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Website success: The four obstacles holding "you" back

Metalworking Marketer April 2007

Aaron P. Kahlow - Managing Partner, BusinessOnLine

For more than five years, analysts and online experts have told us that corporate websites are under-performing in a dramatic fashion. Yet, today we still find the majority of companies not doing much better when it comes to website performance (e.g. conversions/leads and serving the customer). The most perplexing question is that over 78% of CMOs believe the website is the epicenter or ‘hub” of all their marketing efforts. So the question begs, What is holding them back!?

I interviewed hundreds of companies including many well-known brands of the Fortune 500, as well as global manufacturing leaders to answer this perplexing question. My research shows four main reasons for lack of progress: You, Your friends, Your customers, and finally Your boss.

You

Whether a Marcom Manager or the Chief Marketing Officer, most of us have not spent the proper time actually thinking about the affects of our websites on sales, customer service, brand and the company’s bottom line. Most of us feel that the website is important, but as marketers we don’t spend the proper amount of time on the business planning and overall strategy of our websites.

We know we need to improve our websites, but the site gets pushed to the back burner because we have some tradeshow deadline or we are launching a new ad campaign.

It is my belief that the website is such a big project that we keep putting it off because subconsciously we are afraid to start something we are not sure will ever get finished. Additionally, the website does not have any historic roots on how to properly start it or even where to outsource the various components, so the task becomes even more daunting.

Building brand/product or campaign specific micro-sites that are not confined by legacy systems are an easy way to start the road to success by keeping costs low, risk lower and using the site(s) as a test to help predict the potential ROI for a completely new site or building more targeted micro-sites. Additionally, these micro-sites are assured to increase the ROI of existing marketing campaigns because you can tailor the experience to that specific target audience. We call these Marketing Micro-Sites.

Your friends

Most of us who are in marketing for larger corporations work with an ad agency and for good reason. The creative, strategic and messaging these firms bring are invaluable. We could never afford to hire and train that type of talent ourselves. If an agency is doing the job, it is basically kept on retainer for years, and consequently we become friends with our agency partners.

Unfortunately, our friends are unintentionally giving us bad advice. These friends when told “I need to clean the garage today” would respond with “Oh, I agree, don’t worry about that, come watch the game with me, or let’s go shopping.” They will make you feel good about your plight. The real friends would confront you and say, “Yep you do. That thing’s a mess and you’ve been talking about it for months now.”

The problem is most agencies are not good at rebuilding websites. They know little about website usability; i.e., what the research says about customers website expectations and behaviors, and even less about Search Engine Optimization (getting found naturally in the search engines without paying) and have not built the staff to properly address this.

I must caveat my statement with the fact that there are agencies that do recognize this weakness and partner with other online firms or have actually built a staff of usability and optimization experts.

Agencies are rooted in the discipline of direct or push marketing—how to get the attention, capture the imagination and brand your company through messages “pushed” out to the potential audience as seen in print. With the web it is completely different.

When customers come to your site, they do not need to have a message pushed to them. You do not need to garner their attention because they are already on your website. You need to give them what they want and how they want it (usability) before they hit the back button and go to a competitor. Making it easy for that customer to navigate and find the content they seek equals a positive brand experience.

Your customers

Buying behavior has changed. Over 92% of potential b-to-b buyers surveyed said they go to the web first to qualify the potential supplier before they pick up the phone or contact anyone. If you are eliminated in that selection process because they could not find you on a search engine or more over when they find you, your site does not make it easy for them to find the product/service information they seek, you won’t even have a chance.

This is why so many online retailers and destination sites are making millions. Take Amazon for example, they are not clearing $100M in revenue because there is a renewed interest in books, they are doing it because no bookstore makes it easy to learn, search and purchase a book online. They did, and because of that they win the lions share of revenue, not just online, but in the entire book industry. Make it easy for your customer and you shall win.

Your customers’ behaviors have changed. Everyone would rather read about, download or purchase it online than have to be stuck on the phone with a sales or customer service person. Start listening to your customers!

Your boss

Now, here’s the tricky one. Our boss (this may be you) usually holds the purse strings when it comes to allocating budget to these much needed fixes.

Unfortunately, our boss is usually the last to learn of what is happening in the “trenches” when it comes to our customers needs, especially when it comes to the new medium of the web. Sometimes it’s because the boss is too caught up in the high-level strategic focus of the company, sometimes it’s because the boss did not grow up in the generation of computers, sometimes it’s because the boss has done things for 20 years a certain way, and she or he is not about to change now.

It is imperative to educate the boss. Send articles, suggest seminars/webinars, or simply ask for time to have the boss sit in on your website/Internet marketing  meetings, so she or he can better understand the transformation occurring in your marketplace.

As the person designated to handle the Internet marketing side of the business, it is our job to educate those who are oblivious to the changing world around them. Educate and the money will follow.

Summary

You, your friends, your customers and your boss need to get aligned and set strategic company wide goals around how best to leverage your website. Someone must be the internal champion of this daunting task. Interestingly enough the website champions I’ve seen at successful companies are the ones now leading the company and have been either promoted or granted entire departments to do such. Someone will do it sooner or later. It might as well be you.