?

To start with, you need to consider who you customers are and what they want when they approach your company. This doesn’t mean what do they want to buy, but how do they go about buying it. Do your customers need certain information to make a decision? Do they fall into clearly defined customer 'types' whose needs need to be met differently? What do you do 'in the real world' when you interact with a potential client? Once you have answered questions like these and have really considered what your customers are looking for, you are in a stronger position when it comes to planning your company website. You can now see how you can answer your customers' questions and feed them targeted content, driving them to the important areas of your site and start that interaction.

By using carefully planned content, advanced interactive features and good design and usability methods, you will be starting to really use the internet to its true potential.

What is an advanced interactive feature?

Good question! As the name suggests, this is a means of interacting with your customers. But what makes it advanced? A customer contact form could be considered a basic interactive feature, as it is fairly simple to implement. Advanced interactive features needn't be complicated, they just tend to be more targeted to your customers needs and provide two way interaction.

As an example, you may identify that your customers have several different, but clearly defined needs. Some customers may only have some of the needs; some may have all of them. Each customer is unique, but can be seen to fall into certain 'need categories'. In 'the real world' you probably talk to your customers about their needs and use that information to decide which product or service would best suit their need. So why not do that on your website?

Let's liken this to a 'real world' situation. You have a broad range of potential customers, each with their own needs and desires. But no matter what someone asks, you give the same sales patter and hand out the same brochure. There's no assessment of who they are, what their interest is, or whether they are likely to buy. Face to face, you wouldn't hope to sell anything. So why do people follow this model online and still expect to sell their products and services?

Customer interaction and targeted content delivery can be easily achieved. One way of doing this is by using a simple question and answer form which lists the customer needs that you have identified in your ‘real world’ interactions with your clients. The potential customer can select the needs that match their own. The website can then presents the best product and service information based on the potential customer's selection.

Let's look at an example - if your website is selling cars, your question and answer form could ask, "What type of car are you interested in?" and then list some possible responses - saloon, hatchback, estate, MPV, other? It could also ask, "Which of the following is most important - price, reliability, running costs?"

Once the customer's responses have been collected, the website can provide them with a list of recommendations for vehicles that meet their needs. By delivering this information clearly with prominent contact details, together with the option to buy directly from the website or contact you for more information, you are providing the customer with relevant and valuable information to help them make their purchasing decision. You are also including 'calls to action' that prompt the customer to take the enquiry to the next stage. If you make the recommendation list easily printable and include a comparison table showing the recommended products or services, your potential customers have a gentle reminder that you went that extra step to make their decision easier.

But there's an added bonus to helping your customers in this way - the information collected by the website gives you data that is an invaluable aid to understanding your customer's needs. This data can be collated, analysed and used to support future business decisions and make the customer experience even better next time around.

This is just one example of an advanced interactive feature. This example may not suit your company. The key is to identify your own company's potential for interacting with its customers and then build these into your website.

So how does your website measure up? Are you serving up the same tired information day in day out with no real consideration for the needs of your potential customers? Then you could be missing out. By really working with the potential of the internet, you can see your website generated revenue really grow.