The Internet, often called the World Wide Web or the Information Super Highway, is just huge. These names say it all. It’s worldwide, and it’s a web of pages connected to pages, sites connected to sites, and information everywhere. Think about your website for a minute. How many of your own pages link to pages on your website, your social media sites, your e-commerce site, your blog, and other reputable sites you respect? Now multiply those places by the amount of sites and pages they are linked to beyond that. That’s a big number! Everything is 6 degrees away from everything else in this world. You can’t possibly control the user experience once people leave your site, but you can make sure each customer has a successful time on your site and within the tiny portion of the web you weave on the Internet.
So, how can you make sure that your customers are always going to have a great user experience on your site? Follow these 5 easy tips to make sure your customers’ user experience is top notch, leaving them coming back time and again for more.
Tip #1 – Give them a highway they can travel with ease.
We are sure you’ve been on some websites, just as we have, that make your head spin. They lack ease of use, continuity, convenient links, or they just give you the bare minimum of information leaving you wanting more. And if the site has more than one of these problems then it might as well have a home page that reads “leave now.” Pretend you are the customer when you sit down with your web designer and visit your competitors’ sites to see what is good and what is missing. Lastly, think simple. Less is really more when it comes to the form and function of a website.
Tip #2 – Give them the details.
Provide them with the information and data you have. That’s exactly what they are looking for when they come to your site to find expert advice. Don’t hide precious information that your customers can easily find other places. They want to know the details of products – size, usability, color options, shipping information, and anything else you’d want to know if you were purchasing.
Tip #3 – Be there quickly to answer questions.
Tip #2, above, can only get you so far, and everyone who uses the web knows that too much data can backfire. It can make a website look overcrowded and messy. So, while you are doing your best to provide the necessary information to your customers, they may still have additional questions. Answer your emails quickly, be prepared with information, and always return emails that you get during the off hours in a timely manner.
Tip #4 – Don’t sell to your customers. Help them purchase what they want.
Your customers don’t want a pushy salesman, a commission hungry sales shark, or a know-it-all, tell-it-all attitude. The point here is that most of us are not like that, but we can easily sound that way if we treat all customers by the book. Your customers need you to help them and to genuinely care that they choose the right product or service. If you are helpful, they will know you have what they need because of your kindhearted approach and wealth of knowledge to the questions they ask. This starts with an easy to find FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page that speaks to them as if they were talking to you directly. Then, if they still have questions, they will email or call and you can be ready.
Tip #5 – Keep your website running properly.
This may sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many websites have missing pages and broken links to internal pages, not to mention outside websites. A big fat error received on the computer screen just makes your company appear slow to the finish line. For every broken link a customer experiences, we venture to guess it’s one more groaning click to a competitor’s website.
We share these very important tips that we put into practice for our clients’ websites so that you too can get ahead of the game in customer web experience. If you are need of a website, or would like yours overhauled and brought up to date, we’re glad to chat with you about the possibilities. Contact us today!
