The website is often the first encounter between the customer and your company. According to Gartner, B2B buyers spend only 17% of the buying journey in direct contact with suppliers. The rest happens without your salesperson in the room, and your website is there at that moment.
The signs
- It takes more than three seconds to load on a phone.
- The look is out of step with the current brand.
- You feel embarrassed to send the link to a big client.
- Your most important products or services are hidden.
- There is no clear path to get in touch.
- The photos are generic stock images.
- The copy talks about the company and forgets the customer.
- No one on the team can update the content.
- The site doesn't show up when someone searches for your service.
- Your competitors look bigger than they are, and you look smaller.
A study by Lindgaard and colleagues showed that people form a first impression of a website in about 50 milliseconds.Behaviour & Information Technology, 2006
What to do
Start with strategy: who needs to find you, what that person is looking for and what action you want them to take. Then come design, photography and development. A well-built website works like the company's best-prepared salesperson, with no closing time.
