Change the usual pattern.
You may be thinking that a company website is mainly for showcasing the services and products you sell. That you and your employees know best what your service is about or how your product works. And that only you can talk about it in a good way.
Partly, you’re probably right, but the customer doesn’t need all your knowledge – after all, that’s what they’re paying for later. Don’t expect your clients to understand the details of what you do, they don’t need to understand, they just need to believe that you know your stuff and can effectively solve the problems they come to you with.
Therefore, it is worth “unsticking” from the old way of perceiving the company website and consider the following typical problems:
1) Failure to define a clear business purpose for the company website
The basic issue – what business purpose is your website and its individual elements supposed to serve? Leaving aside such goals as: “generally inform”, “look nice”, “create a friendly image” or present a “company history” or a detailed catalogue of products and services.
Instead, your sub-pages should be geared towards fulfilling specific goals derived from your company’s broader strategies and tactics. Examples of general goals might be:
- increasing enquiries for a particular service or product
- entering a specific market
- increase the contact base to potential customers
- catch a potential customer in a remarketing network to display additional information later
- educating the customer about your product or service, e.g. through periodic emails
- building the image of a domain expert
- conducting market research on the company’s offer
- support sales activities by presenting products in a visual, accessible and educational way
Conclusion: Specific business goals
2) 2) Using industry and expert terms that customers do not understand
Customers do not need to be experts in your industry, they do not need to know specialist terminology, the names of specific models or the technology used. After all, you’re the one they pay for the knowledge you possess. So avoid speaking in specialist jargon, using industry terms, presenting complex diagrams, and inundating the client with data and analysis that will be difficult for them to understand.
Instead, try to talk about your business as you would explain it to an “auntie on her name day”, focus on the core of the value delivered, use metaphors, surprise, stir emotions and explore the full range of benefits of your solutions. Keep the tone of a close advisor.
Conclusion: Be an expert but beware of expertness
3) Talking about yourself/your company instead of your customers
The customer is only interested in himself and the benefits he can get from working with you. He will not be particularly interested in the history of the company, “a team of qualified specialists” or the idea and passion that guided the owner 30 years ago when setting up the business.
Storytelling from one’s own perspective is an affliction that affects almost all company websites. It is common to write “our company provides…”, “with us you will be able to…”, “our team can…”. You should write to the customer from their perspective. Try to replace these phrases with “The result for you will be…”, “You will receive more…”, “You will achieve your goal of…”.
Conclusion: The customer is not interested in your business
4) Not understanding what customers are looking for on your website
Customers do buy your products, but not for their features or functionality. They buy them because they serve their goals or solve their business problems. So try to reverse the narrative from product to problem. Talk about how you help, not what you offer.
Conclusion: Customers are not looking for your products
5) Highlighting products and services instead of values
We believe in long-form text. But creating content for quantity, to make it look serious and show that the company has a lot of experience, it is unlikely to bring the expected results. The customer will get tired by the second paragraph and will not even get to the bottom of the benefits you offer.
Focus on short phrases that catch the customer’s interest. Encourage further reading, present complex products or processes in a friendly, simple, graphical way. Highlight specific values that are really important to customers. Then there can definitely be more content.
Conclusion: Less is more.
6) Creating content solely for SEO and not for humans
Creating content for search engines is a proven tactic for generating website traffic. But what’s the point of attracting lots of users to your site if they can’t find content that effectively speaks to them?
Lots of traffic and low conversions means wholesale lost sales opportunities and burned through budgets. Sometimes it also means discouragement towards the brand and an irreversible loss of trust. It’s often better to focus on fewer visits but prepare content that gets to the heart of your customers’ needs with sniper precision.
SEO can be addressed in a separate way, by designing the site architecture accordingly and placing SEO content in dedicated sections.
Conclusion: if you want to make an impact, create websites for people, not robots
7) Lack of ability to speak clearly about your ‘complex’ products and services
Sometimes business owners who have successfully run their companies for 20 years find it difficult to clearly articulate the real value they deliver. Similarly, founders of technology companies, whether creating advanced technologies, structures or providing sophisticated services, have trouble clearly communicating the benefits the buyer will receive. They have a wealth of knowledge and experience that, instead of simplifying, complicates communication and makes it difficult to understand what it is like to use the company’s products.
Lead the narrative in a language that your audience will understand.
Conclusion: The curse of knowledge does no favour
8) Putting content on the page from your own point of view
Being inside the company, it is often hard for us to understand the customer’s mindset and to guess their purchase path. It is important to skilfully guide the viewer through the site and present successive elements to help them understand:
- how we can solve his problems
- how we can help them achieve their business goals
- why our solution is the right one
- what differentiates us from our competitors
- what values justify our price level
- what confirms our experience and market position
Conclusion: The sales process is less important than the buying process
9) Relying on feel instead of data
Although sometimes the solutions used on websites may seem unintuitive or, on the contrary, optimistically perfect, it is worth verifying them with analyses. Gathering data and subsequent analysis of users’ behaviour on the website allows you to draw conclusions and strive for continuous improvement. Only an iterative approach, aimed at continually increasing conversion rates and engaging users, can bring spectacular results.
However, if you prefer to rely on proven solutions, we have a few in store, and you can schedule a free strategy session with us, during which we will tell you how to squeeze much more value out of your corporate website.
Conclusion: Numbers don’t lie
