Does your website meet the needs of your customers?

If your website is receiving a reasonable number of visitors, but your business is lacking sales, it could be that your website is not serving the precise needs of your customers. You need to improve your 'conversion rate' and this will involve improving the visitor experience, but that experience needs to suit your customers, so make sure you know who they are!

A website may be effective at pulling in traffic; however, this does not mean the traffic it pulls in will automatically become your customers. Often there are barriers preventing sales which can often be something as simple as the content just isn't compelling enough to encourage the customer to engage with you. But there are more complex reasons why a visitor may spend time on a website then not end up buying anything.

It must be remembered that different audiences have different needs and rate different things as important. Knowing who your customers are is vital; are they young or old? What profession are they in? Here are a few guidelines that could help you in tailoring your website to suit your target customers, once you know who they are:

How old are your customers?

Or more importantly, what are their physical and internet abilities?

Whilst older website users will have a different set of needs in comparison to younger users, both physical and psychological, it would be wrong to group them all under one heading because the diversity of needs is quite substantial; not all older people have lesser physical abilities than younger people, and of course some younger users could have physical issues that need to be addressed. It all comes down to finding out who your customers are.

If you stick to the following guidelines then you should hopefully encompass the needs of a wider audience where accessibility is concerned:

Define clear headings and link styles so that people know where to click
Make link buttons as large as possible to make it easier to click on them
Offer a clear call to action and minimal options and distractions such as advertisements
Advise the visitor when they are being directed to a new window or when an add-on application is about to install
Include a site map to make navigation more straightforward
DonÂ´t make users click more than twice to get to their ultimate goal
Make your navigation as simple as possible so users do not get lost on your site
Avoid technical jargon

One major factor amongst older or non-regular internet users is the issue of trust and security; make sure you explain your privacy policy so that they have peace of mind about how their personal information will be handled. Use the padlock icon to indicate a secure part of the site and use words like 'safe' and 'secure' in your content.

Also, don't forget that people who use the internet regularly, whether for work or pleasure, will have a higher level of experience and ability. If you don't use something every day, you need a more straightforward way of using it. If you are selling to people who do not use the internet in their work, try to make your website as simple as possible. Conversely, if you are selling to an audience that heavily uses the internet then you will need to include sophisticated features on your website that these people will expect to see.

What type of internet do they use?

If your customers use Broadband internet, then you are free to provide them with features such as videos and images. However, if your audience is made up of dial-up internet users, you will need to ensure your website is optimised for slower speeds so that visitors do not face slow to download pages.

What languages do they speak?

It might be that the people who are really interested in your products and services are located abroad or do not speak the language in which your website is written. Find out and if necessary, invest in a translation feature.

Take time to define your customers; and make sure you know their specific online needs by examining their age group, internet experience and user profile. Consider what you can do to make your site a better place for the people you want as your customers and you will soon see a marked increase in visitor conversions!

Published on: Thursday, 4th June 2009

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