The best experience site visitors can have is to find what it is they’re looking for. They want easy access to quality, unbiased information, they want to compare prices and they want to know if the company, association, service provider or other site owner delivers the goods or services visitors are looking for.
Unfortunately, site owners want something else – a sale, an opt-in, a download, an email address, form-based information or something else from visitors – so there’s a vast difference between the desires of site visitors and site owners. And that’s something we all explain over and over and over.
To help bolster the opinion that a web site is visitor-centric, here are some simple push-backs to get clients to recognize what keeps site visitors on site longer by enhancing the on-site experience.
1. Move the opt-in module.
It often appears on the home page or a landing page. When was the last time you opted in? Like never? Why? Because you know you’ll be spammed to the grave. Your GRANDKIDS will still be getting emails from some roofing company in Dubuque.
Some sites lock out visitors altogether, requiring an email address before visitors are even allowed access to the site – the place sales are made. Makes no sense. Let visitors see how good the business is with access to informational content –
Move the opt-in module to the Contact page. If a visitor clicks on this navigation tab, s/he is already interested – a more highly-qualified lead – and, therefore, more likely to opt in in exchange for a “free 30-minute consultation.”
2. Design the navigation for a chimp.
A lost visitor is a gone visitor. Navigation should be really simple.
- Make the navigation bar available on every page.
- Keep the navigation bar in the same place on every page.
- Make sure links are described using unambiguous terms. It’s better to be clear than clever.
- Make the home page link really obvious (allows visitors to “start over”).
- Don’t assume visitors know there’s a back button on their browsers, i.e. no dead ends.
- Avoid dynamic navigation bars where links change based on the page the visitor is on. Consistency avoids confusion.
3. Place contact information on every page.
You never know when the visitor will pull the trigger and perform the most desired action (MDA). It may be on the About page so keep that telephone number and email address visible on every page.
The simpler it is to make contact the more often contact is made.
4. Make every page a sell page. Just don’t hype it.
The About Us page provides information about the company – date founded, location, services and other “hard information.” However, by positioning the site owner in the best possible light the About Us page becomes a testament to the highest standards and lock-tight delivery of services and products. Sold.
5. Add a strong call to action on the Contact page.
Related to point #1, if a visitor clicks on Contact you’re half-way there. These visitors are thinking about performing the MDA.
Most Contact Us pages simply have contact information and maybe a picture of the main HQ. A strong, short, punchy call to action on this page may well be the tipping point that encourages the interested visitor to opt in (that’s why the opt-in module is here), dial the toll-free number or enter a message in an email module.
6. Add trust builders all over the place.
Professional association logos create immediate trust. If the site owner is a member of the Texas Bar Association, snag that logo and stick it in the visitor’s face.
A picture of the owner is an organic trust builder. The standard “professional” head shot is boring. Use a picture of the busy business owner in a “candid” pose. It’s a picture that makes a statement, e.g. I’m a busy executive with a stack of files on my desk so I must know what I’m doing.”
Then there’s the obvious – the Online BBB, VeriSign on the checkout page, a Web of Trust (WOT) logo – all build trust quickly in the minds of site visitors and quick is good when it comes to keeping visitors on-site longer.
7. Help the visitor.
Providing free help creates the need on the part of visitors to reciprocate and do something nice for the source of that free help. Ask any car salesperson.
Give it away. Give free advice. Provide free shipping. Add a forum so visitors can easily create a support community. There’s lots of ways to help visitors on a mission to find information or help.
It’s tough to convince some clients that it isn’t about their most desired action, it’s about the MDA of site visitors. If you enhance the on-site experience the site owner will see the performance of the MDA more often and you’ll get a nice card during the holiday season.
