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Software + Services Marketing Best PracticesWhat is your hosting fitness level?Consider how you compare to your industry peers across the key success factors - business and technical - that influence your Hosting fitness level. A Closer LookSee clear examples of things that you can do to increase Competitive Differentiation. Online Customer ExperienceOnline Customer Experience is the sum of all the decisions a firm makes regarding the design and functionality of their web site. Key Questions to Think About
Online Customer Experience, sometimes referred to as User Experience or UX, at one level refers simply to the ease with which customers are able to perform each expected activity on your website. This use implies partly a measure of intuitiveness (design for ease of use), part attractiveness (creative design), and part utility (functionality). The broader meaning of Customer Experience encompasses all aspects of the customer's online interaction with the company, its services and its products. Beyond just a checklist of desired website features and intuitive layout, this meaning encompasses access to support, feedback mechanisms, self-directed knowledgebase, live-chat, training & educational resources, community contacts with other customers, and the like. When a more holistic perspective is taken on transforming Customer Experience, a company is far more likely to turn a customer into what Seth Godin calls a Raving Fan. The confidence of the prospect increases at every impression within the sales cycle. Every touchpoint provides an opportunity for them to reaffirm their decision. What it meansThe prospect enters the sales cycle with specific questions and concerns. Whatever the question or concern arising in the demand generation vehicle, it should be addressed directly in the subsequent impressions. Why it's importantExperience proves that if a prospect's interest is captured with an email, web link, phone call, or other vehicle and the firm fails to address that specific area of interest with the very next step, the prospect will be lost. Applications of the Best PracticeIn a recent campaign, the campaign microsite was taken 'off-domain' using friendly URLs. Due to company policy, at the point of registration, prospects were taken back to the core company domain where, before proceeding further, they were asked a series of questions that were not relevant to the product being registered. Not surprisingly, 96% of traffic abandoned the registration at this point until the site revisions were completed to remove the unnecessary and irrelevant steps in the process. Bottom line: To increase your effective Customer Experience, ensure that you eliminate hurdles inadvertently placed in front of customers within your processes - particularly online where their ability to click away is so |
