Frequently Asked Questions pages, commonly referred to as FAQ pages, are not uncommon online. They can be a great tool for many reasons, but only if you use them the right way. Here are a few tips for making great, and useful, FAQ pages.

[This post is part of the ongoing Better Websites Series.]

© TheSupe87 - Fotolia.com

When To Use An FAQ Page
Most FAQ pages are designed to relieve the requirements of online customer support. Many businesses get the same questions over and over. To answer them all via email can be tedious, and inefficient for the customer and the business.

FAQ pages are a simple, and quick, way to share answers to common questions held by visitors and customers. A good FAQ page should always be helpful to both parties.

1. Use Them As A Last Resort

The first rule of FAQ pages is to avoid them as much as possible. Ironic, right? Sometimes FAQ pages can become a dumping ground for the things that we can’t put anywhere else. This leads to many problems. For example, it can prevent the FAQ page from having a focused purpose. If you are just pulling a bunch of random questions, the page will be hard to navigate and understand.

The other reason to avoid FAQ pages is for consistency of information. Usually, with websites we group pages by related content. Sometimes FAQ sections can feel like a grab bag, which might cause a visitor to miss other vital information.

2. Keep Them Well Organized

Organization is key. Many great FAQ pages are useful because their questions are well grouped and categorized. Questions should be broken down into common categories so that visitors can easily find what they are looking for.

As an example, you can see how the web app Notable organizes their FAQ section by question type. Their questions are clear, and well organized for their users.

FAQ Page at NotableApp.com

Similar questions should be grouped together, even if is makes the page longer. If your page is will organized, your visitors won’t mind a little scrolling.

3. Make Sure They Are Actually Frequently Asked

Sometimes FAQ pages get used as a place to share those questions that we never get to answer, rather than the ones that everyone wants us to answer. It is important to remember that these are your customers most common questions, not just the things that you want to tell them. Keep your questions on-topic and customer focused.

4. Write Them Using Your Customers Language

Customers and business owners talk differently. You should be writing your page in a way that resonates with your customer, and not yourself. This means you need to use their language and their slang. It may make you cringe, but it will be far more valuable when it comes to search queries and perusing customers.

5. Think and Share Visually

Providing an example image, or screenshot, can be a great way to add more value to your page. Make sure your visual element is applicable and sized reasonably for the page. It is just another way to add some value to your site.

Mint.com

Visual clues, such as these icons at Mint.com, can be a great way to make your page more attractive and usable.

6. Plan For Scanning

Visitors tend to scan the page, rather than reading everything. Making sure your headlines and questions are sized properly can make a big difference in the usability of your page.

Amazon Webstore

Take this Amazon web store as an example. Their questions are bold, dark, and underlined so they are never missed. It is easy to scan this page to find what you need an answers to.

7. Allow Search

If your FAQ page starts to exceed a handful of questions, adding a search option can be a very good idea. This will help your customers and visitors find things quickly and easily. I don’t know how many times I have watched a web visitor frantically scan for a search option when the site gets overwhelming. Make it easy on them.

8. Don’t Over-Do It

Enough is enough. If you overload your FAQ page with too many questions, you will overwhelm your readers and prevent they from finding value in the page. Be a careful curator of content. Only give them what they want and need.

9. Create Landing pages

A simple way to gain some search engine value from your FAQ section is to create dedicated landing pages for important questions. This can especially be important for long-tail searches, such as when a user searches for an entire question.

Google-Search

If you create individual landing pages for common questions, Google will link your site to relevant Google searches. Now, that’s good for everyone!

10. Customer Focus

As always, the key to a great website or FAQ page is to keep it customer focused. Just like your products and services, your website needs to be built around your customers and the problems you solve. If you keep customers in the middle, you will always do just fine.

One of the challenges that we face in online marketing is consistently staying up with the times. For most businesses, a website only lasts a couple of years. That said, your budget may not allow for a complete redesign that often. So, what do you do with an old website that needs a fresher feel?

[This post is part of the ongoing Better Websites Series.]

Give that old site some new love! Photo: © Olga Gabai - Fotolia.com

If there is one thing that we know, your clients, customers, and patrons, will only visit your site when it offers them something new or valuable. As website owners, it is our job to keep them coming back. Here are a few simple ways to make an old website feel new, and keep your visitors coming back.

Add a Facebook Like Box

The Facebook Like box has become a common site feature. Few blogs exist without a like box in the righthand column. Like boxes give your visitors an easy way to Like your Facebook page, and interact with the social media side of your business. The Like box is just a simple way to merge these two worlds together.

And, why stop with Facebook? Adding links to all of your social networking accounts can be an important way to connect your audience to more current information about your brand.

Add a Blog

A blog can be one of the easiest ways to add regular content to your site. By posting articles and information that your customers will find useful, you can draw in more visitors – more often. If your site already has a blog, dust it off and commit to adding some regular content. I have never meet anyone that regretted their time spent blogging.

If you don’t already have a blog, maybe it is time to start one. Simply launching a WordPress.com blog can be a great way to start adding new life to your Internet presence.

Humanize Your Copy

Customers talk like customers, but you don’t. When you spend all day working in the middle of your business, you start to sound like an industry drone. Too often, we let this marketing and corporate speak sink into our website. A great way to give your website more punch is to remove this type of copy and add something that has a more “human” tone.

Try replacing industry terms with some of the jargon that your customers use. Or, rewrite key pages in a friendlier tone. Small improvements like this will add depth to your current site and easily transfer over to something new in the future.

Add A Video

Watching video is one of the most popular activities online, and fortunately it is also very easy to produce. Most digital cameras allow you to shoot basic video. Maybe it’s time to throw it on a tripod and create a client testimonial, or a product demonstration. No matter what, shooting a quick video and adding it to your site using YouTube or Vimeo can easily bring something new and dynamic to your site.

One key point to remember is that online video doesn’t have to be perfect. You aren’t shooting a commercial! If you make it casual and interesting, you will do just fine.

Update the Photo Gallery

A photo taken in 1993 looks like a photo taken in 1993. Sometimes just updating product photos and staff images can add something totally new to a long-forgotten site. Photos tend to stand out from the overall design, so they can really set the tone for the page.

Consistently adding new photos and replacing dated ones can easily extend the life of your website. Keep them fresh to stay noticed.

Remove Dated Material

Nothing says ‘old website’ like a news section that still has updates from 5 years ago. Old news is just that – old news. Remove old stories and announcements that are no longer current. If you show visitors old things, they are going to start seeing your site and your business as dated.

The same can go for old staff members that have not been removed, or outdated product and service information. If you look old, your visitors will see you that way.

Add A Landing Page

Sometimes, we like to think of our website as an online version of our brochure. This use to be ok, but as the web becomes more and more dynamic, we are realizing that it isn’t enough. Your site could benefit from a new call to action and a corresponding landing page.

For example, rather than just saying ‘contact us’, perhaps you could change it to ‘get a free consultation.’ This new call to action could take your website from being a basic information center to a lead collecting machine.

Staying Fresh

Staying fresh can be a full time job, but it is vital to online marketing success. The more regularly you update and add content to your site, the better you will perform.

[This post is part of the ongoing Better Websites Series.]

For some reason, the lyrics from Rick Ashley’s 80s hit Never Gonna Give You Up comes to mind when I think about websites…

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you

Strange association perhaps, but all too often we do exactly that. We give up on our website.

Start thinking of your website as a blank canvas to paint on.

Websites can take a lot of work, thought, and time. It isn’t uncommon to feel like you are dragging it across the finish line on launch day. But, for a website, launch day is really only the beginning.

The thing that we can’t do with our website is give up on it. You should never see your site as complete. Sure, it was good enough to launch, but really, the work is never done.

I like to say that websites are an iterative process. We build them to the best of our ability with the time and resources available and then slowly add to them as time goes on. This could be done through new features, or it could be done with new content. The key is to keep moving forward.

Here are few great ways to keep your site moving forward and your traffic moving upward.

Think Content Management

Content management does just what it says – it allows you to manage the content on your website. Many sites are already using these systems, and they definitely make it easy to update your website. Using a content management system should be as easy as logging in with a username and password and then making changes by typing in a few form fields. I always like to say that updating your website should be as easy as sending an email.

There are many systems that can allow you to do this. At Todaymade, we employ our custom TodayCMS engine to get the job done. WordPress is also another excellent option. They key is to not only build your site with these systems, but to use them regularly.

Build In Phases

A great way to approach any site is to build it in phases. Once you have developed a master plan, your budget or timeline may not allow for everything that you desire or need. You might be better off building a portion of it now, and budgeting the rest for another time down the road. The key here is to work closely with your developer to ensure that things can be added and changed to fit your final plan. You don’t want to paint yourself into a corner!

Consider A Blog

A blog can be a great way to continually add new content to your site, and encourage visitors to come back again and again. In fact, websites with a blog get an average of 55% more traffic than sites without one. Not only will you see more traffic, but you will also have a great way to continually provide helpful content for your visitors.

It is true that it takes a certain mentality to make a blog work, but the biggest thing is just understanding that websites need to continually be infused with new ideas and thoughts to keep the momentum going. Once you have committed to this, blogging can be a very enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Use It Strategically

For plenty of us, making our website a key part of your businesses strategic plan isn’t second nature. In fact, it can sometimes be the last thing we think of. This, of course, is where a good developer can come it. Using your online presence to collect leads, and keep in contact with them is an important task for most businesses. If we start seeing our site as an ongoing process, it can become a lot easier to see the possibilities as they arise.

Watch Your Analytics

Many sites come with a visitor statistics tracking package. We like Google Analytics for this. Too often, though, we only use these tools for counting visits and not as a set of clues for future possibilities. Look through your analytics. Which pages are visitors frequenting, and which pages aren’t they finding? User behavior can provide you with some great clues as to what your visitors want from your site. Once you start digging around you will almost certainly find something that can be improved.

Painting A Canvas

One of the things that I like to say about websites, is that they are just a canvas to paint on. When you launch a site, you are launching a place to collect and share ideas and information. Just because the canvas is done, that doesn’t mean it won’t need a little bit of paint. Keep at it. Keep updating, and keep things fresh. It will keep your visitors coming back for more, and more.

[This post is part of the ongoing Better Websites Series.]

Here’s the honest truth – most websites fail to impress because their owners don’t set reasonable expectations on what they want users to do once we get there. Most of the time, website owners have grandiose expectations for traffic, participation, and sales without really taking the steps necessary to make it happen.

Now, some may attribute this to a lack of planning, but I call it a common case of not understanding the real needs of the customer.

Here are some of the most common expectations that we set, and why they doom us to failure.

In other words, this is what you should avoid.

We Believe That Our Website Will Become A ‘Hub’

So, it is no secret that the Internet is a great tool for connecting unique groups of people together in one place.That said, unless you are building a social network, you should never really look at our own site as a hub. The problem with this outlook is that your customers don’t need it. The Internet is their hub. They need something more than that from you.

We Want Our Website To Be A Portal

So many businesses approach their website like a portal, amassing a large amount of data about their company, and even industry, hoping to make their site a one-stop shop for all things relating to their businesses. Umm… isn’t that Google’s job? Believe me, no one will be making your site their homepage any time soon. Don’t be fooled.

We Want Our Website To Be Like This Other Website

Sometimes, we simply build our website emulating the success of another. Sure, we all have websites that we love and visit on a daily basis. The problem arises when we try to apply the things that we see on those sites to our own. Sure, these sites might be great for a reason, but that reason probably isn’t what you’d think.

We Want Our Website To Be User Generated

Many of us understand the benefits of user-generated content. As visitors come to the site, they add things to it which saves you time and energy. The problem is that was usually underestimate the amount of traffic that is required to make this work. Most web users are still have a voyeur mentality. Convincing them to participate can be tricky business.

We Want More Traffic Than The Tarmac At Laguardia

This is the classic, if you build it they will come lie. Website owners always have lofty goals when it comes to the amount of traffic that will be coming to their site, but rarely do they take the effort to make it happen. You must develop a launch marketing plan before to travel into the wilderness.

They Want Google To Index Them Immediately

Google is fast, but not always that fast. With a new site it can take Google several months to find, and really understand your site. SEO delivery is really an ongoing process, rather than an immediate result.

What’s In It For The User?

Yahoo and Google are both in the business of connecting users to content. Yahoo does it by giving you all of the information at once (messy homepage, tons of links), and Google does it by giving you amazing search technology. Yahoo thinks it’s a ‘portal’, and Google knows that it is a search company.

You see, Google understands something that Yahoo never has. They understand their users. They realize that visitors to their site want good, fast, results – nothing more and nothing less. This is why Google’s homepage has nothing more and nothing less than a search bar. They are a company that has built themselves around the experience that their visitors want, and it has made the very successful.

And, this is really the lesson that we need to learn for ourselves. Most of the expectations that we set fail because they are OUR expectations. Rather than relying on the characteristics and needs that our customers have we plan from our own perspective – attempting to satisfy our own goals and needs.

It can be hard to think like someone else – there is no doubt about that. When planning and setting goals, though, we must learn to keep a customer-centric mindset.

Why do people really come to your website?

What do they really want to be doing once they get there?

When it comes to your website, they are the boss – you’d best let them drive.

Every year, we see continual growth in the online shopping world. Customers are continually looking to the web more and more for product research before making buying decisions.

Data from “The 2011 Social Shopping Study” (a recent study by the e-tailing group and PowerReviews) indicates that 50% of consumers spend 75% or more of their total shopping time conducting online product research, with 15% spending 90% or more of their shopping time in this manner.

In 2010, only 21% of consumers spent 75% or more of their shopping time conducting online product research, meaning this percentage has more than doubled in one year.

I think the real challenge for businesses going forward will be learning how to provide the right answers to their customers questions. Brands that can adapt early, and become a trusted source of value-based content for their customers, will take the lead in the online research wars.

Social media has become the perfect tool for connecting customers to the content that they are looking for. Companies that don’t blog, or provide visitors with free white-papers or ebooks, will continually become less and less relevant in their respective markets.

This study only provides more proof that when it comes to customers – content is king.

Need proof? Take a look at Amazon. Why are they the biggest and best online retailer? Well, for one thing, look at their product pages. Not only do they have abundant amounts of product information, but they offer more product reviews than any other site. Customers come back because Amazon.com makes it easy to do the research that they desire.

Connecting your brand to your customers means connecting them to the things that they want. They want content. They want research. The big question is, are you providing it?

[This post is part of the ongoing Better Websites Series.]

Let me ask you something. Why does your company have a website? Is it because you want an online presence, or because your competitors have one? Even worse, is it because some committee thinks you need one?

While I certainly hope it isn’t to please the committee, these things do happen. The three reasons listed above are really some of the most likely reasons that businesses enter online marketing. And really, it isn’t their fault. Back in the mid 90s when everyone was jumping online, those were the reasons to do it.

But, they won’t cut it anymore.

A site launched with these goals is destined to suffer the Internet’s equivalent of the black plague – low traffic. And, we all know that low traffic always leads to low return on investment.

When most of us think of a website, we usually think of something like a brochure. Full color, maybe a bit of gloss, and a lot of information about a particular product or brand. We tend think of websites as “information portals” and as a great place for our staff directory, but they can be so much more than that.

We fail to realize is that while the Internet is a good medium for delivering information, it is actually even better at communication. In some way, it is almost better to think of the Internet as the new telephone system rather than the new brochure.

Change. Seek. Find.

One of the main characteristics of a brochure is that it rarely changes. We finalize the copy, select the prefect images, and print a few thousand at a time. Brochures sit in a box, and never really change. This is how websites use to be built too, but in the late 90s a little company called Google came along and changed all of that.

Rather than requiring website owners to submit their site to a search engine directory, the Google robots started coming to them. Did you know that during every minute of the day there is a Google robot searching all of the worlds websites?

Google is constantly re-indexing websites and looking for new, and relevant, information. If your website is just as dusty as your brochure, what incentive are you giving the Google bot to come back? The more you change the content of your site, the more likely Google is to come again, and the more likely your customers are to find you online.

You see, brochures don’t change. Websites do, and change is what it is all about.

Hello There

It really is time that we start to understand the communication side of online. Facebook now has over 750 million (yes, with a M) users. The number of social networks out there is conservatively estimated at over 4,000! It may be obvious, but the world has changed, and so has communication!

With the brochure, and with our advertising, businesses have gotten use to the idea of pushing messages to their customers. They develop the message and alert their customers with push advertising and promotion. But, it doesn’t work that way anymore. It is no longer ok to push your message on the customer, it is all about the conversation.

As business owners, and website managers, our job is to figure out how to make our website a part of this conversation. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even YouTube are a part of that conversation, but your website is still where you bring home the bacon.

Websites that learn to have that conversation are the ones that will win in this new online world. But, that process doesn’t come easy. It takes a total paradigm shift that we all need to be prepared for, and it all starts with a few key questions:

• Who is our audience?
• What do they want/need?
• What problems can we help them with?
• How can the website solve their problems?
• How can the website facilitate conversation with customers?

Most of the time, when I sit down to the first meeting on a new website, the conversation starts with an entirely different set of questions. They tend to go something like this:

• What do we want our website to say?
• What content do we already have that could go online?
• Who will be in charge of updating our site?
• What other websites do we like?
• What are our competitors doing online.

Do you see the difference between then two sets of questions? The first looks outward – focused on the customer and satisfying what they need. The second looks inward – focused on satisfying internal wants and wishes.

Be honest now, which set of questions is more common around your board room?

Customer Driven Websites

Here is what we all need to realize – it doesn’t matter what you think. You need to build the website that your customers love to use, not you. The mysterious conversation that you hear about starts here – from the customers eyes, because that is what we are really selling online.

I will say it again. The world has changed, and so has communication. It is time for your “online presence” to become an online meeting place, where your brand and your customers can come together and have that conversation that everyone has been looking for.

No matter what you buy, you can always count on there being an owners manual in the box. Some are large, and some are small, but we all expect them to be there.

Great sites come for a great plan executed well.

Why should a website be any different? Today we are starting a new series to solve that pesky problem, and we are calling it the Better Websites Series. It is, in short, the official Todaymade website owners manual, and it is going to cover the gamete.

The first article in this series will be teaching you how to start thinking beyond the sales brochure. For too long, we have allowed this tired old metaphor to define our website strategy, and our thinking. It is about time that we changed our approach, and our thought process, when it comes to our website and online marketing.

How do I plan my website?

How do I deliver for my audience?

What is SEO?

How can I develop better content?

Where can I get more traffic?

What the heck is an analytic?

These are just a few of the things that we will be answering in this series, and we will continually add more along the way. So, enjoy the series, and be sure to let us know what else you want us to cover!

Better Websites Series: The Website Owner’s Manual

• Beyond The Sales Brochure: What Is Your Website Really Selling?
• Creating Audience Trust By Expanding Your Content Core
• Google Search Secrets: How To Become a Do-It-Yourself SEO Master
• The Secret to Using Your Website to Generate New Leads
• 7 Ways To Make Your Old Website Feel New Again
• Improving Your Website, And Traffic, With A Few Simple Steps
• Your Website Isn’t an I.T. Problem
• Google IS Your Homepage

We just love to categorize things don’t we? First, we had the age of enlightenment, then age of reason. We all still remember the age of advertising, right? Well, the next ‘age’ has finally come. It is time for the age of the customer.

I wouldn’t just make this up.

Recently, one of Forrester’s leading analysts, shared a new report that showed we have now entered the age of the customer.

Empowered customers are disrupting every industry; competitive barriers like manufacturing strength, distribution power, and information mastery can’t save you. In this age of the customer, the only sustainable competitive advantage is knowledge of and engagement with customers.

And this, my friends, is what Todaymade is all about. Call it what you will, but the world is different than it was 20 years ago. It is no longer OK to push your message on your customer. Advertising isn’t what is use to be, and customers don’t want to be marketed to in the same way.

The solution? Well, there are a lot of things to it. Social media and word of mouth marking plays a big part, but so does the customer experience. Overall, we are really talking about developing a company culture that is laser focused on quality and the customer experience.

Making Problems Go Away

It happens all the time. Companies have PR problems or sales woes and they all gun for the same thing – more advertising. It is all about throwing money at problems. And, that’s really all it is. Advertising is expensive, and generally not so great at garnering immediate results. Usually, once we are advertising, it is already too late.

The economy that we are all living in is starting to understand that. It is starting to understand that the most important asset that a brand has isn’t its TV commercials, but the relationship that is has with it’s customers. This relationship isn’t only defined through social media generated conversation, it is also defined by the price they pay, the box that the product comes in, and the experience they have while using it.

Everything that your company does, right down to the telephone greeting, defines your relationship with your customer.

When you are focused on the customer, and making the strongest possible relationships, I promise that you will never need to advertise again.

Period.

Awareness

Now, I know I am hard on the age of advertising. It is was good to us, and gave us great things like “where’s the beef” and “just do it.” But, the time has come for us to call a spade a spade. Advertising is great at generating awareness, but that awareness comes at a great cost.

Often times, I think businesses go straight to advertising because they are too heavily focused on new customer acquisition. What business doesn’t want more new customers, right? But, acquiring a new customer is really the most expensive way to increase your business. What if you spent more time and effort on current customers, and on the customer experience? Would it cause your current clients to tell more people about you? Would they buy from you more often?

Each business is different, but the opportunities are there.

Forrester research took a look at the five forces that drive competition in business, and how each one is effected by the age of the customer. Not surprisingly, there are major changes in each one. Literally, some of those things that we take for granted in business need to completely change.

That is, if we want to stay relevant.

Communication Has Changed

When communication changes, so goes marketing. The Internet has brought on the largest change in communication since the telephone, so it only makes sense that everything else must follow suit. The way we talk to our parents, grandparents, friends, and even children has been completely redefined in the last ten years.

So has how we communicate with our customers.

In fact, the one thing that many of us haven’t changed is how we market ourselves and view our approach to the customer experience. But, that is the one change that will make all the difference in today’s world.

You can read more about Forrester’s findings here. Trust me, it is well worth your time.

Do you know how Tommy Hilfiger got his big beak? Partially at least, it was due to a great ad.

Tommy was just about to launch his new brand and clothing line, when he approached an advertising giant, George Lois. George knew that Tommy needed something big to help launch the brand. Something that would instantly make everybody know his name.

The ad that George came up with made Tommy very uncomfortable. The ad depicted a fill-in-the-blank style list with the names of the worlds most popular clothing designers – including Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, and Calvin Klein. Essentially, George suggested to the world that Tommy Hilfiger should be added to the list.

As the story is told in the documentary film Art & Copy, Tommy was nearly mortified by the ad. These people were legends to him, and as a newbie in the business, he didn’t feel qualified to be listed amongst the ranks.

None-the-less, George convinced Tommy to run the ad campaign, which included a billboard in Times Square. It worked.

Tommy Hilfiger became a near overnight sensation, and he booked dozens of TV appearances worth millions in free advertising. He, of course, distanced himself from the ad at the time, but now shows a bit of fondness for it.

I think this little story gives us a glimpse at one of the most important lessons in business and marketing.

Sometimes you need to be a little bit uncomfortable.

Not Just Crazy

Day after day, ad agencies and their clients attempt to woo us with their ads and their brands. They say that many of us are exposed to 5,000 different ads on any given day. In order to get our attention, these ads seem to be getting crazier and crazier. It almost appears that these agencies are running out of ideas.

But, crazy isn’t the same as uncomfortable.

The Hilfiger ad wasn’t over the top, it wasn’t crazy, but it was certainly bold.

Above all, it was smart, and it did exactly what it was designed to do.

Good Ideas Win

The Tommy Hillfiger ad worked because it was built on a good idea. Throwing Tommy Hilfiger right in with the big dogs was a bold move. Even a little outrageous, but it was a smart way to accelerate the brand.

Here’s my question. Would you have approved it?

As marketers, ads and campaigns are constantly on our to do list. We are approving copy here and signing off on a design here. Every once in a while, we are asked to sign off on something a little more outrageous, something with a hint of risk. Something that makes us feel uncomfortable.

So, what do we do? Do we approve the ad and run the risk of failure, or we do go with something safer and more expected?

In my experience, most advertising is far less than great because it isn’t based on good ideas and a willingness to be a bit edgy. Usually, it is based on safety. You see, we craft ideas that are made for safety instead of results.

I think the lesson we need to learn is that a good, and simple, idea well executed can go a long way. And, speaking of great and simple ideas. Think of the Got Milk campaign. Would you have approved that?

When is the last time edgy described your marketing?

When is the last time your marketing made you feel a little uncomfortable?

Now, I am definitely not saying that any of us need to be edgy just for the sake of it. But, I am saying that we need to be willing to shake things up a bit, and take some big risks.

Tommy Hilfiger took a risk, and look where it got him. Not half bad if you ask me. And, all he had to do was say, “fine.”

:)

The web has brought us many things, but above them all is the gift of instant communication. For customers, it has also brought the gift of instant satisfaction – that is if your company is willing to put in the effort.

Forrester research recently conducted an online survey trying to determine how consumers interact with customer service organizations. The results were surprising.

The report showed that 58% of of customers looked to the companies website, while only 50% have looked to the telephone. Overall, customers accessed online channels for information long before they picked up the telephone.

From Forrester:

Consumers use the phone channel 50% of the time. However, other channels are more widely used than the voice channel: 58% of the time, consumers search for an answer on the Web; 61% of the time they send an email to customer service; and 66% of the time they search a company’s FAQ.

More Than Just Information

The trend has been growing for years. More business and more communication is moving online. And, why shouldn’t it? It’s fast, and right in front of us. The problem, I think, is that most businesses still haven’t caught up with the trend.

Day after day we see dozens, probably hundreds, of different websites. Think about the ones that you visit the most. They are probably the ones that provide the most value, right?

Now, how about your own companies website. Is there any reason to visit it daily? If one of your customers was looking for an answer to a question, would they find it there?

Often times, websites are approached from a marketing and advertising perspective. We provide sales information, much like a brochure, but little else. We think of websites as a tool to reach new customers, but as we can see from the research, there is a whole lot more to it than that.

I think we need to get better about viewing our website as a communications channel. Sure, sometimes we are communicating with new customers, but much of the time we are communicating with our current customers.

The question is, what do they need?

Online Or Bust

One of the encouraging things about this report is the consumer emphasis on low-cost alternatives. For example, it can cost business a significant amount to staff and manage a customer call center, while it would cost significantly less to run an email support center.

For the average business, a call center may never be necessary, but think of the possible time savings if you were able to answer them online rather via phone or email.

The thing of it is, most of us don’t take the time to write the content. Seriously, if you sat down and gave it an hour or two, you could probably answer a number of your customers common questions in written format for your website. And why not? They are looking for it.

I have heard people say that they feel online FAQ’s and support lose the personal touch of business. Point taken, but the thing of it is – your customers are already looking for it. When you don’t provide what they need you are failing them. Now you’ve lost the personal touch, and the opportunity to make a good impression.

Now, that’s failure.

Naming The Game

At the end of the day, it is up to us as marketing and website owners to make sure that our site it providing value to our customers and prospects. As consumers spend more time online, they are looking there more and more to provide them with answers and interactions with the companies they work with.

This can come down to more than just frequently asked questions, though. Things like online scheduling, and online training, are also a big part of the Internet customer strategy. Either way, your website should be a place for new and current customers to enjoy and above all, find helpful.