Lots of companies think that selling online involves little more than putting their products on their website. Yet, websites are often designed without consideration to its purpose. Is it there to sell direct to consumers, or just one of several marketing channels? The assumption is that any website visitor is ready and willing to buy. Yet you will know from your own experience that this is rarely the way purchases are made.
Getting your website right depends on you understanding this customer journey and what they want. Here are some important things to remember:
1. Your Website Should Help You Understand Your Customers
Regard your website as a marketing platform. It needs to learn as much as possible about its customers. It should gather data about your consumers, so you can better understand the consumer journey. When you create your website with the consumer in mind, it can help attract, engage, drive sales and build loyalty.
2. Your Website Should Address a Solution
The modern consumer is not searching for a product to buy; they are looking for a solution to a problem. The brands that help address a customer’s problem effectively will succeed online. Those that focus solely on selling products are more likely to fail.
*3. Your Website Should be the Central Hub of Your Business
Whether you sell direct or not on your website, it is an absolutely critical component of your business strategy. Think of it as the central hub of a wheel, with each spoke representing your brand’s roles or departments, like marketing, selling, product development, fulfilment, accounting and so on.
*4. Audit Your Website Through Consumer Eyes
You should do consumer testing on your website, to ensure that it serves customer needs. However, you can look at it from the perspective of your customer too. Think about what a customer wants and what help they need. Then go through your website and see if it addresses their problems. You can also compare your website with a competitor’s.
Make it your mission to find out who buys your products, why they buy them and what challenges they have. Remember the role of your website in your brand strategy and let it become the hub of your business. Your website will often be a first point of contact for a customer, so make sure it shines.
To learn more on the importance of ecommerce, explore B2C Ecommerce.
