Think about some of your favourite websites you like to use – your go-to sites for things you need, the ones you head to for reliable sources of information, shopping, banking…all of them. What do you like about them? Other than necessity, what makes you go back to them and use them again?
These are the kinds of things you are going to want to include when you build your own website. Elements that will help you work smarter, not harder, giving your customers a first-class experience over and over again.
Here are things we love about the ones we use:
Ease of access to information -We don’t need to look for anything, everything we are looking for is right under our fingertips.
Pages load fast – This needs no explanation, show me a person who doesn’t have an expectation of this on every site they use.
Pop-Ups – Unless you are giving us a nice voucher for a decent discount off of my first purchase, stop popping up on every page.
Check out is a breeze – Simple, short forms that make getting to the point – getting us our things – painless and easy. No double authenticated logins and pages of forms that require more information than if we were applying for a mortgage. 2 Steps to payment and we will be back for more.
Customer service – If we have to ask a question about what happens next when to expect delivery, ask how much delivery is or wait for more than a couple of hours for a response you have lost us. It is the job of the store to tell us these things.
Customer service is everything. If the customer service of a store, service provider or any other business is spot on, people don’t really care about prices, or what was being sold, they will go back there over and over again. Because they felt heard, valued and respected. From a business owner’s point of view, these are not hard elements to get right!
So How Do I Know if my Website is Working Smart?
What is the feedback from your clients and customers? Do you get consistent messaging about exceeding expectations or are there a fair amount of complaints and frustration?
If there are a fair number of complaints, what are the complaints about? Pages not working, items not adding to carts, customers not able to shop on their mobile phone, nobody gets back to them?
When last did you check your analytics? What is your bounce rate?
Is it higher than 60%? You may benefit from an in-depth analytics report and a website audit.
Let the experts have a look at the UX flow – the user experience and pinpoint where the trouble areas are.
An audit report will also be able to help you identify where to untangle the blockages to let traffic flow freely in order to convert more.
What does your website look like on mobile? Check out your website on your device as well as on a few of your friend’s devices and see how things are looking. If it is looking a bit hairy, it is time for a check-up. All you may need is a few inexpensive updates and some mobile optimisation.
Tackling The Unknown
The tendency when people see that things are not as peachy as they thought is to panic and then not to do anything because they think it might be too expensive. The next thing they do when they saw how quick and easy the fixes were is to kick themselves and promise not to leave it so long again.
Regular maintenance is key to not finding yourself in this position in the first place, so maybe it is time to get yourself signed up for a care package.
Your website designer will normally offer a care package post build and they take care of all of the boring stuff like maintenance, updates, and regular checks. We highly recommend taking them up on the offer.
Need an Expert Hand?
If you just have this feeling that your website is not doing what it should be and that you might need a spring clean, a fresh perspective or just some practical advice on what to look for. Then chat with our team at Pixel and Ink to see how we can get you some quick wins today!
