Emotionally Connected Web Sites

Returns Policies Matter!

2006-02-22T20:21:00.000-08:00

I recently presented programs about Web site traffic analysis at the San Francisco and Seattle Gift Shows.

I looked at several traffic reports for small retail sites, and noticed an interesting trend:

The Customer Service and Returns Policies pages ranked pretty high on the list for visitor numbers.

The California Online Business Code mandates clear links to these policies from every page of your site connected with the sales process. I think that makes a lot of sense - even if you're not in California!

We could see clearly that visitors check these policies out for a sense of reassurance in case something is wrong with their purchase. So if they can't find them, or if they're hard to understand, or unreasonable, your potential customers may well go somewhere else.

And you don't want to let that happen!

Just How Important is Your Web Site?

2006-01-23T17:26:00.000-08:00

I just presented my "How Does Your Web Site Make Me Feel?" program at the annual Harley-Davidson Dealer Operations Training (yes, I do have some cool clients!)

We talked about how over 75% of people who walk into a Harley store will have visited that store's Web site first. Which makes the Web site a pretty key part of the marketing mix . . . so we talked about how to create a great first impression.

At the end of my session, I like to ask the audience what they've learned.

And this time I got a wonderful response from "Harley" Bob LaRoche, who owns Yankee Harley-Davidson in Bristol, CT.

Bob said: "I've learned that the appearance and functionality of your Web site is as important as the appearance and functionality of your dealership."

I don't think I need to say any more!

First Impressions Are Really Fast!

2006-01-16T16:59:00.000-08:00

As you can tell by now, I love reading the BBC Web site (must be the expat Brit thing!)

Here's a report from today:

"Internet users make up their minds about the quality of a website in the blink of an eye, a study shows.

Researchers found that the brain makes decisions in just a twentieth of a second of viewing a webpage.

The study, published in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology, also suggests that first impressions have a lasting impact."

I also love it when an independent study bears out something I've been talking about. I've been asking the key question: "How Does Your Website Make Me Feel?" because we know that people make instinctive and intuitive - and fast - decisions - now here's proof!

Check out the traffic reports for your site - how many visitors take one look and click away? Is there a pattern to this? If so, you may need to make some "emotional connection" adjustments.

BBC Reports a Gender Gap in Internet Use!

2006-01-03T02:44:00.000-08:00

BBC NEWS | Technology | Gender gap alive and well online:
"A study by the Pew Internet Project found that roughly the same percentage of men and women in the US are serious internet users.

But the research found that men value the net for the freedom it gives them to try new ways of doing things.

By contrast women like the opportunities the net gives them to make and maintain human connections. "

Wow! Stunning news - are any of us much surprised by this?

But it certainly underlines my premise that we need to pay more attention to creating emotional connections online.

Does your site offer any way for your visitors to connect with each other? Would that make any sense in your context?

If not, let's at least ensure that your visitors can connect with you!

Happy New Year to all.

Don't Make Me Work!

2005-12-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was visiting with Arnie, a new client in Palo Alto. We decided to order in some lunch, and pulled up the Quizno's Web site.

Then things got slightly surreal. We both gazed at the large and very clear monitor, and neither of us could figure out how / where to find the menus and place our order.

Finally, one of Arnie's very bright employees came along, and said "Click on Our Menu".

Duh! Now we saw the link - but it's in the navigation on the left side, and it's fairly small. The home page has lots of content that blinks at you or is otherwise highlighted, but none of it has anything to do with simply ordering food.

Maybe I'm being over-picky, but doesn't it seem logical that placing an order might be one of the primary reasons for any visit to this site?

So figure out the primary reasons that bring visitors to your site, and provide easily visible and clickable links to get them to the right place up front and center.

Don't Make Me Work! (many folk won't bother . . .)

Firewalls - Are You Getting Through?

2005-12-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

Last week, I was working on a "Pick my Brain" consultation with Howard Meibach.

His site, Hollywood Lit Sales.com offers some incredible tools and resources to help get your movie script accepted by one of the major studios.

Howard asked "What do you think of my home page banner that advertises a free Writers Survival Kit with every order?"

And I said: "What banner??"

My firewall (ZoneAlarm) is helpfully set to block pop-up windows and other annoying ads for me. I love that!

Trouble is, often the firewall software can't distinguish between the intrusive stuff I don't want, and things that are legitimate. I've seen this before - including catalog pages on a major corporate site where I couldn't see any way to buy an item - the "Add to Shopping Cart" button was also being disallowed by my firewall.

I don't know how to tell what will or won't be blocked. But if you have anything on your site that's a banner, or Javascript, or could be classified as a pop-up, make sure to check that it shows up on browsers protected by firewall software.

Otherwise, your visitors could be missing your best calls to action!

Building Me Up . . . and Letting Me Down

2005-11-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

I'm leaving for a brief business trip to the Seattle area. I was delighted to receive an e-mail from the hotel welcoming me in advance, and letting me know about the new in-room CD player - bring my own music. Great! I'm excited, and lookng forward to my stay.

But the one thing I'm paranoid about when travelling is getting a non-smoking room. The e-mail also invited me to view my reservation details online, so I happily clicked on the link to make sure my request was noted.

Reservation Error

We apologize for the inconvenience, but the selected reservation cannot be retrieved online. Please contact the Internet Help Desk . . .

AAgh! Instant frustration and the end of my warm glow . . .

I was told that this happened because I didn't make the original booking - that was done by the client's travel agent. Apparently only the person making the booking can view the reservation.

Which makes no sense - I'm the traveller - if you're going to send me an e-mail about my stay, then I should be able to retrieve and possibly change my details.

It's fine to make rules about who can access information - but please make them make sense! Otherwise, you risk losing all the goodwill you've worked so hard to build.

Consistency Is The Key to Credibility

2005-11-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

There are too many scams online!

Of course, your business isn't one of them, but how does your Web site convey that to someone who doesn't know you at all?

Positioning your business as credible, honest and professional is extremely important in creating a sense of trust and a comfort level with your visitors.

Consistency is a key element in this. People are easily confused or deterred by sites that suddenly change their look and feel.

Make sure that these attributes of your site stay very consistent:

1. Page design and overall layout
2. Main navigation structure
3. Colors
4. Fonts
5. Text formatting

Create trust in your visitors and avoid confusion and disillusion - it makes a real difference!

Is Your Shopping Cart Killing Your Sales?

2005-11-10T16:35:00.000-08:00

I get so many calls from people with great Web sites, beautiful products, affordable prices, a cast iron customer satisfaction guarantee - it's all there. Traffic is streaming in. And yet, they aren't making any sales. They can't understand it!

We take a look at their shopping cart. It looks completely different from their site, I can't figure out where the shipping costs are shown, and worse still, I suddenly realise that I have no idea who I'm dealing with!

People want to do business with people that they feel comfortable with. Here are 6 ways to make your visitors feel more comfortable with your shopping cart:

1. The design echoes that of your Web site.
2. Your contact information is shown on every page.
3. The cart is easy to use and works consistently.
4. You offer a selection of shipping methods and prices.
5. Backorders are clearly marked, with a likely shipping date.
6. Items can be removed or added at any time prior to purchase.

The holidays are coming! So get ready by sprucing up your shopping cart!

RFID and Cookies - evoking Big Brother?

2005-11-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

I've been busy this week researching for my program on using RFID in the meetings industry at the upcoming IAEM Expo! Expo! in Atlanta.

It's been fascinating - I've heard so many different views of the status of this technology in terms of it's cost, reliability, and return on investment.

But one thing has really stood out - there's a deep mistrust among attendees around the privacy aspect. I heard from one meeting planner that even the mention of the word "tracking" was enough to have some of her folks rip the chip off their badge!

It's clear that people want to know the deal - if you're using this on me, exactly what information about me is readable, where are you tracking me, and what are you doing with the results?

Which reminds me a lot of the cookies debate. Cookies can be so useful to improve the visitor experience on a Web site, allowing pre-populating forms, reflecting already established preferences, etc.

But you have to be really clear with your visitors about how you're using cookies, and whether and how you share information with any other parties.

Otherwise, they're likely to refuse them, or delete them in short order (some software is now doing that automatically).

Which I guess is the online equivalent of ripping the chip off your badge!

How Does Your Shopping Cart Make Me Feel?

2005-10-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

I've been consulting with some small business clients that I met during my programs at the San Francisco and Seattle Gift Shows.

Many of them have Yahoo! Stores - and many of them have a problem - slower sales than they would like - or perhaps would have expected.

We decided to check out the emotional experience of going through the shopping cart - and discovered a potential roadblock:

- the "Shipping" information is very confusing, especially to a newbie buyer. One site offered me "Three Day Select", without any explanation - do you know what that is?

And the worst part is that I'm asked to enter my credit card details before I know exactly what I'm spending - I'm shown the items in my cart, with the very reassuring note: "Shipping and tax may be added to your order . . ."

How many of us would complete this transaction without full knowledge of the whole deal? We all know that sometimes shipping can be very expensive - and what's that about tax - maybe??

Abandon rates for online shopping carts are still very high. I don't know for sure whether this ambiguity about added charges is a problem for Yahoo! Store owners, but I'd certainly flag it - and I'd be asking Yahoo! for more details on traffic going through their carts - there are ways to tell where people leave the process.

How Does Your Web Site Make Me Feel?

2005-10-21T13:45:00.000-07:00

When people think about the Internet, they think about technology. When people hear that I’m an eBusiness expert, they see me as a 'techy type'.

But the most intriguing aspect of an online business has nothing to do with technology. It’s about human connections, and how we can create these connections in a virtual environment.

In the real world, we do this all the time. Everyone knows that “people buy emotionally, not intellectually.” Even when people think they're making a rational decision, powerful subconscious factors come into play. Antonio Damasio says we're all primarily "feeling machines who think".

To sell effectively, we’re told to anticipate our customers’ needs, to demonstrate that we 'feel their pain', to respond to hidden clues in their body language and tone of voice.

So what happens when we create our Web sites? How do we acknowledge how our visitors might be feeling? How do we make them feel listened to, understood and appreciated in this online environment?

In fact, how do we make them feel like they're having a real world conversation with a real person?

Creating online relationships - one conversation at a time . . .

2005-10-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

Why do we make our lives so hard when they really don't have to be . . .??

I was just talking with a client about the copy on his Web site. He was troubled:

"I wish I could write as if I were just talking with one visitor at a time" he said. "But there are so many people coming to my site - I feel like I have to reach all of them at once!"

Guess what I said: "Yes, there are many visitors reading your copy - but they're reading it one at a time! Have a one on one conversation with each of them."

He was so relieved - and he made his life so much easier!