| You’re at a
networking event. The stranger next to you strikes up a conversation.
It only takes a few minutes before
you realise: “This person’s completely self-absorbed.”
No matter how hard you try, every topic leads back to them. Soon,
you find yourself inching away.
You can find the same thing on the
web. Sites that are egocentric. More interested in talking about
themselves than solving customer problems. However, unlike the networking
situation, your escape from a self-absorbed website is quick and
painless.
(Although there are offenders across
the board, the biggest culprits seem to be business-to-business
companies and small- to mid-sized firms.)
To heck with product benefits or helping
prospects and customers solve their problems – the narcissistic
website dwells on the company’s spectacularly engineered offerings,
their superior manufacturing techniques, the brilliance of their
people, the company’s offices. Is there a place for bragging?
Sure, but it’s secondary to the customer’s issues. Too
many websites forget this.
When you consider that the average
visitor has an attention span measured in seconds, and that he scans
the web instead of reading every word, a narcissistic website has
the same effect as a narcissistic tablemate: it turns people off.
In contrast, an intelligent website
doesn’t leave a visitor stranded, searching for the customer
benefits of the company’s products or services. It:
- Provides clear statements that
are customer benefit oriented
- Supports its claims (often using customer and third party support)
- Proactively addresses potential objections
- Ushers the visitor into a dialogue
Let’s look at a very simple
before-and-after example.
We’re at the website of a widget
manufacturer. Their target market? Widget buyers from manufacturing
firms.
The homepage leads off with:
"Since 1908, Acme Widget
has precision-manufactured more than 10,000 varieties of widgets.
What’s the Acme difference? State-of-the-art technology
– including the latest laser manufacturing techniques –
along with six sigma processes to ensure the highest quality."
Sound good to you? Where does the
customer fit in?
While prospects and customers care
a lot about the companies they deal with, they care first and foremost
about their own needs. In this instance: “How will Acme Widget
solve my problems?”
Here’s another take on the copy:
“Whether you are looking
for red, green, purple or color matched widgets, no other company
offers a wider selection, faster delivery or more production-friendly
engineered designs than Acme Widget.
Independent tests show that
using the Acme ViperWidget can result in improving your production
speeds by as much as 35%, while significantly reducing defective
rates over traditional widgets.
Great selection. Fast delivery.
Increased production speeds and reduced defectives for lower overall
manufacturing costs. One name. Acme.
Download our free white paper,
‘Increasing Your Production Speed while Lowering Defectives
with Better Engineered Widgets,” highlighting the recent
tests of more than five hundred widgets conducted by independent
testing laboratory, International Widget Laboratories."
This time, the copy speaks to the
interests of the customer. Customer problems – and Acme’s
solution – stand front and centre. Note, I still referred
to the Acme's engineering abilities. The difference here is that
the reference to engineering is now linked to customer benefits.
Imagine a widget buyer visiting two
sites: one with the first copy, the other with the second.
- With the first site, the buyer
learns a little about the company, but not enough to differentiate
it from the competition. And not nearly enough to understand, and
appreciate, the benefits of doing business with the firm.
- At the second site, the buyer learns
about the company’s wide selection, fast delivery, exceptional
production speeds and lower defect rates. All strengths she can
quickly grasp. What’s more, the white paper provides third-party
support – validation – for the company’s claims.
The underlying concept is simple and
an underlying marketing communications truth. The most effective
marketing communications puts your customers and prospects first,
not your company. By focusing on customer and prospect needs, you
are more likely to fulfill your company's needs.
As obvious as this statement would
appear, it is similarly obvious that many marketers don't really
follow it.
A Quick Check-up to Find if
Your Company Website is a Narcissist
Pretend you are a customer visiting
your company's website for the first time. Write down five key concerns
you have related to purchasing these kinds of products or services
or choosing a company that you feel (or marketing research indicates)
reflects the key concerns of your target market when researching
companies like yours. Spend up to one minute at your website. Close
the browser. How many of your five key concerns were addressed?
How well did they address your concerns? A brief amount of copy
addressing a key concern and a link to more detail is fine; no mention
of these concerns is not.
Did the web page copy get to the heart
of your concern or was it focused on the itself instead of the prospects
needs? Use what you have learned to further test your website in
front of real prospects and customers. Find out their most important
problems they are hoping your website will help them answer and
re-design your website around helping them.
It’s your choice: propaganda
that only ends up stroking your company's ego or profits.
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