Does Your Website Engage Buyers?
Your website only has an average of
five seconds to engage a user.
Shawn Fitzgerald, Product Manager for ThomasNet’s Web
Solutions, explains why industrial marketers should evaluate and design their
websites from their customers’ perspectives.
Q. ThomasNet recommends that industrial
marketers look at their companies’ websites from their customers’
perspectives using the “VSET” model: “Verify. Search.
Evaluate. Take Action.” Can you please walk us through each step,
explaining how industrial marketers can get real value and return on investment
from their website initiatives?
A. At ThomasNet.com we strive to satisfy the following four
stages of the user experience for all websites that we create:
Verify – Your website only has an average of five
seconds to engage a user. It is important to let the user know, very quickly
and easily, exactly what it is your business has to offer. If a user cannot
tell what products or services you offer in the first five seconds, they will
move on to another website.
Search – Most likely, your business has both very
knowledgeable and first-time customers for your products or services. The very
knowledgeable customers may be on the site to check a certain specification
of a product before specifying. They are ready to go, and just need to confirm
one small piece of information. On the other hand, if the customer has never
been exposed to your products or services before, they are going to need to
educate themselves on the differences of your offerings. These individuals will
search in very different ways on your website. Businesses need to make sure
that they are serving all of their customers
on their website.
Evaluate – The days of “we just want to put
enough information on our website for them to call us” are over. If a
user cannot find the information that they are looking for, they will go
elsewhere. Supply your customers with the information that they need to make
a decision to specify and buy your product or service. When you provide this
information, you put yourself in a better position to win the business.
Take Action – Provide users with an easy way to
take a specifying action for your products or services. These can be divided
into two groups: “direct actions” and “indirect actions.”
Direct actions would be things like your phone number, a
button for RFQ or request sample, and “add to cart.” These
direct actions are perfect for people that can influence a
decision or have the authority to make the final buying decision.
Indirect actions are helpful for users who are collecting
information for a decision maker or for the creation of a “Bill of
Materials” or project plan. Supplying PDFs and CAD files are very
helpful indirect actions.
Q. Once a VSET has been conducted,
when an industrial company is looking to develop or redesign their
company’s website, what are some of the first considerations or
steps?
A. The “VSET” review allows the company to
find out where they are now and where they need to go in the future. Much
like using a road map, you need to know where you are before you can plot a
course to get to where you want to be. In planning the next steps, the companies
should focus on their current business challenges and goals. What difficulties
do they have in their existing sales process? When do customers need the most
help? How do they want to grow the business in the coming years? When a company
determines the answers to these questions, they can figure out how to let their
website help with the heavy lifting. The ultimate goal for an industrial company
should be to serve the customer and generate more sales out of their
website.
Q. What are some common
mistakes/misunderstandings that industrial companies make/have when engaging in
a website redesign?
A. The biggest mistake is building a website is that you want to build
with the information that you think it should have. But, businesses
must remember to focus on what their customers want. I tell people to think about
what people ask them for on the phone and in email. If you are getting a lot
of requests for certain information, then you should probably have that on your
website. If you don’t provide the content that your customers want, they
will find someone else that is already providing it.
Q. Other than the VSET, are there any
other effective rules/tools/concepts that can facilitate and ensure a website
redesign will deliver on the company’s objectives to drive sales via
their website?
A. We tell the businesses we work with to keep three things
in mind:
- Provide a good users experience with the content that your customers need
to make buying decisions.
- Make sure that all content that is created for your website has the
ability to be indexed by the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.).
- Maintain control of your website to allow for easy updates and
maintenance.
Shawn Fitzgerald is the product manager for ThomasNet’s
Web Solutions. He can be reached at sfitzgerald@thomasnet.com.
