The “Under Construction” Mistake

Before I wrote last week’s Insight about Patina stores dropping their online ordering, I checked out the Patina Web site.  I was shocked to find search, shopping cart item count, and checkout buttons still listed across the top of the home page.  This is interesting, I thought.  Why do they have these shopping cart buttons when they discontinued their shopping cart?

Underneath the shopping cart buttons were buttons for at home, women’s, men’s, and kids‘.  I clicked on each of these and received the same result from each click.  I was taken to a page for the button.  Each page had an icon with the words “Under Construction” on it and “Out of stock” printed in red under the icon.

Back at the home page, I scrolled down and discovered a gift card button.  When I clicked on it, I found a long paragraph giving reasons to buy a gift card followed by a short paragraph that due to a new computer system customers could no longer check card balances online.  The third paragraph offered the opportunity to order a gift card.  I tried to do this, and it actually worked.  Down from the gift card button, I saw a wish list button.  Clicking on it, I landed on a page to create an account or log in to a current account.  Where was the wish list?  Down from the wish list button, I spied a shipping/returns button.  The page was very thorough on shipping rates and also answered questions on ordering. 

This confused me.  Aren’t they discontinuing online shopping? I wondered again.

Back at the home page, I noticed this statement at the end of the announcement about dropping online ordering:  “Look for an updated informational site after the New Year.”

Now I was amazed.  Patina management had made a huge mistake using “Under Construction.”  Those two words are the quickest way to turn off customers to your Web site.  Customers think that a business with “Under Construction” on its site either doesn’t care or doesn’t update its site.  Consequently, they leave and do not return. 

Patina management made that mistake even bigger by not following through and changing the Web site by the new year.  I am writing this in mid-January.  Each day after the new year that the site is not changed makes Patina look worse to customers.  Sites with “Under Construction,” “Out-of-Stock,” and parts of a shopping cart that are no longer connected make a very bad impression on customers.

Management wouldn’t allow Patina’s brick and mortar stores to be in this disarray.  Why do they present Patina’s Web site this way?  A web site is a business’s presentation to the world.  Keep it as clean, easy, and convenient for customers to use as an experience at a brick-and-mortar store or a direct contact with staff.

Discover 8 reasons visitors leave a Web site by clicking here.  Listen to a free audio article on the subject from the recent Profitable Marketing Monthly.

This week's marketing trivia challenge is What “Under Construction” Web site have you encountered?  E-mail me your answer.

Web Site Frustration

Yesterday I urgently needed to buy software and found a list of a dozen Web sites which offered it. Thinking that I could easily find what I wanted from the first few sites, I began opening them. The first one had a bunch of text offering articles and advice on the home page. After a couple of clicks, I could not find where to buy the software or if the site even had it for sale. I moved on to the second site. Again, the home page had a great deal of text and no easy way to find the software which they supposedly were selling. With agitation building, I moved on to the third site. I found the same situation.

“What are these businesses doing?” I said aloud. “Don’t they want to sell this software?”

Needing the software badly, I plowed through sites four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, all with the same results. Finally, number eleven, the next-to-the-last one, clearly displayed the software on the home page. To end my frustration and move forward, I bought the software from that site without checking out site number twelve.

This is my biggest complaint about Web sites. As a customer, I have difficulty finding what I want. I quickly become frustrated, give up, and move on. As a marketer, I have thought this through and realize why this happens. Do you know?

Web sites that frustrate customers were not created from the customer’s point of view.

Instead of sitting down, talking to customers, asking what they want, and giving it to them, some person or persons at the business and/or the Web site development company met and decided what to put on the Web site. They started with a blank sheet of paper as to what to include. That was followed by blank minds and then blank stares. “What should we include on our Web site?” someone questioned.

“I have no idea,” replied someone else. “What do you suggest, Tom? You are the Web site guy.”

Tom swiftly brought up a Web site for a similar business on his laptop. “Well, for businesses such as yours we typically do this.”

You may find this difficult to swallow, but a conversation similar to this one takes place at the inception of most Web sites. It must. The fact that I found ten Web sites which had a similar format and did not make it easy to find the software proves my point.

Instead of finding out why the customer would use the site and what the customer wants to find at the site, a committee applies what the members think should go on the site. However pretty or cool the site, their efforts are for naught if the site doesn’t work for the customer.

I read that a Web site’s home page ought to feature the three main reasons someone would visit the site. Each of these should be short and linked to a landing page regarding that subject. The landing page would give additional information on the subject with links to more pages as applicable. If this concept were applied to the sites that I visited looking for that software, each would have had on the home page a link to the software landing page. This link would have been easy to see, not hidden in a bunch of text. That would have developed the Web site from the customer’s point of view. A site such as that would be very effective.

Take a look at your company’s Web site. Are the three main reasons that a customer goes to your site easy to find on the home page? Do you know these three main reasons?

If not, ask your customers.

New Uses for a Web Site

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the redo on my Monarch Tree Publishing Web site. I mentioned that the new site opened up new selling opportunities. One of those opportunities was to link to the site in e-mails. With the rising costs of mailing, I have increasingly been using my Web site in combination with an e-mail to give more information.

We just released a new book, Jesse and Cash and The Fool's Gold, which I am promoting to the stores or interpretive centers at national forests and national parks. I am sending them an e-mail with a link to the Web site. When they click on the link, they can see the book's cover, hear the author reading the first chapter of the book, and find out more about the book. If they want to see a review copy of the book before they buy, they can order one at that point.

In the past, I called businesses which might have an interest in a book, told them about the book, and offered to mail them a review copy. This was a time-consuming process. Assembling the mailing packages of the book along with a letter took me an enormous amount of time. Frustratingly, I suspect most of the books never were read. How do I know? I know from the comments that I received in my follow-up calls and also from the lack of orders from these mailings. I think that I gave them too much information before they were ready to receive it.

Disseminating information is the beauty of a Web site. A Web site allows you to pique interest in what you are offering and direct that interest to your site to find out more. I did that just this morning while talking to a bookstore. The lady at the bookstore, Leslie, said, "I'm online right now, what is your Web site?"

She clicked on the site, looked at the books that I had suggested, and asked me questions about them. This was a very quick and easy way for her to find out more. Additionally, I saved a great deal of time and money by not sending her books which would not have interested her. The Web site enabled me to create a circle of information. Whether by phone or e-mail, my initial contact could be more concise because I could direct the person to the Web site for more information. Those who are interested can find out more at the site and decide how they want to proceed.

I often see long letters, print ads that are jam-packed, and mailings with just too much printed on them. The sender is packing ten pounds of information into a five-pound bag. The sender appears to think that this is the one chance to talk to the receiver. Therefore, the sender throws everything possible into the message so that nothing important is missed.

With a Web site, that is no longer necessary.

Use your Web site as a place to get more information. Rather than packing too much into your e-mail, direct mail, or telephone conversation, pique interest with your message. Link your e-mail to your Web site. Direct the reader of a mailing to your Web site. Ask the person on the telephone to go to your Web site. Your Web site is a handy electronic brochure immediately available to all. Employ it wisely.

If you would like to see my e-mail to the interpretive centers, go here.

How to Update a Web Site

When I started my publishing business, Monarch Tree Publishing, I had a bare bones Web site designed. The site was nothing fancy or stunning, but it was clean and easy-to-use. My purpose in having the site was to offer easily accessible information about the books available at Monarch Tree Publishing and give visitors the opportunity to order those books from the site.

At the time that the initial Monarch Tree site was uploaded, I had my first book, a couple of additional books, and Larry Heagle's two new CDs to offer. Since then, I have added several more books. A new Larry Heagle comedy CD, CDs of my books, and more books are on the way. Consequently, I felt an urgent desire to redo the site, adding attractiveness to it. I thought that I would keep the change simple and suggested to Jim and Dave at EZ New Media that we just change the front page. My idea was to graphically stack books up the left-hand side of the page and use the spines for linked listings to the books on the site.

Well, they shot down my idea, telling me that they had tried something similar, and the end result was not what they thought I would want. "I have a better idea," e-mailed Dave. "Take a look at this. I think that this design accomplishes the professional, attractive look that you want."

He was right. His design did just that. Using greens and purples, he had created a layered look which was beautiful. Even more, the design allowed me to create cross-selling opportunities though the sidebar on each page. Each sidebar could be customized to recommend other selections that the customer looking at a particular item might like.

The marketer in me was excited. I got much more than I had hoped. Dave helped me achieve my objective of updating the Web site for an attractive new look, and he also opened the door to new selling opportunities.

I'm sharing this with you today because I want to point out to you three notable lessons from this experience. First, start an update to your Web site knowing what you want to accomplish. I wanted to add attractiveness to my site. Second, be open to suggestions from your Web designers and others knowledgeable in marketing online as to how to achieve what you want to accomplish. Dave's suggestion created an attractive site and gave me more. Third, watch for new opportunities that may appear as you consider new designs. Taking advantage of those opportunities may net you more sales and add to your bottom line.

Actually, these three lessons can serve you well in any of your marketing efforts. They were pivotal for me in redoing the Monarch Tree Publishing Web site.

If you would like to see the end result, go to monarchtreepublishing.com.