Is your website customer-friendly?
As an occasional online customer myself, I find that the overall structure of a vendor’s website has a lot to do with whether I buy the product or not. Chances are, you’ve bought something online yourself. Have you ever noticed how a simple flaw in a website prevents you from buying? For example, bad navigation won’t help you get to the information you need. Or an amateurish-looking design makes you think twice before putting your trust in the vendor. As an entrepreneur yourself, it’s entirely possible that you also make these mistakes – and it’s best to nip them in the bud.
Make sure that your design isn’t cluttered. There’s a reason why using a lot of white space is advised by most designers. People just prefer to look at clean websites. Clean design has easily readable content that flows intuitively, with the main headline on top, important points in bold, and the text is broken up into short paragraphs. Browsing through too many images and large blocks of text can be tiring for a user’s eyes – they might even be prompted to leave. Also, using a lot of white space conveys the message that your website is direct to the point.
Your website design should include an “about” page, a contact page, as well as an FAQ. Your potential customers need to know that there’s someplace they can go if they want additional information. An “about” page will tell people the details of who they’re going into business with, which is important if you want to build trust. Be sure to include all the necessary contact information as well. This tells your customers that you welcome questions and comments, and that they can easily reach you.
All your links should be easily understood. In the mid-1990s, webmasters would use fancy names for the pages of their website. For example, a website that sells diving boards could have “Dive right in!” on their link for their order page. This isn’t user-friendly, because the user doesn’t know what the page is leading to. “Order page” or “Order your diving boards here” is more appropriate. Be clear about where your links are going, because this makes it easier for users to navigate your website.
Make sure everything is at most a couple of clicks away. It’s said that for every step a customer needs to go through before she finalizes an order, there’s a 10% chance you could lose the sale. You want to sell your product? Then make the order process as easy and straightforward for the customer as possible.
Check if most browsers support your site design. Internet users are currently facing more choices when it comes to web browsers (Hello, Google Chrome!). The problem with this scenario is that not all website designs look the same on all browsers. Check if your website design looks good on all these browsers to make sure that you’re not ignoring a significant percentage of internet users just because they happen to be using a different kind of browser.
Great customer service isn’t just about talking to your customer face-to-face or on the phone, it’s also about making sure that they can easily surf through your website. If you already have a completed site design, look it over and check if it’s customer-friendly. You’d be surprised how this improves your conversion rate. Plus, it lets your customers know that you prioritize them over everything else.
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