Developing a website can be a little daunting - and it
can be even more daunting trying to put yourself firmly
in the shoes of those you wish to visit and use your site.
It’s often the one thing people developing a website
forget to do - it's one of the most important rather than
thinking about what you would like!.
Keeping your website visitor or customer friendly is one
of the best ways of developing customer loyalty. And customer
loyalty is one of the most important challenges facing business
today with fierce competition.
So, when you develop (or indeed redevelop) your site, just
about the biggest mistake you can make is thinking only
about your organisation and your business needs and not
the customer and their needs.
For example, customers usually just want the product, service
or information - they often don’t care how your organisation
is structured. And they don’t want to have to search
too far to find the product!
There are several keys to creating a customer friendly
website:
•
first, listen to your customers and learn from what they
say.
•
add value. If you are a florist, this added value may be
the convenience of ordering on line, being able to see examples
of what you might be sending and offering a birthday reminder
list.
•
enable two way dialogue. This may be as simple as making
sure your site has all contact details.
•
ensure the technology used to build your site doesn’t
take too long to load.
•
show your organisation’s brand values and personality
clearly.
•
keep the site updated and refreshed. How many times have
you been to a site recently and it still says ‘happy
new year’ or, worse still, ‘Merry Christmas’
!
• have
enough links to lead the customer through your site easily.
• make
transactions easy, reliable and secure, leaving no room
for mistakes and confusion.
Not only will these things help create a friendly site
but they will also help develop customer loyalty. Of course,
you also have to deliver what you promise and fulfil the
expectations your site has created - only you can do that!
