There is a plethora of literature on how to
improve site design, conversion, engagement, etc., but there is something to be
said about not ignoring the obvious and not repeating the mistakes of the past.
Keeping it simple sometimes is “simply” avoiding the common mistakes!
Navigation – ease and appeal determine how well was the
digital strategy executed, be it content, eCommerce or communication. Optimize
your website to ensure all elements are covered. Bounce Rate and return frequency are good metrics to measure the effectiveness of your site navigation strategy.
Fewer Clicks – helping customers and stakeholders reach the
goal fast is critical to achieving the desired results. This does require that
goals for each site section and page are clearly defined, and in-line with the
overall strategy. Website optimization for the desired goal(s) will help ensure that customers are not “bumped” around
for more page views, while the conversion funnel gets deeper and deeper.
Search Efficiency – make it easy for the
customers to search across your site. Up-sell and cross-sell opportunities and
an urge to “over-educate” and “impress” your customers may come in the way of
making the search and results more complicated than they ought to be.
Conversion efficiency will be a direct indicator of how well is this working. I
have been asked to show other products as a customer is going through the
purchase cycle for product X, so we can
get their attention – my reaction is always that the best it will do is
distract and the worst it will achieve is a lost sale.
Brand Communication – ensure a consistent brand experience across all customer touch points including, site, blog, community, social, sales
and direct mail is a no-brainer, yet sometimes over-looked as organizations try
and keep up with the evolving digital landscape.
Tracking and Reporting – make it
focused around what a customer is doing on the site. Is the goal to drive
engagement, e-commerce, education, etc.? Make sure the metrics are customer-centric.
