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Do
Customers Trust Your Website?
by Andrea Harris
How often do
you think about trust in terms of your website?
You think about the content you put on it, the
look and feel, the quality of the messaging. But
if visitors to your website don't trust you, they
won't become your customers.
Why has credibility become
such a hot button for website owners? In this
case, the Web's best features are also its own
worst enemy. The Web is an inexpensive, easy place
to publish your content - and it levels the playing
field between large and small enterprises. While
this is good news for small businesses that don't
have large marketing budgets, it's also good news
for a sleazy, marginal business that wants your
money. Any unqualified hack can acquire a stellar
Web presence for just a few thousand dollars.
The smaller or less well-known
your company, the more important it is to present
a credible, trustworthy face. You don't have the
benefit of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign or
an already-established presence in the marketplace.
If you want people to believe what they see on
your site, you've got to give them good reasons
- in fact, ten of them.
Summed up below in bold type
are ten Guidelines for Web Credibility,
which grew out of a project by the Stanford Persuasive
Technology Lab. The guidelines are based on three
years of research with more than 4,500 people,
and the advice has proven to be sound. My comments
follow.
1. Make it easy to verify
the accuracy of the information on your site.
Remember what they told you when you learned to
write reports in middle school. Credit your sources.
Link to them when you can. Show that you didn't
"MSU," as we used to say in the large
computer company where I once worked (the polite
definition is "Make Stuff Up.")
2. Show that there's a
real organization behind your site.
Posting a physical address on your contact page
goes a long way. So do photos of the management
team. (It took me a long time to accept this for
my own site, but I found that I wanted to see
photos of people on other sites, so I caved in.)
3. Highlight the expertise
in your organization and in the content and services
you provide.
Especially if you offer a service, such as consulting,
you need to show customers that you are qualified
and equipped to handle their needs. Your credentials
and affiliations with respected organizations
will show that you're solid and trustworthy. Show
where you've been and what you've done.
4. Show that honest and
trustworthy people stand behind your site.
Many sites have a "Management Team"
page in their "About Us" section. A
local nonprofit land preservation organization
has posted photos from a staff party on their
website. In the photos they're dressed to represent
various decades - one male staffer wears a long
blond wig and miniskirt. Now these are people
you want to have fun with! Along with appropriate
photos of people in canoes and on hiking trails,
the page effectively conveys the friendly spirit
of the organization. (And how can you not trust
an organization that posts photos of employees
in drag?)
5. Make it easy to contact
you.
Your phone, email address, and physical address
should be easy to find. I'd like to add that you
should reply promptly to any customer inquiries
you receive. I left a Web-hosting provider that
took days to answer support emails and never,
ever answered the phone or returned calls (despite
a lovely female voice on the voicemail system
that assured me how much they cared). I'm convinced
that a team of high school kids manage that company
in between trips to the mall.
6. Design your site so
it looks professional (or is appropriate for your
purpose).
If you wouldn't give a customer a photocopied,
homemade brochure, don't show them an unprofessional
website. Put yourself in the hands of a professional
Web designer who understands how to project the
right image for business clients. Tie the look
and feel into your printed materials to reinforce
the consistency and impact of your brand.
7. Make your site easy
to use - and useful.
Easy-to-use sites allow readers to find the content
(the useful content) they are seeking. Imagine
traveling to a new city and renting a car on a
dark, rainy night. You slide in behind the wheel
and try to put the key in the ignition. But the
ignition is not where it usually is; it's to the
left of the steering wheel. Then you look for
the windshield wipers, but their controls are
on the ceiling. It takes you 15 minutes to get
going. That's what it can be like trying to use
a site that doesn't follow basic guidelines for
usability. Don't be lured into showcasing your
great Web design talents, only to create a beautiful
site that's impossible to navigate.
Useful sites put the needs
of the customer first. They anticipate what information
the customer will be looking for and post appropriate
content. How useful is a site whose home page
is a lengthy animated flash image that shoves
the company's logo and mission statement in your
face? Not very. (But that "skip intro"
link is VERY useful.)
8. Update your site's
content often (at least show it's been reviewed
recently).
If that seminar or trade show has passed, remove
it from your "Upcoming Events."
9. Use restraint with any promotional content
(e.g., ads, offers).
If you're not selling Ginsu® knives, don't
act like you are. In-your-face promos are annoying
and distract from your content. Make it too obvious
that you want to sell something, and you'll put
people on the defensive. Avoid pop-ups. I'm sure
I'm not the only one who deletes them using peripheral
vision, so I never have to really look at them.
10. Avoid errors of all
types, no matter how small they seem.
Typos and broken links show you're not in control.
If you're window-shopping in a new neighborhood,
are you going to step into a store if the windows
are broken and the door is hanging off the hinges?
Guest
author article:
Ten
Steps to Lifetime Client Value
by Lisa
Nirell, Nirell & Associates
Client value is a way for
you to predict how much your client will buy from
you during the lifetime of your relationship.
Calculating lifetime client value helps ensure
your long-term survival during recessionary times.
It shows how much you should invest in getting
a new client, how much time and effort should
go into retaining the client, and how to create
a lifetime of products/services that they will
buy.
If you want to be a
business builder, the secret is to figure out
exactly what you're willing to pay to find/acquire
a new client. Read
the complete article.
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