Start discussing new website design trends,
and most small business owners break out into a cold sweat. Indeed many design
innovations have done little to increase revenue, and business websites
have traditionally been difficult to manage and maintain.
But small business owners should not
ignore the new options for personalized web content. Large
enterprises have been doing this for quite some time: Offering a different
promotion based on the number of times a user has visited the website,
targeting deals to a customer’s physical location or changing content based on
an ad campaign URL parameter.
Until recently these types of
personalization strategies required large budgets and substantial development
time and resources, making it largely out of reach for most small
businesses.
Should small business owners add dynamic web content to their websites? Or is this just
another passing fad like turning the mouse cursor into a kitten, blink text or
elaborate Flash intros? Here are three reasons why every small business owner
should consider adding dynamic content:
1. Increase sales and
conversions.
Presenting a customer with the right
content, in the right way at the right time is critical for increasing sales.
You wouldn’t try to sell customers in Los Angeles a snow shovel or those
in Minneapolis beach balls for Christmas and expect a high sales volume.
The bulk of small business websites remain painfully static, putting the
obligation to navigate to a relevant product or service on the
customer.
Ensure that
site visitors from Los Angeles see the webpages with beach
balls and the buyers from Minneapolis see the sale on snow shovels
and chances are you’re going to sell more of each. Research from My
Buys and the e-tailing group has shown that 40 percent of
consumers buy more from retailers who personalize their shopping experience
across channels. People buy more from companies that tailor their messages and
offerings to suit shoppers' specific needs.
2. Keep visitors happy.
Ever had “that friend,” the one
who’s constantly bombarding them with stories and irrelevant information to the
point when it becomes so annoying you'd rather avoid the person? Sure,
your buddy is taking pilot lessons and as a supportive friend you might want to
hear about it occasionally. But when it gets to the point that he’s giving you
the play-by-play after each lesson -- complete with wind diagrams and verbatim
transcripts of their conversations with air traffic control -- you eventually
stop picking up the phone when the person calls.
The same can be said for websites.
People don't want to be bombarded with irrelevant information upon
arriving at a website, especially when it happens every time they visit.
Consider that nearly 74 percent of online consumers become
frustrated with
websites when the types of content that’s displayed (offers or promotions) have
nothing to do with their interests. As a business owner, the last thing
you want is to become the business version of the annoying friend whose calls
go unanswered.
3. Save time.
The one thing that’s certain for those
running a small business is having a lack of hours in the day. The last
thing you want to worry about is ensuring that your website has the correct
promotions, offers or products for a specific event or time of year at all
times and then remembering to remove or change those once it’s ended. Nothing
ruins a user experience quite like seeing the details of an awesome
Thanksgiving sale when it's January.
By leveraging dynamic content, a
business owner can create promotions, offers, seasonal item displays, well in
advance and assign them to be displayed when certain trigger criteria, such as
time of year or number of site visits, have been met.
While many web trends come and go,
dynamic website content is a trend that is certainly here to stay. Consumers
have come to expect to see what’s most valuable and on their minds and are
easily frustrated when shown content they deem irrelevant. Now that the
technology to implement these strategies has become far more affordable and
accessible, business owners should seriously consider how to incorporate them
into their strategies.
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