One of the phrases we love to use when speaking to our clients is “removing the barriers of ‘no’” when it comes to warming up their potential new customers. What most don’t realize is that the journey of removing obstacles starts with how easy it is to find your business and your site. In this recent Forbes Advisor article, they’ve compiled a lot of data about user behavior when it comes to websites, and these are the top 7 website facts that we think every small business should know.
1. Users form an opinion about a website in 0.05 seconds
This is why it’s so important to have an interesting website that catches the eye, because then you have people’s attention for longer than .05 seconds! Making a great first impression will buy you more time to get your messaging across, but it has to be the right messaging.
2. In North America, 45% of web traffic comes from mobile devices
Here at HGM, we make sure that the mobile version of your site is just as effective and user-friendly as the desktop version, because you never know what your customer is viewing you on until you collect the data afterwards. How many customers are you losing because your mobile site doesn’t perform as well as i’s desktop counterpart?
3. Seven out of 10 small business websites don’t include a call-to-action
This fact, sourced from Small Business Trends, doesn’t surprise us, as most small businesses make their own websites without a marketing approach. The first thing that we do is an accessibility test, which means when we audit your site, we go through your user experience, checking how long it takes to load, where the calls-to-action are, and how easily we can find info a customer would be looking for.
4. 61% say that if they don’t find what they’re looking for within about five seconds, they’ll go to another site
Another great reason why we perform an audit when we refresh your site (or plan out content/design when we build a new one) is because between that .05 and 5 seconds is another huge barrier to overcome: Content. What turn of phrase is going to capture your next lead and convert them, and why trust it to fate, or worse, Ai?
5. 57% of users won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website
Word of mouth is an undervalued commodity in marketing, and can mean the difference between 1 customer and their 3 friends becoming your customers, too. Tactics like this cost nothing, but are a crucial factor in success that no one really talks about. You’ll hear “oh, you have to put money into ads”, but free marketing like word of mouth is truly gold because it means the customer was so pleased with their service/product that they can’t help but recommend you. We consider it one of the highest forms of compliment, and super underrated!
6. Almost half (48%) say the number one way they decide on the credibility of a business is determined by the web design
This one was unfortunately not surprising to me, but I think a lot of small business owners would say “But it’s just my site! The work/product I do should determine how valuable I am to my customer” and I agree wholeheartedly that it should be that way. However, we need to get customers to that point, and a huge turn off is unfortunately based on looks and ease of use. For example, if you showed up to a date looking like you didn’t try to dress to impress, a lot of people would assume that you don’t value the date or their time - customers are the same way!
7. 43% of small businesses plan to invest in their website performance
So, after all you’ve read, my question is: what’s stopping you from letting us refresh your website and build a better foundation for your business? We work with companies with any size budget, and can absolutely accommodate you.
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Honestly Great Marketing: Spectrum Mobile - This month’s shout out goes to Spectrum, as we were recently pleasantly surprised to find they tote a “Manage Your Mobile Line in a Domestic Violence Situation” form where they will separate your phone line from an abuser’s account. While we hope that you’re never in a situation where you need it, we know that it’s important to have, and think all mobile carriers (or service companies in general) should have this!
Honestly Bad Marketing: Walmart Digital Price Tags - While Walmart says this is a win for it’s workers and productivity, and that it won’t be used for “dynamic pricing” i.e. price gouging, but one grocery industry expert said “If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there's something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,” and that’s literally the definition of price gouging. Given the fact that recently they’ve been slashing prices because Americans are unable to afford basic household items, We’re not too convinced that they (or other stores) will stick to their word.
Honestly Scary Marketing: One Medical by Amazon Healthcare - Jeff Bezos should not be trusted with our medical info, but for $9 a month with a Prime membership, people will do it because healthcare is so broken and the ER/doc even urgent care is overwhelmed right now. With all the breaches over the years and how the more Amazon services and apps you use, the more their algorithms can infer what kind of person you are - to the point that they have a service called Amazon Forecast that third parties can hire to pitch you their products - it’s all feeling a little too Orwellian to us...
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