Posted on November 28, 2021 in Marketing Thoughts

3 Things Visitors Expect When Visiting Your Website

SEO, Social media, advertising, reviews, emails- there are so many ways that companies spend resources, time and money to drive people to a website. However, There is almost no point to driving droves of people to your website if they hit the back button seconds after visiting it. The whole point to driving traffic to your site is for someone to perform a certain action- make an appointment, purchase a product, request a service etc. Instead of spending more money trying to get more people to your site, convert more of the people that are already coming to your site.  The amount of people that complete a desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of visitors is called a conversion rate. What would a 5 percent, 10 percent increase in your conversion rate mean to your business?

Mary Kay Ash, of the Mary Kay Empire, said to “Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’   That is exactly how Birdseed helps your business succeed online. We help your visitors feel valued and important by immediately offering them tools they need to access the information they are looking for quickly. In this modern world of fast times and quick searches, that is no mean feat, but we have learned a few things along the way that we want to share with you. People have different preferences in how they like to communicate and engage with a company and they prefer to engage when they are ready. BirdSeed address both of these issues by letting them engage how and when they want.

When a potential customer goes to your website for the first time, they have either taken the time to type in your web address, or they have interrupted their web browsing to click a link to your site. When they arrive on your website, there are three main things they are looking for information, engagement and trust. These are separate, but overlapping facets of the web experience. They want to know something about you, your product or business, they want to know that you are reputable and try to get a sense that they can trust and they are looking to engage with you by either asking questions to get answers or more information or set up a call, schedule an appointment or purchase your product. No matter what the final “conversion action” you want them to take, there is a path that gets them there.

Information is Easy To Find

An initial visit to your site may focus on learning more about your company, or to see if a product or service is available at your company. As a business, you want to have your visitors take certain actions on your website with the hopes that these actions will lead to sales. When a visitor is gathering information, the worst thing that can happen is they leave your website without the information they are looking for. This often happens because websites are not structured well, the information is hard to find. ANY complexity, confusion or lack of confidence during this website visit and the web visitor often bounces off immediately.

However, often there is a lot of information that you have available for the consumer. As the mobile experience becomes more common ( which is already almost 40 percent EXCLUSIVELY mobile across the board now) that usability becomes even more important. Having an easy path to finding information to immediately answer questions like contact information or a knowledge base they can read that answers common questions, is key to retaining a visitor. Offering the information in a readily available navigation point is crucial. The number one preference of most customers is live chat. Even the best FAQ page, knowledge base or video library won’t cover EVERY question possibly asked. Make it easy for them.

Navigation is a huge part of creating a well-organized and user-friendly website. If the user wants to venture further into your website, there should be a clear place for them to do so, and in the same respect, get back to where they started if they so choose. Creating a well-organized navigational system for your entire website allows users to venture wherever they please, which keeps them there longer with an increased chance for conversions.

Most users do not use their back buttons, I know … hard to believe… but it is true. Don’t fall into the trap of letting your customer use a browsers back button.  Why should the browser do your website’s job?  Information should be readily accessible, without additional navigation hacks like a back button.

Birdseed is designed to offer all the links to the information they want in one simple button. One click launches a box that has the links to anything the user may want to do-12 powerful tools including live chat, meeting scheduling, FAQ, testimonials and more. The button removes all the clutter from a website (you can determine where that button is placed is on your site) that can immediately bring a visitor to the area they are looking for. After all, they are on your website to obtain information.  BirdSeed makes it handy and easily accessible.

Engagement

From a visitor’s perspective, they want to engage with your website.  They took the time to go there, now it’s up to you to provide the information they need… and quickly. You only have a few minutes—or less, to capture the attention of a visitor with engaging content and the information they are searching for. Since prospects are quick to judge the value and relevancy of your content, each blink of an eye can make the difference between piquing their interest in your company, or sending them back to Google for another search.

By providing a wide variety of types of interaction, you afford your visitor the opportunity to interact in whatever way they find most comfortable.  For instance, some visitors just want to read, others prefer to ask a specific question and have an immediate answer. Having real-time availability is crucial for those visitors who absolutely must engage immediately.   Take a look at some of the solutions we provide to ensure your visitors can engage immediately here. 

Once visitors reach your website, you need to keep them engaged to increase the potential of them becoming customers. To maximize engagement, include content that’s helpful to visitors like tutorials, how-to articles, and reviews.

Increasing visitor engagement on your company website is a great way to see significant results in increased ROI.

In the first stage of the buyer journey—awareness, your sales funnel audience is the highest. If you fail to invest enough effort to engage prospects at this point with custom content that captures their attention quickly, you may risk losing much of your audience before they reach the middle of the funnel where purchase decisions are made. Engaging content ensures higher conversion rates.

Trust

First impressions are crucial to any relationship.  The overall goal of the website should be to load fast, look simple, offer value and be easy to navigate.  But if your website does not inspire trust, your visitors will quickly leave. Most customers have initial skepticism when visiting a website, and it is up to your company to immediately establish that you are reputable, and establishing rapport will help. Websites that immediately ask for personal information, like an email address or account creation are pushing too hard too fast. It is similar to a first date where you haven’t even gotten your appetizers and the other person is asking you to commit. If your call-to-action becomes invasive before trust is established, there’s a good chance they’ll just leave. Demanding any commitment from first-time visitors is no way to deal with initial skepticism.  Offering multiple contact points and safe interactions are the best way to ease into a trust-based relationship.

Testimonials inspire trust, but no one wants to wait for a rotating slideshow of testimonials.  Give an area a visitor can immediately go to ensure the website is valid, and the product or service you offer has been used by others successfully in the past.  Big companies like Amazon or Google have spent years establishing trust in their audience, and its paid off big time.   Trusting Google searches is almost a byword now, and when ordering from Amazon, customers feel confident in leaving their valuable credit card information with them. Let your customers know others are confident in your service, and soon they will be too.

In Summary

Take the time to see your site from your potential customer’s point of view. Offer helpful information before asking for your call to action or personal information. Birdseed offers many options that help to aid in the information gathering, navigation, and trustworthiness of your website for your visitors. Birdseed can help you increase the amount of web visitors that convert to customers by improving their online experience of your site.

In reality, not every visitor to your website wants to purchase your product or service today. But that doesn’t mean that their visit your website can’t be successful for them.  It may just be the start of a long-term business relationship. BirdSeed puts the customer in the driver seat and helps them feel important. Find out how our FREE product can help your company today.

Until Next Time,

Robert Urban – CMO of BirdSeed 

Current CMO of BirdSeed and best-selling author, Marine veteran and PhD.  Offers expert-level strategy and execution for SAAS and technology business through relationship driven marketing, content and sales while leading and managing people from all different backgrounds. BirdSeed is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.