The case of friendly and unfriendly websites and the potential client’s perception.
I have been required, as a result of a series of articles for Technews, to look at the websites of a large number of instrumentation and control companies, and I find it difficult to believe the variation in quality of these sites and the lack of thought that has gone into the creation of some of them.
It used to be said many years ago that you would know the standard of workmanship that you would get from a company by viewing their offices and workshop. The offices were most important and my PA would find out beforehand whether a very important visitor liked savouries, or chocolate cake, filter coffee or Rooibos tea, and these would be available to make the client feel at home and, more importantly, impressed with the professionalism. Today, personal contact is rarer and the customer will get the feel for a business electronically, hence the need for a really professional website.
How many companies have given consideration to the fact that in this age of free availability of electronic data the website is most probably the potential customer's first view of the company?
Placing advertisements in relevant publications is an essential means of promoting a company, but the advertisement will (or should) contain a link to the company website, hence the need for a professional one. The advertisement can only provide limited information and its purpose is to get a potential client interested in what the advertiser can offer. The website should painlessly provide the detailed information that this potential buyer requires.
Many sites are full of data but slow downloading web pages (most people still use 56 K modems) will put many a customer off. Even worse is the fact that many people want to print out the data, so that they can compare it with other suppliers. Here the absence of user friendly printing modes is notable, and for example most printers are set up for portrait printing yet most web pages require that the printer be set to landscape.
The really professional websites have an icon that reads 'printer friendly', but only about 1% of websites visited provided this feature. Even worse is the sites where the data is embedded in another page which means scrolling down an internal page. These pages cannot be printed directly and the only means to record the information through the printer is to 'select' and copy the entire document and transfer it to a blank Word document for printing.
A few companies have had their web designers create very fancy 'Flash media' presentations which are impossible to download in hard copy format. Only one site visited allowed the user the choice of viewing in Flash mode or plain old HTML, the latter providing full printing options. Although today is the paperless society we do still print out data - and there is nothing more frustrating than the 90% of sites that print out all the relevant data on one page, but print out a second page only containing irrelevant information. What a waste of paper and what a nuisance to the reader who must sort through these irrelevant pages!
Speaking of Flash presentations, another annoying feature found is that some sites require you to go through a (usually slow downloading) Flash presentation on the company before you get to the main site. The clever way to deal with this is to offer a 'Skip Intro' button, as the frequent visitor does not want to sit through this presentation every time he visits the site... but he may want to go through it once.
Two other features of websites that are not customer friendly are dead leads and sites under construction. Dead leads are often found in the news section where a click of the icon results in nothing happening, or even worse (for the companies who do not regularly update), takes you to news that ends in 2002 or earlier.
Other sites have leads to principals but again producing no results. Perhaps the most common is the one that when you click on the icon (again commonly recent news) you are referred to a page that merely states 'Site under construction'. Again, pages under construction should be hidden from the user as they do not contribute to his knowledge and only increase his frustration regarding the company. Several sites I have looked at in the past and then returned to recently, it appears that the construction of their new additions is going to take as long as the Gautrain!
When it comes to products offered these should be dealt with succinctly on a web page with links to preferably PDF files for those who want more detailed information. The PDF files contain detailed information on the products - but these should be kept below 1 Mb as often as possible, as otherwise we run into the problem of download speed again. If the vendor does not have PDFs on the products and only has hard copies or catalogues then it would be a good plan to make sure that a link is provided to let the customer request these. All that is needed are the client's basic details including address and e-mail address so that the (on-the-ball) company can add him to the list of contacts for future Internet flyers. One final nice feature is the 'send to a friend' icon which is commonly found on the websites of publications. This could be included in the news section of a company website where an article of interest can be sent to a colleague.
What should the ideal site contain?
* A brief resume of the company stating when it was formed, its history, and certifications held (eg, ISO 9000, CE Mark etc), and, in addition, a comprehensive summary of what the company does and what are its strengths in the defined market.
* Products - A listing of suppliers with links to their more specific products, or a re-direct link which takes one to the relevant original website of the supplier. Some companies manufacture and represent other suppliers and clear distinction should be made here.
* Services - Could be calibration and repair of instruments although in the case of a Systems Integrator could be a list of accreditations by major suppliers.
* Many companies include it, but more should, and this is a summary of major projects where specific products were supplied.
* A recent news button is appropriate but must be kept up-to-date. Speaking of being 'up-to-date' would-be site owners should not even consider a website if they are not going to update it on a regular basis - which in today's fast moving world really means monthly. Some of the websites I looked at were last updated two or three years ago. This does not create the best impression for a customer!
* Many companies today have regular newsletters (and there should be a link to these). They not only convey recent news, but should remind the individual responsible for the site that he should look for other updates. Some companies use this as a clever tool to update their potentially interested client's list as they make you enter your e-mail address before access and presumably they add you to the mailing list for future newsletters. Companies that are really on the ball with their sites have a news button which takes you to recent items with a link to archives from this to previous years' news (including their earlier newsletters).
* Some companies use their website as a full product catalogue, but this is probably unnecessary, except perhaps for a 'catalogue' company, where sales in the past were conducted using a full printed catalogue with prices. What these companies now do is to operate the shopping basket system where the customer can purchase items on-line with a credit card. The only problem with this in the local context is that very few companies use credit cards and purchases must go through the formal buying office who will order in the conventional way rather than on-line. Buying directly from the Internet also bypasses the sales person/customer interaction where nagging questions can be solved. (Buying scientific and engineering items is not like on-line supermarket shopping where a can of Koo beans or a loaf of white bread is exactly that.) Some people assure me that in the next decade we will be purchasing everything over the Internet - but even in the case of simple things like a television, I first want to see what it looks like in real life - and nothing satisfies like a visit to the store. Would you buy a new car over the Internet? I doubt it, as you will want a test drive, and you will want to negotiate in person with the salesperson in regard to the price of the new vehicle - and the value of your trade in.
* It should be easy for newcomers to negotiate the website. A website map is a necessity in the case of more complex sites, but is not found on at least 50% of websites. If there is a large number of products and/or services to offer (and a comprehensive archive of articles or specification sheets) then a built-in search engine for the site is a good idea.
* Contact details or a direct link to Microsoft Outlook are essential, but personally I prefer both, with the name and telephone details of the initial contact. If people are going to have to visit the premises then a proper physical map of its location, plus details of how to get there from the closest highway are a bonus.
Poor websites are not the prerogative of small companies and in fact it is in this sphere that I have seen some of the better designed sites. Some of the larger international companies in fact have the worst websites and the size and complexity (particularly for companies with a wide spectrum of offerings) makes it difficult to navigate to what you really want. Internal search engines are not of the standard of Google and its ilk, and a simple entry sometimes just produces lots of irrelevant information.
The universal problem seems to be that management task website designers to carry out the task of creating the site using their own initiative. It then appears in many cases that no one from the company has ever looked at their own website, tried to find their way around it, or attempted to use their own search engine.
Too many companies feel that after all this effort and expense that this is the end of the task. It is only the beginning as I must again stress that really good websites are those that are kept totally up-to-date. There is no point in running a news item on the latest widget in a technical publication, which usually offers you limited space, and not having more detailed information on the company's website, or a referral to the principals. Opportunities are lost and we get frustrated.
As for those companies who do not have websites... They have made the decision to go out of business. Today, the website is an essential bag of tricks in the sales portfolio and allows the potential client to find out more about what he wants before calling the technical specialist. After all, none of us want to appear stupid!
(By the way you are not alone if your website does not meet the above criteria. I have found that my own company's does not either, so I am going to put in some effort as well to make it user-friendly and professional.)
Dr Maurice McDowell has many years' experience as a technical journalist, editor, business manager and research scientist. His third party analyses of world-class companies and processes, as well as his insight into industry and technology trends are well respected.
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