It's About Relationships
By Tom Walker
President,
Chief Online Architect
Web Teks, Inc.
Those who have met with me, or have heard me speak, will tell you I use the words "Web" and "Relationships" together in the same sentence more than any other two words in the English language. Most listeners don't get it at first. But when they do, magical things begin to happen and my role becomes diminished. Let me explain...
Organizations launching new web initiatives “generally” do it for all the wrong reasons. “We need a website because everyone else has one.” Another good one, “The Internet will help us get more business because customers can find us.” Or, by far my favorite, “A website gives us credibility.” All of these statements are true. However, not one of these should be the foundation upon which you build a web strategy!
One thing just about everyone agrees on is that business is about relationships. Those relationships may be with your customers, your employees, your partners, your vendors or even your colleagues; or, as successful businesses have learned, with all of those groups. Biz 101; create, enhance and retain relationships. When you find the appropriate balance of effort and investment in your relationships, your business will prosper.
No one tool ever created has the ability to acquire, develop and retain relationships like the Internet. It’s a high speed, world-wide, universally accepted communication and data sharing tool. Yet, when strategic planners in even the largest organizations discuss how to grow, they forget to ask the most important question:
“How can we use the Internet to enhance relationships?”
What they often do ask is how do we increase productivity, how do we sell more products or how do we decrease overhead. These are all great business objectives, but none of them specifically enhance relationships.
Your business is probably built around three pillars; your people, your product (or service) and your clients. Your people could be employees or contractors. Your product (or service) may be something you produce, a service you provide, or something you resell which is provided from various vendors. And you know your clients… Or do you? It is with a focus on these people upon which ANY web initiative should be designed. Don’t get me wrong, web initiatives that improve internal processes are important. But, if the overall initiative does not contain specific objectives, measurable through KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators), which enhance relationships with your key pillars, scratch it and start over.
I once heard someone say while speaking to an old acquaintance, “It’s really hard to be your friend.” While I acknowledge they were not talking about the web, it did get me thinking. How many organizations use the power of the Internet to make it easy to be their friend? (read ‘friend’ as client, employee, partner, vendor… you get the picture)
When analyzing a client’s processes, I become laser focused on how easy it is to work with them. Do they make relevant data easily accessible to their clients… their employees… their vendors? Do they provide interface tools that make the request or ordering (or reordering) process easy, convenient and effective? Do they effectively use the Internet and online tools to ensure clear communication with their employees and partners? Our goal after all, is to guide clients through creating at least one new initiative for each of their target groups. We look for one item per group that makes the partner’s life better, regardless of what it does for the internal organization. That one initiative per group just enhanced all of their critical relationships and the overall organization just got better. The results, in most cases, are immediate, measurable and exciting.
| Data is Knowledge. Knowledge is Power. When you Share Power, You Build Relationships. |
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What are you doing online to enhance your relationships?
Next month we will begin to examine some examples of companies who are doing it right.
Shortening the Distance to a Sale
By Brian Lewis - VP of Marketing for Engine Ready, Inc
Courtesy of Website Magazine
Does this sound familiar? You're in a store, armed with cash and ready to buy something but, after searching for several minutes can’t find the item anywhere. You could look around for something else to buy or you could travel to another store. But that would require some hassles - walking out to the parking lot, fighting traffic, burning expensive gas and finding another parking spot.
Now picture this scenario online where, in a fraction of second, a click of a finger will take you to a different store where you’re likely to find exactly what you want - a dream for a shopper and a nightmare for a website owner.
As a general rule, the longer it takes your visitors to find their desired products and get to your checkout page, the less likely they will stick around and buy.
There are a number of reasons why your “distance to sale” may be too long: Complex navigation, incomplete information or loads of products with no search feature are just a few.
The Answers are in Your Web Analytics The information in your Web analytics can make it easier to determine the complexity of your website — an important factor in understanding how visitors interact with and move through your site. In some analytics packages there is a report called “clicks to pages” that shows the number of pages visited prior to visiting a specific page.
Suppose you have experienced a decline in online sales from your PPC campaign for a particular product from the same period 12 months ago. It’s likely your analytics package will show, on average, how many clicks (or pages) it takes for your prospects to arrive at the shopping cart page. Your report from 12 months ago shows that the average clicks-to-pages metric was five pages. In running the same report for the most recent month, you notice that the average has increased to eight pages. Depending on the Web analytics package you’re using, your clicks-to-pages report may look similar to the one below.
Click image for larger version
In this report, there are two data columns — Number of Visits and Average Clicks. For our example, we’re interested in studying the average clicks to our shopping cart page so we’ll want to locate the URL of that page — on this report, http://store.yahoo.com/cart.asp.
We can see that, for the time period reported, that it took an average of eight clicks for site visitors to reach the shopping cart page. Let’s get a little more information that will help us determine why.
In some analytics packages, you will find a Conversion Analyst. Here, we can drill down and view the “path to here” option. This will show a path analysis chart similar to the one above that graphically lists the pages visited prior to arriving at our shopping cart page. In this sample, 77.43 percent of visitors who end at the checkout page are coming from …/products/coffeemugs.html, while 4.85 percent of visitors are coming from …products/knife.html and 1.79 percent come from shippinginfo.html.
If we also run this path analysis report for the same period 12 months ago, we can look for any additional branches of activity between our primary entry page and the checkout page. These added branches could be an indication that our customers are confused or not getting the information they expect. Also, note how many visitors exited your site from one of those new branches of activity.
Once new branches have been identified, take a look at the primary entry page and those new branches for any changes that might have been made in content or navigation. Also consider visitors’ expectations prior to their visit. If driving traffic to this primary page from a PPC campaign, check for a strong degree of continuity between your ad creative and the content on the page. A change in PPC ad copy could influence a visitor’s navigation behavior.
Note that depending on the size of your site, a path analysis chart may become difficult to manage due to the numerous possible navigation paths. So, it’s important to focus on the path navigation for specific products or pages, one at a time.
More Specific Recommendations
1. Web analytics should help determine what product and service attributes are important to your visitors. While details for some products seem trivial, those same details could be vital to the visitor’s decision- making process.
For example, if we’re selling wine gift baskets, the dimensions of the basket may not be important to our visitor, and we could benefit from a cleaner product page by placing that information on a drill down page.
However, if we’re selling wine racks, the dimensions are most likely very important and should be listed on the product’s main page.
2. Wherever you list a privacy policy link, test displaying text similar to “We value your privacy, and will never sell or share your information” next to the link. Most of the time, that one sentence is all your visitor wants to know. By allaying their fears and avoiding a visit to a privacy policy page, you’ve removed another distraction that could increase the distance to a sale.
3. Test your modifications to product pages on less-traveled areas of your site. You don’t want to risk losing significant amounts of sales on your most popular items while you fine-tune your site.
Think of your Web analytics as a democratically elected reflection of how visitors really get around your site.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to closing the distance to a sale, remember that not only are you testing your visitor’s level of patience, but also competing with any offline distractions. The longer it takes for the sale to be completed, the better the chance that any interruption, even a phone call, can foil a sale.
And keep the big picture in mind. Any minor change in your pages, navigation or ad copy could result in a different experience for the user than originally intended.
One less click for every potential purchase could improve your conversion rate, resulting in more profits and revenue from your existing traffic without any further ad investment.
About the Author:
As VP of Marketing for Engine Ready, Inc., Brian Lewis brings a robust background in strategic business marketing and management. Lewis earned his B.A. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and his M.B.A. in Finance from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, graduating both schools with honors.
Web Teks is a very proud supporter of the Virginia Beach Forum
Kicking off their 12th season, the Virginia Beach Forum will be a resident company of the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach’s cultural centerpiece.
With their exciting new venue comes exciting new voices. The 2007-2008 season will begin with James Carville and Mary Matalin on November 14, 2007. These two renowned political consultants love to debate their different politics. She’s a Republican and he’s a Democrat and they are husband and wife.
On January 16, 2008, the Forum is pleased to present Richard “Dick” Marcinko, the New York Times best selling author of Rogue Warrior. He was the creator and commander of SEAL Team SIX, the U.S. Navy's first and only counterterrorism command, and is the host of talk radio's "America on Watch."
On April 16, 2008 they bring you Washington Post sports columnist and commentator on NPR's Morning Edition, John Feinstein. He is also the best selling author of A Good Walk Spoiled, A Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers, Open, and Caddy for Life.
For more information, please visit http://www.vabeachforum.org
We're Hiring!
Web Teks, Inc. is well known as the leading web development firm in Southeastern Virginia and beyond, specializing in custom web development and eBusiness solutions.
We are passionate about transforming the way business gets done. With a unique combination of strategic thinking, creativity and technological expertise, we design and build powerful and meaningful Internet solutions.
We are currently seeking additional Web Consultants to work in a collaborative environment helping facilitate existing projects while creating new business relationships with mid to large sized companies requiring web development and/or software solutions.
Responsibilities:
- The Web Consultant candidate will interact with and manage new and existing relationships with partners and business level clients to help facilitate all projects, including managing necessary project communication and ensuring overall client satisfaction throughout the project life cycle
- This includes preparing proposals for current accounts and new business development, as well as preparing responses to RFP's. Individual will also act as the liaison between the Production Manager and the Client throughout the life of each project. Strong customer service, organizational and prioritizing skills are a must.
Qualifications & Experience:
- Relentless personality and strong drive for success
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
- Exceptional organizational and multitasking skills
- Excellent customer service skills
- Outstanding phone, interpersonal and presentation skills
- Proficiency in using computers and business software such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, e-mail and other standard office equipment
- Strong working knowledge of Internet technologies with an emphasis on business solutions
- Experience developing, executing and managing projects
- 3+ years consulting in Software and/or Technology Services application or enterprise software either infrastructure or applications
- Ability to interact comfortably in meetings at the VP level and C Level, execute on a successful and strategic sales process and manage prospects to close
- BS/BA or equivalent education and relevant experience
We are a fun group of professionals who have come together to form a collaborative, fun working environment with a serious focus on customer satisfaction. We are looking for a personable and humorous individual to join our team. Competitive pay with excellent benefits.
Click here for more information
