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How do you make acquaintance with a company, and on what basis do you form your first impression?
The way things used to be, you would walk into a store or office, look around, strike up a
conversation with a salesperson or receptionist. Or you might ask around about the company the way you would about a new movie or restaurant. Then again, you might run into an executive or employees
and form your first impression on what they were like.
Today, the Web has altered the way we "meet" a company. You shop on the Web and get directed to a retail outlet's home
page. Or you find out about a new product and make your way via Web searches to the seller's site.
This is a critical juncture in the company's relationship with its customers —
the first impression. It has to be good, or there are plenty of other fish in the sea.
Early on, companies could get by without much of a Web site. A home page with a few links and contacts
would take care of things.
Then, the greeting had to get more sophisticated. Animated cover pages — "dancing raisins" — became the rage, then an annoyance. Home pages
added blinking icons, rich graphics and complex layouts. Many risked overkill at the hands of "feature creep."
Today the best sites have figured out that there's a balance to be
struck. You want a potential customer or client to be impressed, not overwhelmed. You want enough information to get them interested, but not so much that they don't need to follow up.
A
company's Web site is like meeting someone in person: You make snap judgments in a very short time, based on appearance, feedback and how well he or she can articulate points.
Companies
can recoup Web-site investments in three key ways: by reducing the cost of doing business; by helping start "conversations" with customers and clients, as well as employees; and by
providing business intelligence on how Web users take advantage of the site.
Compared with attracting a new customer through advertising or conventional forms of marketing, Web sites are
astonishingly low-cost. Search engines, referrals and the vast linking mechanics of the Web provide a volume and diversity of "foot traffic" unimaginable in a storefront setting.
Interacting with customers who visit via the Web also is far cheaper. E-mail costs less than postal equivalents. Posting "contact" information on the Web is cheaper than business cards,
directory listings or ads. Web pages can be revisited over and over, saving on re-mailing brochures, white papers, purchase orders and billing statements.
Then there's the hidden gold
mine: what customer visits tell you about your business. First determine how the customer reaches the site. Via another site's link? A search provider like Google? By typing in the URL?
Finally, follow-up on the Web is one of its biggest benefits. Amazingly, Web sites often forget a vital point: Don't make e-mail the only way someone can contact you. Put in phone numbers and
addresses, and be sure to make them easy to find.
Do the site right and it may prove the difference between someone saying "I'll get back to you" and their actually getting back
to you.
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