Improving your website and product delivery
- Josh Mehlman
- 12 January 2010
Photo credit: Anthony Geernaert
Challenge 1: What can I do to improve the design, structure and content?
Mark: Many visitors to the website drop off after the first page they land on...
Ciaran McGuigan (Strike Force Sales
): The website is the electronic version of visiting your Nan's place. It looks and feels like it should smell of mothballs and have a dodgy salesguy in a beige suit and sunglasses sitting in a corner waiting to pounce.
Jonathan Crossfield (Netregistry): I know
you've had the site since 1999 and you say it has been revamped three times since then, but it looks like it's stuck in 1999 - these are outdated layouts. There are things you might not have worked on due to budget or skill restraints, but I don't
think the website serves you - it's not a good representation of the end product.
If you look at other websites and other online stores that are more recent you will see much cleaner layouts and more white space. Yes, they're only aesthetic things, and what looks great today could look dated tomorrow, but if your business's website looks out of date, what does that say about your business? There are a lot of broken links and incomplete sections. Why haven't these been fixed?
This is the front of your business online. You need to communicate to the customer what each page is going to do for them. Remember, they're not necessarily coming to your site by entering your URL in a web browser - search engines bring them to all kinds of pages.
Josh Mehlman (Moderator): Mark, just looking at the site I can see that you've done some work on search engine optimisation, using all kinds of terms in the content from types of wood, to types of furniture. Who put together that content?
Mark: The timber content is industry information, from sources like Victorian Forests and just general information from the internet about wood to show the things we've learned about timber after 20 years.
Jonathan: You do need to be very, very careful about content that you use on your website. Were you given permission to re-use it?
Mark: Yes, Vic Forests gave us some info on timbers and we got an OK from Nicholas Dattner, who was making handcrafted timber tables at the time, to use some information from him as well.
Josh: Some of that information is also on other sites. A lot of the wood descriptions are also available on the Victorian Woodworkers Association site. If that's your original source it would probably be better to link to the original source somewhere on that page.
Jonathan: Also, it tells Google what the origin of the information is. Linking to original sources tells Google what's relevant. The downside is that the original source will probably then rank higher for some of its content. Ultimately, I'm a bigger fan of having unique content - it helps you stand out. Your site might not rank well for ‘Victorian Ash' but it could rank better for ‘Victorian Ash furniture' or ‘Victorian Ash table'.
It takes an investment of time and money but having original content will serve you better. Don't just rewrite it: work on fresh content that is more relevant to your business and potential customers. It will then be more relevant to Google, too.
Challenge 2: How can I better present my product range for different audiences?
Ciaran: If you personalise your range enough you can sell anything. You need to build your customer list up. When you do, you can segment them. You might think about developing commemorative or tailored pieces relevant to particular segments.
For instance, let's say your database has 700 people with an Anglo Saxon background aged in their 60s. You could offer something like ANZAC dining tables in a limited edition of 100, signed and numbered with a percentage of profits going to the RSL. You will have them sold before they are made!
Mark: Often customers are on the site while they're on the phone to us. They're engaging in a sales presentation and discussing possibilities for custom furniture, at which point we can invite them to come into the store or capture more information about their design preferences. Self-service on the website tends to be for the accessories and smaller gift items.
Jonathan: You could have the accessories and gifts as a separate section of the site. It might mean segmenting the content into two, with different browsing processes. How likely is it that someone is going to buy a dining table from Perth from your store in Melbourne and have it shipped over?
Mark: We have done that. In the last five years we've shipped hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of furniture interstate. It starts with exposure to our range on the website and then shifts to a traditional form of sales over the phone, followed up by emails, support photography of the product in store and so on to get people across the line.
Ciaran: Everyone within a two-kilometre radius of your store is going to be easiest to handle. You should offer them a special discount for being local. Neighbours and friends of staff should also be able to access those deals. Architects and premium builders can be invited into the factory so they can feel the quality and explore the possibilities of different furniture designs. Maybe you could let people rent a piece before they buy, and then take the rent off the final price if they buy within a certain time?
Jonathan: I'm thinking you might want to present the larger items in a different way so that you're not necessarily driving people to the Zen (e-commerce) cart, but instead driving them to the appropriate enquiry system for you. You could capture a segment of the market by giving them tools online that capture their preferences for timber, size specifications and designs, which you can then use to generate a quote.
Mark: What you're outlining is part of our speciality in store, but it really is not covered very well on my website at all.
Jonathan: If it's your specialty, then that's your value proposition. It's the way you stand out from your competition, so that should be all over the site. #
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