Create a Positive Website Customer ExperienceBy Ben Shwartz

Customer experience can make or break a business, and that often happens right on your website.

While organizations are constantly looking for creative ways to grow, they should also never neglect the importance of this customer experience. 

And, while it’s important to brainstorm ideas for generating positive experiences, the right foresight can also actively allay customer dissatisfaction while promoting your site as a model standard within your industry.

The following tips will help you create positive, lasting customer experiences on your website.

Appeal to the Senses

There’s a reason 3-D and IMAX are taking over film industry revenues.

Our known predilection for what’s hottest, newest, and latest in the digital spheres can be put to keen use to spark interest and retention for your site.

It creates an engaging and interactive customer experience that not only keeps customers active, but gives them a reason to return.

Don’t fret if your business has little to do with the graphic arts, or if you don’t have an artistic bone in your body.

A variety of tools are available that create quick and easy—yet still high quality—multimedia projects.

A few include emaze for presentations, Infogram for infographics, and BeFunky for photo effects and collages.

Create a Mobile Customer Experience

Given the hustle and bustle of our increasingly modernized world, many people choose to delve into their web needs on portable devices rather than desktop computers.

Ensure your site is optimized for viewing on phones and tablets (as well as Macs and PCs alike).

One sight of a botched interface gives your viewer immediate license to click “X” or swipe out, sending your site into the depths of URL obscurity.

Take the time to make sure your mobile customer experience is as consistent and high quality as all of your other platforms.

Choose Quality Over Quantity

Select your blog and website content judiciously.

One well-researched, articulately-developed article per week produces an infinitely better customer experience than a daily dose of tongue-tied litter. While the popularity of content marketing is steadily on the rise, increased output doesn’t always necessitate heightened engagement.

In fact, engagement (shares, likes, comments) per individual article have actually decreased with the increase of published content, proving that less is truly more.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, so pave the way to have your customer look forward to intermittent quality publications rather than being bombarded (perhaps several times) daily with average or below average content.

Structurally speaking, as per legendary ad-man David Ogilvy, your content should be communicated in a natural, conversational tone in short visually-friendly snippets.

Bolds, underlines, italics, bullets, and other textual stylizations and sizes can help improve the customer experience by making it easier for them to read, absorb major points, and easily consumer the concepts presented.  

Save florid language and lengthy diatribes for academic assignments or creative side projects.

The web is characterized by brevity, quick fixes, and easy access, and your prospect should be able to navigate your site with similar ease.

Create Conversation in a Centralized Location

Too many social outlets with no purpose can confuse or divide your customer base and create a disjoined customer experience.

If you have a strong and engaged community, consider adding an onsite social network to your webpage.

It will stand as the official authority of your brand, and allow team members to connect with your audience on a human level, providing a unique and personal customer experience right on your site.

Due to its centrality, you will be able to gain a greater idea of your target audience, engaging in rapid and direct communication, and hear firsthand what works and what doesn’t.

The major boost in retention rates won’t hurt either. Think of it as free, interactive consulting from a source who knows best (the customer, of course).

Don’t Skimp on Customer Service

The central point of an excellent customer experience will always be customer service.

Automated phone operators and outdated frequently asked questions pages are a consumer’s worst nightmare when a question is left inaccessible and not answered in a timely fashion. Customers won’t think twice to turn to a competitor or wholly abandon their interest in your product if their needs aren’t instantaneously met.

To keep the customer calm, cool, and collected, take preventative measures on the service front, and prepare solutions for questions that have yet to be asked.

Digital customer support systems such as nanorep allow visitors to be self-sufficient in their site navigation, as a smart search tool will generate results for your unique service-related question.

The benefit here is twofold—your customer will be met with a more seamless and less interrupted browsing customer experience, while your business can save time and cut costs by focusing technical support resources elsewhere.

Prove to your customers—both potential and active—that you care about them by thinking before you act. Show, rather than tell, what your company has to offer by presenting viewers with a well-constructed website that serves as a one-stop shop for all their needs.

In order to earn your spot in the ranks of website royalty, your greatest asset will be to remember that the customer is king, and providing a great customer experience will be your invitation through the palace door.

Ben Shwartz

Ben Shwartz is the vice president of marketing for spot.IM. He loves to buy/sell websites and delve into anything associated with online marketing.

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