Transcription
SevenOFHabitsHighlyEffectiveWebsitesTHE
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Websites Get the Maximum Valuefrom Your SiteWhether it’s a book or a new car, software or a plumbing service, the majorityof purchases start online today. It’s a given fact that both B2B buyers andconsumers frequently begin by researching products and services online beforethey buy.Even more important is the influence of onlinecontent on the purchase decision. Experianreported that webpages ranked second only toword of mouth as the most influential factor fora purchase.1But with the average U.S. Internet user viewing2,750 web pages per month,2 how can youmake your site stand out among the competition?“ The Web isinfluencing morethan 1 trillion ofin-store sales.”Chris CopelandCEO, GroupM Search3Like Stephen Covey’s extremely successful 7 Habits books, which help people bemore effective in all sorts of ways, this ebook presents seven equally effectivehabits for websites. Read on to learn more about these proven principles that willhelp you get the most out of your most strategic marketing asset — your website.1. “How Word of Mouth, the Internet and Online Consumer Reviews Influence Purchase Decisions,” Bill Tancer, Experian, 20112. The Nielson Company, January 20113. “Eighty-Six Percent of In-Store, Retail Buyers Search on Generic Versus Branded Keywords, Research from Group Search Reveals,”GroupM Search, October 17, 20112
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesGET IN THE HABITThe customer-centric focus ofBlackmores, Australia’s leading naturalhealth brand, is leading the website tofast becoming Australia’s biggest onlinecommunity dedicated to natural health.The members of the over-300,000strong community enjoy a totallypersonalized user experience based ontheir preferences and needs.HABIT 1:Put Your Customersin ChargeThe first habit of highly effective websites is to embrace the fact that youneed to think like your prospects and customers. Start by putting yourselfin your customers’ shoes — how would they organize your website?Your customers would make it easy to use andeasy to find everything they need quickly. Isyour website doing that now?If not, it’s time to start listening and respondingto your customers’ needs. Then optimize thestructure, content, and tools on your site to helpcustomers achieve their goals. By doing this,you’ll create more loyal customers and repeatbusiness, plus you can lower support costs.308,487 members and growing3
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Websites GET IN THE HABITManchester City Football Club does anexcellent job of aligning its business goalswith the needs of its fans. The websiteexperience is fun and includes fan-centricfeatures such as using rich media to enableHABIT 2:Balance User Experienceswith Business Goalsfans to actually see the view from the seatthey are considering before they purchasethe ticket. The result? Manchester Citysells more tickets and fans look forward tothe on-field experience.Once you understand your customers’ goals, then it’s time to align themwith the business goals for your site.To balance user experiences with yourbusiness goals, you should: Identify what business outcomes youwant to achieve Marry customer goals and yourbusiness outcomes into a set of guidingprinciples for your siteMaking this effort can pay off in a big way. Your guiding principlesenable you to achieve your business goals as a direct result of anticipatingand delighting your customers. Better yet, you’ll also lower your cost ofdoing business as you increase conversions, and you’ll keep customerscoming back again and again, which increases lifetime customer value.4
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesHABIT 3:Implement Your SiteGoals ConsistentlyJust like brand and messageconsistency, you need to havegoal consistency across yoursite. So, this third habit startswith the results of Habits 1and 2. Then you apply thoseresults – your combinedbusiness and customer goals –on a consistent, continual basisacross all aspects of the site.This means ensuring you followyour site principles with everydesign and content decisionyour organization makes.By doing this, you set your site up for greater success. Customers who canachieve their goals on your site will convert in higher percentages. And you’llbuild loyalty as you consistently meet the needs of your site users time after time.5
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesHABIT 4:Deliver Value to YourWeb VisitorsNow you’re on your way to meeting your visitors’ needs and hitting your businessgoals. The next thing you need to do is apply Habit 4 to deepen the relationship.To create loyal, repeat visitors and customers,you need to create a reciprocal relationship withthem. How do you do that? You offer value inexchange for your visitor providing somethingvaluable (typically that’s information that youare asking them to provide.) For instance, youcan deliver helpful content, provide newsletterswith coupons, or maybe you offer them a freeonline tool.Look at every form, every place you ask forinformation, and ask yourself whether you’regiving enough value in return. And make sure you are explaining how you’reusing that information so that customers don’t feel unsure about havingprovided you with their personal data.By creating a reciprocal relationship, you build goodwill with customers andkeep them coming back for more.6
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesGET IN THE HABITDuck brand completely revised its sitebased on user feedback. For instance,it created an extensive FAQ to provideanswers to questions visitors hadsearched for and not found before. TheHABIT 5:Be Honest About Whatis not Workingnew site senses what visitors are lookingfor and lets Duck brand adapt to provide it.No one likes failure, but it’s howyou handle it that can turn it intoan opportunity to delight yourcustomers. So for this habit, insteadof focusing on what works, you needto look at what on your site is notworking as well as it should. Becauseif it’s not working, that means a sitevisitor failed in their goal.different and/or related suggestionsrather than showing a failed searchresult? That could turn a negative intoa positive for your visitor.Put a program in place to identify the“holes” in your site. Ideas for thisinclude: Soliciting and listening to feedback Enabling visitors to rate yourpages or comment on content Showing visitors that you arelistening when they providefeedbackLet’s say your site has a search engineand your visitor searched and foundnothing. What if you provided someBy doing this, you’ll improve the siteexperience, potentially lower customersupport costs, and demonstrate thatyou care about your visitors’ experience.7
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesGET IN THE HABITThe Knot, The Nest, and The Bump are acollection of sites that really take a longterm view of the customer relationship.This integrated marketing approachextends the conversation with theHABIT 6:Create Ongoing Dialogue withYour Customercustomer over time and through importantlife phases such as marriage, creating ahome, and building a family.“What we really need is a mindset shift that will make us relevant to today’sconsumers, a mindset shift from ‘telling and selling’ to building relationships.”— Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer for Procter & Gamble.This statement says it all.Your website presents an amazing opportunity for you to understand and engageyour customer. Think of how you can interact with your site visitor to create anongoing dialogue. Some ideas might be: Across multiple visits, keep prospectsmoving forward by providing relevantinformation based on what they havealready done or read on your site Add a share bar so visitors can shareinteresting, helpful content with theirfriends and colleagues8
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesABHABIT 7:Sharpen Your Website’s SawSharpen your website’s saw, that is,make it as effective as absolutelypossible by utilizing renewaltechniques that can help you keepyour site up-to-date and optimized forbest performance. Techniquesyou can use include: Testing messaging andconcepts to see whichare most effective A/B split testingto determine whichlanding pages, whichcalls to action, whichdesigns result in the greatestnumber of conversions Multivariate testing to testcombinations of variations todetermine an optimal versionBy testing, you’ll learn what messages,designs, and concepts lead to betterconversions for which segments,which segment message is resonatingstronger in which categories, andwhich campaigns resonatestrongest with whichsegments.And that information inturn can help you informdecisions and optimizemarketing spend. Andthe good news is that theconvergence of web analytics,web content management, andmarketing automation into a singlemarketing management platformmake it easier than ever to test andoptimize performance of your onlinemarketing efforts.9
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesTake ActionToday’s empowered buyers seek out sites that offer compelling experiences,relevant content, and a reciprocal relationship. If you put the seven habits wejust covered into practice, you’ll create a highly effective website aligned withboth your customers’ and your business’ goals.Get started now on making yourwebsite more effective by:W Changing the way you approach your siteby putting yourself into your customers’shoes Offering more value to site visitors to buildlong-term relationships Demanding a better experience and betterresults from your website Selecting tools and techniques andrefining business processes to achievethese goals10
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective WebsitesAbout Sitecore Sitecore redefines how organizations engage with audiences, powering compelling experiencesthat sense and adapt to visitors both online and in-person. Sitecore’s leading Content Management System software is the first to cohesively integratewith marketing automation, intranet portal, e-commerce, web optimization, social mediaand campaign management technologies. This broad choice of capabilities enable marketingprofessionals, business stakeholders and information technology teams to rapidly implement,measure and manage a successful website and digital business strategy. Businesses can noweasily identify, serve and convert new customers with Sitecore’s Digital Marketing System, partof its encompassing Customer Engagement Platform.Thousands of public and private organizations have created and now manage more than 32,000websites and digital experiences with Sitecore including ATP World Tour, CA Technologies,General Mills, ESPN Rise, Heineken, ISS, Lloyd’s of London, Microsoft, Omni Hotels, Siemens,The Knot, Thomas Cook and Visa Europe.For more information about Sitecore, visit www.sitecore.net. CopyrightCopyright 2012 Sitecore. All Rights Reserved.Restricted Rights LegendThis document may not, in whole or in part, be photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium ormachine readable form without prior consent, in writing, from Sitecore. Information in this document is subject to change withoutnotice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Sitecore.TrademarksSitecore is a registered trademark of Sitecore. All other company and product names aretrademarks of their respective owners.11
Whether it’s a book or a new car, software or a plumbing service, the majority . of purchases start online today. It’s a given fact that both B2B buyers and . Sitecore’s leading Content Management System software is the first to cohesively integrate with marketing automation, intran
