Using the Web to Build Customer Relationships
One of the first things you learn in business marketing and sales it how to develop your “elevator-pitch.” Elevator-pitches serve a great purpose in allowing a quick/instant assessment of someone’s potential interest in your product or service. When someone asks, “What does your company do?” an elevator-pitch (given properly) allows them to learn in 30-60 seconds the information they want to know about your company.
Marketers and business owners seem to forget this fact with the web. They fall into the trap of knowing they can provide as much information as they want (with the only limitation being their web hosting storage space and bandwidth limitations) on their websites. You can’t forget that the prospects visiting your website (all those “visitors” you love looking at in your website analytics software) are actually people. They are people there with a specific purpose in mind, whether that is to get information, make a purchase decision, or simply make contact with the site owner. Your website should function much like your elevator-pitch: it should provide the necessary information quickly, up-front. Don’t bury it in an “About Us” or other page.
People that want to learn more about your product or service will click the appropriate (assuming you have them in the right place) links to take them there. You have to provide this information to them in an easy-to-find manner, though, or they will instantly go elsewhere to try and find it.
Many times, we have clients ask us if it makes sense to put information behind a registration page, so that we can use that registration to “capture leads.” If you take the time to realize that those “leads,” again, are actually people, and then you look at the term “capture,” you realize, what you are asking for is to capture people. The last time I checked, capturing people wasn’t exactly legal. No one likes being forced into providing information about themselves simply to get information about something they are trying to make a decision on, like your product or service. A great way to think about it: when you are first introduced to someone, do you instantly go into, “Hey, may I have your name, phone number, email, company name, address, and any comments you may have?” Instead, you take the time to get to know the person, then, when the conversation moves in the appropriate direction, you ask for that information.
Building a relationship with people online as a business doesn’t have to be a daunting task. It simply takes time, which any company that wants to keep its customers should be taking time to keep them happy anyway. A great example of a company building relationships with its customers is Zappos (http://www.zappos.com). Zappos’ CEO, Tony Hsieh, has built his organization around customer service, and his website/online presence is no different. He utilizes tools like Twitter to have conversations with customers. He encourages his employees to do the same. If you want to proof, just look at Zappos’ growth.
So, What’s Next?
Reading this far, you may have had the realization (or maybe you’ve always known) that you want to use the power of the web to build relationships with the people you call customers, but you don’t know where to start. Here is a quick checklist of things to do right now to make sure you are doing what you can.
1. Does your website provide all of the information people are looking for when they visit your site?
If you say yes, ask yourself if you have based this on your own opinion, or that of your customers. Just because you think you have all the information on your website, doesn’t mean that your customers would necessarily agree with that opinion. Make it easy for your customers to give you feedback on your website, whether on the website itself (the best place) or via email or phone call. Make sure you are giving them the information they are looking for.
2. Have you established a relationship-building strategy with your online presence?
Do you utilize online tools like email (at minimum), Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc to have conversations with your customers? Do you take the time to reach out to them instead of simply waiting on them to contact you? People will not give you feedback unless you openly ask for it. As silly as it may sound, unless you plan your strategy on building relationships online, your efforts will be wasted. Plan out your strategy, then put it into action. If you have to, plan out how many customers you will personally respond to/reach out to in a given day. Make the number reasonable, and attainable, and then make sure you do it.
3. Have you worked with a professional copywriter to make sure your website doesn’t fall into the trap of being full of jargon and sleazy sales talk?
You may be one of those people that feel that you are the best person to write the content for your website. That is fine, and I would encourage it. I would also strongly recommend that even if you do write your own content, that you hire a professional copywriter/copyeditor to make sure that you have worded everything the best possible way; not only for the sake of not sounding sleazy, but also to make sure that you present the information about your products and services in the most easy-to-understand manner. Connecting with people is an emotional process, and what your website says to them affects them on an emotional level (a simple example: they either like your website and they stick around, or they don’t and they leave).
4. If you have information hidden behind registration forms, does it provide your customers with information that is so valuable to them that they are willing to register to get it?
People don’t like to give out their personal information for nothing. Give them some incentive, let them know that there is a good reason for them to provide their information. Think of it this way, when a salesperson schedules an appointment with a decision-maker, they have to provide some reason to the prospective buyer that proves it is worth their time. If you must use a registration form, make it as short and simple as possible. You can always ask for more information about that person after they have registered.
5. Do you analyze what people are doing when they visit your website? Are you asking them to provide you with feedback?
If you don’t have an analytics software tool installed on your website, you are literally lost. Google Analytics is free, takes 5 minutes to setup, and gives you an mountain of useful information. Using the tool can be overwhelming, so it may make sense for you to hire a marketing agency like ours to help you learn how to use all the information that can be found in the analytics tool.
A simple “How are we doing?” link to a simple survey form on your website can provide limitless information about whether or not your website is providing the information that your customers are looking for. If you ask them, it’s a pretty sure thing that they will tell you. People like to have their opinions heard, let them speak them to you. An important note here: when you ask for feedback, be ready to receive some that you may not like. Don’t argue with your customers, just listen.
6. Does your website look like it was built in the 70’s?
I know, the web didn’t exactly exist in the 70’s, especially not in the form it has become today. But your website can still have that impression on people when they visit it. Take a long look at your site and determine if you should freshen up the aesthetics. Need help knowing what to look for? Read “Does your website need re-designing?”
7. Do you have time to do this stuff yourself? Should you hire some outside help? (If for nothing more than an outside perspective?)
Many business owners simply take on too much to do the things they are good at the best they possibly can. Sometimes, the easiest way to increase profits for your business is to hire someone else to help you with the things you don’t have time/skill for. Additionally, having the fresh perspective from a marketing and/or design agency can help provide clarity to your marketing initiatives. It is well known that the most successful people are considered those people because they bring in help from experts in their field. Even if you know how to do the task, many times it simply makes more sense to let someone else do it. Whether you hire them in-house, or bring in an outside consultant, it can help your relationship-building efforts actually be a success.