Now that the internet has become part of our daily lives, you would think that companies would have the whole e-business thing pretty well figured out. And yet, a good ten years in, I still encounter company after company that appear clueless when it comes to serving customers in cyberspace.
My interest in this matter is strictly from the viewpoint of the consumer. I'm sick and tired of wasting my time and being frustrated that so many companies can't get it together. And so I offer up my three piece approach (the three "Es") to successful e-business:
Exist: As obvious as this one would seem, I'm still regularly surprised by the number of businesses with no web presence. Last week, I was trying to find a web site for a local restaurant and, after much messing around, had to conclude that they didn't have one. Make no mistake about this: if you're running a business that serves consumers, you HAVE to have a web site. It probably won't be a differentiator, it's simply an expectation of being in business.
It doesn't have to be fancy or graphic intensive--in fact, it's usually better to keep it as simple as possible--it just has to be there. At a minimum, it should include hours of operation, your location, and contact information. When it comes to contact information include as much as possible; phone number, address, and e-mail. If you're a restaurant, having a copy of your menu on-line is essential as well.
It also has to come up in at least the top 20 Google searches for the company name. Top ten is better, but you gotta at least be among the first twenty.
If you're a technophobe, there are plenty of companies who can handle the design and hosting for minimal cost. You'll probably never be able to figure out who much your web site helps the bottom line, but you'll also never know how much business you're losing by not having a site. I can almost guarantee that it's higher than the cost of having one.
Engage: You HAVE to respond to your customer inquires. I'm constantly frustrated by companies that set up an e-mail address for you to contact and then never respond. It makes you look incredibly unprofessional and will likely cause your customer to look elsewhere. One of the reasons that I use the internet and send e-mails is to avoid making a phone call. If I have to end up calling you to get an answer, I am not going to be happy.
There's a national chain of bowling centers that has a special contact form on their website for information on planning corporate events. I submitted such a form over two weeks ago and have yet to hear word one from said company. Instead, I've been forced to pick up the phone and make a call. If you're going to go through the trouble of having such a venue for communication available, the least you could do is make sure you get back to your customers.
Make it Easy to use: The other day I was trying to find some information on a local hotel/water park. The web site was chock full of neat looking Flash animation and graphics. But when I tried to find out how much it would cost to use the water park on a particular day I entered a cyber-hell of being forced to follow link upon link upon link (while animation played for each one) until I was finally able to find what I was looking for. And then, when I was curious about the room rates, I had to go through the same rigmarole again only to eventually be instructed to "call for information." Arghhh! If I wanted to call, I would have done that in the first place. The whole idea of visiting the web site was so that I didn't have to make a fargin' phone call.
Think about the top two or three reasons that customers are visiting your site and make that information as easy to find as possible. Fancy graphics are nice, but what I really care about is finding what I'm looking for as quickly as possible.
It shouldn't be all that complicated. Set up a web site, make sure you answer your mail, and make it easy to find critical information. It ain't rocket science, it's just the internet.
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