Converting visitors into customers should be the main goal of your marketing strategy. Technology has opened doorways we could only once dream of. In today’s marketplace, we literally have the world at our fingertips. Anything we want to see, hear, and discover is only seconds away. Making sure you are keeping up with your website is more important than ever. Website maintenance is crucial in this current era. Your website is one of your most powerful marketing tools. It must be able to turn casual visitors into committed customers – in seconds.
Understanding what your consumer wants out of your website can make all the difference in converting random traffic to loyal customers. When you leverage your website to its potential, then you organically get conversions.
What Do Consumers Want?
Improving your site’s UX (user experience) is crucial, but it’s the expectation. People expect to be able to navigate your site easily. They want good UX, but they want the bells and whistles, too. A website that is too basic suggests that it isn’t ready to compete in today’s market.
To gain and maintain consumers, we must understand that the competitive edge is more important than ever. A small market we once worked in has become a global market with just a few strokes of a keyboard. With this level of competition, businesses have had to adjust or risk falling behind. With a simple hit of the back button, your competitor could gain a customer that could have been yours. Consumers have a few basic necessities when it comes to turning from a visitor into a customer. These necessities include ease of use, speed, and reviews.
Ease of Use
The last thing you want a customer to have to do is figure out how to find a product or even how to pay. When users click to your website, they want clear navigation. Make it so seamless that they don’t even realize it’s simple – it shouldn’t be in the way of what they want to do. Your first job is to balance seamless with attention-grabbing, which isn’t always easy. Simple measures such as ensuring that your tabs are clear, your menu guide is easy to follow, and all links work can ultimately make or break your ability to not only have a consumer visit your site but also become a loyal customer.
Keep ease of use in mind for mobile optimization as well. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, that’s a necessary next step. In fact, Google says there is no such thing as “mobile-first;” it’s mobile primarily. For businesses that have primarily expected desktop browsers to be their customers, this is a big change. Consider what it means that traffic is hitting your site from their smart devices rather than their computers and how that might impact UX.
Speed
Regardless of your industry, users expect any website they visit to be immediately responsive. Your website needs to be not only easy to navigate but also fast. Consider, too, that a slow website means a high bounce rate – and you can’t convert traffic that doesn’t stick around long enough to check out your product or service. Of course, that’s even considering that potential customers get there. Long lag time and slow sites rank poorly in search engines. A slow website puts you back twice as fast. When you are in the design stages of building your website, talk to your designer about potentially overloaded pages or other aspects of a site that could slow it down. For the customer, there is no reason to wait for information that might be found somewhere else a bit faster, even if it’s only by a few seconds.
Reviews
Real feedback is appreciated now more than ever. Your website should not only highlight what services you could provide but also what it has already done. Consumers are connected through a multitude of platforms, so by providing a clear link to your credentials, you further solidify your dominance in your area of expertise. Authenticity means a lot to customers. They want to invest in a business that truly cares for its customers and its community. By providing a visitor to your site quick and easy access to what your company can offer, it provides peace of mind that investing would be worthwhile.
Updating Your Website
Don’t think of your website as something you have to have to compete (though you do); think of it as a tool you can use to outshine the competition. We live in a global market, and the competition has never been more fierce. You want your website to not only survive but thrive, and with the right access capability, speed, and real consumer feedback, the possibilities are endless. This process doesn’t have to be difficult. If you’re unsure if your website is up to par, our team at Imagine Monkey can help ensure your website meets all current criteria and more.
