Inspiration can come from unusual sources. I am a regular reader of several blogs and forums, and happened to notice an interesting discussion on one of these yesterday. The participants were reviewing the newly launched website of a brick-and-mortar shop, and how the site – despite the company’s generally good reputation – failed to meet some critical customer expectations.
Comparing your site to others in your industry
Although nobody wants their website to be a carbon copy of a competitor’s, it is important to check your competitors to make sure you’re offering at least as much information on your site as they offer on theirs.
Things customers might expect from your site, especially if your competitors provide it:
- Do you clearly display opening hours (if applicable) and contact details?
- Do you offer an e-mail address or a contact form?
- Do you show prices, a menu, services or a stock list if applicable?
- Do you show what payment options you accept, either on your site or in your store?
- Do you provide directions or a map?
What your potential customers might be saying about you
Social media – forums, blogs and networking sites – can also have a significant effect on your business. In the case of this particular shop, the majority of their online advertising has been done by word of mouth and user recommendations – and this has been a factor in their growth as a business.
But the negative reviews of the company’s newly launched website on a well-used forum with high natural rankings may have a long term effect – particularly when comparisons have been made and links provided to other industry standard websites that do contain the information that the site users want to see.
What could this company do?
A competitor analysis would provide an overview of other sites in the industry, either UK-wide or targeted to their region. This could provide an insight into the expectations of users based on their experience of other companies’ websites.
Performing a WebScan on their site would help ensure that the site is optimised, search-engine friendly and compliant with W3C standards.
And lastly, social media monitoring would highlight issues like the discussion of the current website, so that appropriate action – whether that be revising the website to meet expectations or responding to the discussion to explain the reasoning behind the current site’s design – can be taken.
