When you click onto a website, you are seeking information. Maybe you want to understand a product better, maybe you need to check a price or make a booking, or perhaps you want to find out who runs the joint. But at the back of your mind, whether you know it or not, you have a central question that you need answered: Something like “Should I spend my money on this service?”; “Is this somewhere I would like to work?” or even “How much experience do these consultants have?”.
This is the same for every one of your website visitors. There are all different kinds of people who will click on your site, or more accurately there are people with all different kinds of needs that they are seeking to satisfy from your website. Your goal needs to be to create a simple formula (with minimal clicks) to ensure a successful user journey and subsequent customer action.
That’s why it’s crucial for you to identify those different audience types – to better decide what content is key to highlight. This will then inform a page hierarchy for the user; making sure that they know exactly where they need to go to continue on their information scavenger hunt is your priority. It takes a certain amount of fortune telling, guess work and of course psychoanalysing, but the good news is, it’s not as hard as it sounds.
The first step is just activating your intuition and applying your own business insights. You need to consider who the different audience types are. And Kooba – being the beacon of knowledge that we are – have collated the likely offenders right here. Have a scan below and see if any of these visitors sound familiar and relevant for you.
Researchers:
This cohort visits the site to learn about your product and compare the features and benefits to different options. With an aim solely of info finding, it is vital that the modules are laid out on a page in the most effective way inspiring a fluid user journey which can make all the difference.
For this type of visitor, a brochure site – one that offers awareness and builds trust – could be a good fit. Or maybe you need to create a very strong FAQ to decrease questions to your customer service? If you can outsource and automate – your website is the perfect place to do this. Let it be a resource; a bible for your business.
Decision makers:
The ones with the wallet. The final decision-makers are usually concerned with the high-level benefits of your product or solution. The typical question they would ask is “Will this solution help my company make more money?”. They don’t have time for lengthy proof points. So here’s where your blurb, the 90 seconds elevator pitch, comes into play.
Do you have the shortest explanation of what your business does in an accessible way? From start to finish, the decision maker's experience must be flawless. Once they’re convinced, make the payment process straightforward and fool proof. CTA buttons will need to be crystal clear with minimal website buffering. The last thing you want is a frustrated customer. They won’t try twice.
Prospective employees:
The way you typically talk about your business in general will be very different from the way you talk about your business to someone you want to hire. Do you have a “Work for Us” page? Is it up to date? It’s important to focus on what your prospective employees are looking for when they come to your website, and ideally how you can develop strong content to answer their questions. While we are working on your website revamp, we encourage you to be working on your content alongside. Not just for prospective employees, but for anyone who comes looking for your business. Great content leads a user to specific call-to-action. Sometimes that might be “Apply now”.
Competitors:
You would be naive to think that there aren’t people on your website for only a self-serving reason with no interest in supporting your mission. Who are the people that might be interested in the ins and outs of your dealings? The ones that are potentially doing the same thing, of course.
It is so essential to provide lots of valuable info about your corporation on your website, but there is a fine balance:
Don’t over-advertise the details of what it is that you do. Like a high-value and engaging love interest being pursued, you have to keep the mystery.
Don’t disclose your prices online. This is another opportunity to invite engagement and gather customer data.
Do talk about the future of your business: Think the Whys and Whats but refrain from the Hows.
And although we want to learn about your team, the family, your crew. Remember that the people who care the most, are most likely only interested in headhunting. Be cautious with offering up your secrets to success. In other words… be a tease.
Most importantly, a website can be well designed and easy to use, but if the information is not catered towards the site visitor’s needs, it won’t be a worthwhile website. Simply; if you don’t know who you are catering to how can you get them to listen?
So ask yourself these questions:
- Who are you selling to?
- Why are they visiting your site?
- What does your target audience want to know?
- How do customers hear about you?
Come back to your business goals and the metrics of success. KPIs change from client to client; from lead generation, to form submissions, to a good old-fashioned click, we can measure and test to see if your website is succeeding. If so, great! If not, get in touch and we will do a full analysis of your visitors and their interactions, getting you back on track.
