Building Repeat Business Online
All over the Net, websites are gathering virtual dust. Some of them cost a fortune; others were created on a budget of zero. They’re all different, but they all have one thing in common – they aren’t sticky enough.
If a website isn’t sticky, it isn’t working. A sticky site is one where visitors return again and again, and they spend plenty of time on each visit, the real-world equivalent is repeat business. It costs a fortune to attract a new customer, so smart companies try to turn each customer into a repeat customer. When you’re building or re-launching a site, there are three things to consider: design, content and marketing.
Design
Good design applies to almost every kind of website, if visitors can’t find their way around, they won’t hang around. It’s also important to think about your site’s appearance and usability as a lot of sites just don’t look good. This might not matter if you’re simply selling burgers on the high street but when you’re selling; a beautiful location, fantastic food and first rate service, then looks do count. Aesthetics should not be your only governing factor, clear navigation can move users round the site explaining your business to them and inviting them to buy your product or service. Resist the temptation to use every piece of flashy new technology, unless that will appeal to your target market. Always try to make sure that your website reinforces your existing brand to your customers. If your basic structure is sound, concentrate on the content as this after all is what many customers will pay for.
Content
Don’t assume that a site has to be massive in order to be sticky though. A site with a small amount of well-chosen, useful, interesting or entertaining content will be stickier than a sprawling site that’s stuffed to the gills with rubbish. Your content should also be updated regularly so that visitors have a reason to return. There’s no rule that says you must update your site every day, every week or every month, but if visitors get used to weekly or daily updates then it’s important to stay current. Have someone trained in HTML at your organisation to do this or hire a web design firm to make the changes for you, if your news page is still selling tickets to the company Christmas lunch then you’re in danger of looking out-of-date. Consider adding competitions or surveys to your website to add extra reasons for people to visit more often.
Marketing
The final part of the process is also perhaps the most important. If the marketing of your website doesn’t extend beyond putting its address on your business card, then all the previous hard work could be in vain. There are many online techniques to use to gain and retain customers and they should be integrated into the design or redesign of your website and not looked at as a separate process. Search engine marketing can be a key way of bringing in new business as web searchers are usually looking for products through the search engines rather than specific companies. Having your hotel highly ranked for ’ Edinburgh central hotel’ would be a great way to bring in traffic and sales to your website, and better than hoping searchers know your exact web address.
Starting a newsletter can help turn one-off customers into retained repeat visitors. Online businesses have the advantage that they can contact their customers frequently and at very little cost as people are happy to sign up to receive emails as long as your message is relevant to them. Emailing your users with special offers or discounts can fill out voids in your order book as well as improving customer satisfaction.
By giving your website an overhaul to improve its ‘stickyness’ you can build repeat custom to your site and extra sales for your business.