Is your website on autopilot?

This article was submitted by Michelle Gartner, of Gartner Web Development.

Last week I had the fortunate experience of having a vacuum cleaner salesman land on my door. This young man, though new to sales was quite the salesperson. He listened to what I had to say, had an inoffensive manner and seemed genuinely interested in my family. Needless to say he was winning me over. Now I really didn’t need a vacuum- especially a $2,000 one at that, but while he was talking I had begun to let the spender in me take over. I actually was mulling over my budget mentally and figuring out how much this would dent my wallet.

This particular vacuum had a million attachments, you could use it to unclog toilets, clean off fans, groom your pet- there wasn’t much it couldn’t do. I almost expected the salesman to tell me it cooked dinner. As you can imagine with all these features, it took a long time for the salesman to go through his entire pitch and show me every feature of this extraordinary vacuum.

At about forty minutes into his pitch, there was a knock at my door and his boss entered the scene. The boss had been sitting out in the cold, wondering what was taking so long. Once inside my house, I was informed that his boss is one of the top salespersons for this brand. Therefore the more experienced salesperson took over and launched into his pitch. After several minutes of him working the vacuum and laying down his sales pitch, I no longer enjoyed the intrusion. In my mind it felt like he was on autopilot and that I was just another prospect…

Going autopilot because we are enjoying some success is particularly easy to fall prey to in internet marketing. This happens for a variety of reasons- I believe the two biggest reasons we go on autopilot online are;

1. We no longer have the early enthusiasm we once had for our websites, blogs, or e-commerce sites.

2. Our analytics show rapid growth. We have increased visitors, RSS subscribers, or online customers buying our products or services. This leads us to believe we are doing things right and that there is no reason for us to adopt change.

When we find ourselves on autopilot online with our internet marketing we need to put on the brakes quickly and listen to what our prospects and customers have on their mind. I know it’s a difficult thing to “listen” online- but we do have plenty of resources that allow us to listen online. There are no excuses for alienating online visitors.

Here are some of the ways we can “listen” online;

• First of all always make sure you implicitly have permission to market to your targeted audience. Make sure it is easy to opt in or out of emails, both electronically or snail mail delivered newsletters, and other forms of sales communications.
• If you have a blog or forum that accepts comments read the comments carefully. If a commenter is asking for clarification or other help and it’s in your power to give them a quick response- do so.
• Use polls to monitor what your visitors are saying. Make sure they can comment or send you an email to further elaborate on why they voted for something.
• Make sure your website, blog, or e-commerce site has accessible contact information or customer service channels.
• Follow up with visitors and customers in a timely manner and hear them out.
• Attend networking opportunities in order listen to your visitors in person. Listen to other webmasters about how they listen to and engage their visitors.
• Brainstorm the ways- both simple and innovative that you can listen to and reach your online customers. No two websites will engage visitors in the exact same manner
• Advanced online marketers will want to develop and facilitate customer engagement or CE to better listen to and engage customers while building brand loyalty.

So, let’s wrap this up- did I buy the vacuum? No- I didn’t, I listened to the pitch given and felt like I was just another lead. One of the vacuum cleaner salesmen stated that he would be getting a vacation if he met a targeted sales figure. As you can imagine it didn’t leave me feeling too good to know I was just another prospective customer. Even less so when the more experienced salesman didn’t listen to what I had to say. No one likes to feel like they haven’t been heard – this applies both online and in person.

Are you really listening to your online visitors or are you on autopilot? If you know you are on autopilot, it’s time to snap out of it and listen to and engage your visitors. What can you do this week to better listen to your visitors? Check for accessibility to you or your company. Respond to comments and engage visitors in discussions. Find offline networking opportunities where you can listen to online visitors in person. In future posts we’ll shed some light on customer engagement and best practices.