1 Simple Rule to Increase Your Online Business

One simple rule? That's it?

Well, sort of. There actually are many "rules" that make up what are called "best practices" when it comes to marketing and the art of engaging a customer and getting them to purchase. However, if you ignore this one simple rule of engagement, then all the rest of the points are relatively worthless.

Before I tell you what that rule is, let me relate an online journey I recently had and see if you can guess what the rule is.

A friend is a big fan of a leading manufacturer and distributor of tableware, and wanted to know where it was sold in her local area. "Can't you just go on their site and look it up?? I asked. She looked at me with a face of anger, frustration and sheer exhaustion. "I couldn't find it. All you could do was buy it online."

Since tableware is one of those items that most people like to see, touch and feel before purchasing, of course she is right in wanting to skip the online commerce component and look for a store in her area that has it available. But I couldn't believe that an international tableware company as such would not have a simple link to "buy at..." or "find a store..." So, I went to the site myself.

Nope, the sitemap was no help (how many people know to go to the sitemap and do a search on the term they are looking for?) Maybe I'll click on the "tableware" tab and see what's there. That takes me to a selection of what kind of tableware. OK, I have to select a pattern. Ugh. (Total so far, 2 clicks).

But there are no links of use other than to "buy now." Back to the previous page. (3) Maybe it's under "service." Nope. (Actually, the navigation for "products" and "service" are identical. What am I missing? (4)

OK, let's try looking under "company" where they might have a link to their store outlets. (5) No, just company information. Back to the home page (6) Look, up top, it says "addresses" which might be what I'm looking for. (7) Yes! I can enter some location data and up comes a list of stores that carry what I'm looking for. Eight clicks later I get what I want.

So you say to yourself, why didn't you just look up top on one of the (many) navigation bars? Well, maybe it's the language difference (it's a European company who built and maintains the web site), but I don't necessarily think of "addresses" meaning "store locations" or such. Forgive me.

Could I have been a bit smarter in my searching? Of course! But that's the whole point about web site usability; making it EASY for a user to find what they are looking for. In order to do that a web marketing manager and web site developer have to think like a user. Don't assume you know what a customer is looking for, or how they look for it. Do some research and dig-in to the mind of the customer.

I have to believe, from talking to literally hundreds of web customers, that they would have given up long before I did. That's called an abandonment rate and it means nothing short of "lost business."

Regardless if you have an online commerce component, if you have a physical location where a web visitor could potentially walk into your store and buy something, have you made it easy for them to find you? Do you provide a link to your locations that says so in plain English? Do you make it easy for them to locate you in terms that they can relate to? (Such as, by zip code, or a map?) Do you tell them your store hours, holiday hours, phone number(s) and nearby convenient parking?

Go on to your own web site and act as though you want to find your establishment, as if you know nothing about it. Does your site answer all of your questions, prominently?

Thinking like a user, and providing clear pathways to the information they are looking for may reward you with online purchases, but also help your physical store increase sales as well.

© 2010 Bob Chernet - View all of Bob's articles at:Bob Chernet's Marketing Best Practices . Reproduction of Bob Chernet's Marketing Insights in any manner is unlawful, without the written permission of the author.