5 things all website visitors want answers to within 10 seconds
Before all else, there are questions that every website visitor will ask, and that you need to address, regardless of what you are offering.
You have a short amount of time (about 10 seconds) to capture visitor attention before they shoot off. Your mission has to be to engage them and give them the information they want, quickly.
Your website is the first thing people will see, and making a good impression is vital. So what can you do to get as many visitors as possible to stay and engage with your website content? A good place to start is by answering questions that your website visitors might ask, and to satisfy their curiosity.
Here are five of them:
1: What are you offering?
Before anything else, visitors want to know what product/service you’re offering.
The second they land on your website, this should be absolutely clear, and there should be absolutely no guesswork involved.
With just a few lines of copy, you instantly know that QuickBooks is selling accounting software.
QuickBooks uses a customer quote, and a tidy summary of the product in the form of a customer quote that includes social proof, a positioning statement, and a short video to explain how it works.
The information is at the top of the page so you don’t have to scroll down the page to understand this. In a matter of seconds, you get the gist of what’s going on.
What I am saying here is that your first priority should be to explain who you are and what product/service is being provided.
2: What’s in it for me?
Now they are on your site, visitors will have a fresh concern. How will it benefit them or solve whatever pain points they’re experiencing?
In other words, what’s in it for them and why should they care?
This is where you need to communicate your value proposition, which basically means why they should do business with you.
Quickbooks conveys this particularly well. The quote says it all: “All I need to manage my business at my fingertips“
This quote does several things, it identifies the target audience, is a testimonial, and explains the pain point addressed. Combined with the positioning statement, ‘The world’s #1 accounting software’, this succinctly answers what it is, and who it is for.
So, what exactly are people looking or expecting to see in a website?
Based on a user study from KoMarketing, this graph shows
what most visitors expect to see.
Why should I care?
Your value proposition is arguably the most important element you need to communicate via your website. The value proposition tells visitors why they should do business with you instead of your competitors. Your site must make the benefit of dealing with you very clear, very fast.
Remember, a value proposition is NOT your slogan like Nike’s Just Do It, or a positioning statement, such as QuickBook’s The world’s #1 accounting software. Rather, it is an explanation of how your product or service solves a customer’s problems. Sadly, many businesses don’t bother highlighting this on their site, and if they do, it is buried in buzzwords.
3: How much does it cost, or what is the commitment?
Imagine you have managed to arouse a visitor’s interest by effectively pitching your product and its benefits.
At this point, they will want to know what the commitment is. If it is pricing, let them know the cost or at least an idea of it.
Clearly, this is not always possible, but what information can you give them to enable them to make a decision?
If it is a price, whilst you don’t need to slap up the price on your homepage, you should make sure that your visitors can find pricing information with a single click.
Making them jump through hoops is only going to frustrate them, and most will leave before checking out your deal in further detail. I know that I’ve personally had experiences where I was sold on a product but couldn’t find any concrete pricing. It’s incredibly annoying, and I’m usually tempted to take my business elsewhere when this happens. Above is a good example of how to approach pricing from JivoChat’s website.
Notice how it’s clearly marked on the top tab. With just one click, you land on their pricing page where you can instantly see which options are available.
4: Can I trust you?
This is a question that will determine if your visitor stays with you, and your site needs to address. Trust is the beginning of every relationship. Your website, done right, can start this relationship, or done wrong, end it early.
Factors that increase trust are:
- You have a professional looking site
- Your site is secure
- You have no spelling or grammatical errors
- You have social proof, like industry accreditation, client feedback etc
- You have a contact page with full address, contact number etc
- Privacy policy
A live chat is also a great way of engaging a visitor, and as long as the interaction is professional, this will increase trust.
5: Can I find my way around?
Your average online shopper has the attention span of a Goldfish.
Navigation needs to be intuitive, and visitors should be able to get their bearings within a matter of seconds — not minutes.
In fact, “after reaching a company’s website via a referral site, 50% of visitors will use the navigation menu to orient themselves.”
If your site’s navigation is overly complex or arduous, it’s not going to do you any favours. That’s why I always make it a point to make the navigation of my websites as straightforward and painless as possible.
Look at how simple Third Light’s navigation is above. There are also
Conclusion
These are all ways to ensure that your site stays on your website once they have found it. Remember to always produce meaningful content and answer customer questions.
Your site represents your business, and is usually the first experience of your business. Make sure it is a good one. Your site must be interesting, professional looking, and up-to-date to perform.
I hope you found this useful!
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