Returns Policies Matter!

I recently presented programs about Web site traffic analysis at the San Francisco and Seattle Gift Shows.

I looked at several traffic reports for small retail sites, and noticed an interesting trend:

The Customer Service and Returns Policies pages ranked pretty high on the list for visitor numbers.

The California Online Business Code mandates clear links to these policies from every page of your site connected with the sales process. I think that makes a lot of sense - even if you're not in California!

We could see clearly that visitors check these policies out for a sense of reassurance in case something is wrong with their purchase. So if they can't find them, or if they're hard to understand, or unreasonable, your potential customers may well go somewhere else.

And you don't want to let that happen!

Just How Important is Your Web Site?

I just presented my "How Does Your Web Site Make Me Feel?" program at the annual Harley-Davidson Dealer Operations Training (yes, I do have some cool clients!)

We talked about how over 75% of people who walk into a Harley store will have visited that store's Web site first. Which makes the Web site a pretty key part of the marketing mix . . . so we talked about how to create a great first impression.

At the end of my session, I like to ask the audience what they've learned.

And this time I got a wonderful response from "Harley" Bob LaRoche, who owns Yankee Harley-Davidson in Bristol, CT.

Bob said: "I've learned that the appearance and functionality of your Web site is as important as the appearance and functionality of your dealership."

I don't think I need to say any more!

First Impressions Are Really Fast!

As you can tell by now, I love reading the BBC Web site (must be the expat Brit thing!)

Here's a report from today:

"Internet users make up their minds about the quality of a website in the blink of an eye, a study shows.

Researchers found that the brain makes decisions in just a twentieth of a second of viewing a webpage.

The study, published in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology, also suggests that first impressions have a lasting impact."

I also love it when an independent study bears out something I've been talking about. I've been asking the key question: "How Does Your Website Make Me Feel?" because we know that people make instinctive and intuitive - and fast - decisions - now here's proof!

Check out the traffic reports for your site - how many visitors take one look and click away? Is there a pattern to this? If so, you may need to make some "emotional connection" adjustments.

BBC Reports a Gender Gap in Internet Use!

BBC NEWS | Technology | Gender gap alive and well online:
"A study by the Pew Internet Project found that roughly the same percentage of men and women in the US are serious internet users.

But the research found that men value the net for the freedom it gives them to try new ways of doing things.

By contrast women like the opportunities the net gives them to make and maintain human connections. "

Wow! Stunning news - are any of us much surprised by this?

But it certainly underlines my premise that we need to pay more attention to creating emotional connections online.

Does your site offer any way for your visitors to connect with each other? Would that make any sense in your context?

If not, let's at least ensure that your visitors can connect with you!

Happy New Year to all.

Don't Make Me Work!

Yesterday I was visiting with Arnie, a new client in Palo Alto. We decided to order in some lunch, and pulled up the Quizno's Web site.

Then things got slightly surreal. We both gazed at the large and very clear monitor, and neither of us could figure out how / where to find the menus and place our order.

Finally, one of Arnie's very bright employees came along, and said "Click on Our Menu".

Duh! Now we saw the link - but it's in the navigation on the left side, and it's fairly small. The home page has lots of content that blinks at you or is otherwise highlighted, but none of it has anything to do with simply ordering food.

Maybe I'm being over-picky, but doesn't it seem logical that placing an order might be one of the primary reasons for any visit to this site?

So figure out the primary reasons that bring visitors to your site, and provide easily visible and clickable links to get them to the right place up front and center.

Don't Make Me Work! (many folk won't bother . . .)

Firewalls - Are You Getting Through?

Last week, I was working on a "Pick my Brain" consultation with Howard Meibach.

His site, Hollywood Lit Sales.com offers some incredible tools and resources to help get your movie script accepted by one of the major studios.

Howard asked "What do you think of my home page banner that advertises a free Writers Survival Kit with every order?"

And I said: "What banner??"

My firewall (ZoneAlarm) is helpfully set to block pop-up windows and other annoying ads for me. I love that!

Trouble is, often the firewall software can't distinguish between the intrusive stuff I don't want, and things that are legitimate. I've seen this before - including catalog pages on a major corporate site where I couldn't see any way to buy an item - the "Add to Shopping Cart" button was also being disallowed by my firewall.

I don't know how to tell what will or won't be blocked. But if you have anything on your site that's a banner, or Javascript, or could be classified as a pop-up, make sure to check that it shows up on browsers protected by firewall software.

Otherwise, your visitors could be missing your best calls to action!

Building Me Up . . . and Letting Me Down

I'm leaving for a brief business trip to the Seattle area. I was delighted to receive an e-mail from the hotel welcoming me in advance, and letting me know about the new in-room CD player - bring my own music. Great! I'm excited, and lookng forward to my stay.

But the one thing I'm paranoid about when travelling is getting a non-smoking room. The e-mail also invited me to view my reservation details online, so I happily clicked on the link to make sure my request was noted.

Reservation Error

We apologize for the inconvenience, but the selected reservation cannot be retrieved online. Please contact the Internet Help Desk . . .

AAgh! Instant frustration and the end of my warm glow . . .

I was told that this happened because I didn't make the original booking - that was done by the client's travel agent. Apparently only the person making the booking can view the reservation.

Which makes no sense - I'm the traveller - if you're going to send me an e-mail about my stay, then I should be able to retrieve and possibly change my details.

It's fine to make rules about who can access information - but please make them make sense! Otherwise, you risk losing all the goodwill you've worked so hard to build.