Avoiding Wired Mistakes
You can't do anything on the Internet that you can't do in real
life, but the Net lets you do it faster and in view of global
audiences. When you're doing somewhat great, that's good. When
you're making a gigantic mistake, it's less good. From a
consumer's perspective, here's some suggestions that would help
induce me to reach for my credit card.
Guideline #1: Your Web site should compliment your real-life
business. As an example, I offer you the story of the florist
shop with the beautiful Web site. It was a couple of days before
Christmas and I had left my shopping till the last minute. An
Internet search revealed a florist shop situated in my friend's
home community. The Web site was excellent. Fast download, well
laid out, easily navigated. Their floral designs were pictured
on the site, identified by code numbers and with pricing
information clearly visible. Obviously, it was the work of a
professional designer and obviously it was not done on the
cheap. I was impressed. I copied the phone number and dialed up
to place my order. Then things got sticky. The salesperson
didn't know there was a Web site, had no idea what floral
arrangement I was trying to order, or at what price. If you're
going to the trouble of being on the Web, be sure that your
sales personnel are giving a consistent message.
Guideline #2: Answer Your E-mail. If you are going to make your
email address available to your customers, make sure that
somebody answers the e-mail that you receive, and make sure that
the person who does this is knowledgeable and able to
communicate through that medium. Nothing will tick your
customers off faster than sending an email that is ignored. And
please note: the webmaster or the programmer in your
organization is not usually the best person to be handling your
marketing material or fielding questions about your product.
You've gone to a lot of trouble to attract potential customers.
Try not to annoy them too much through ineffective email
practices.
Guideline #3: The Price Is Not a Secret. I'll be honest. This
practice annoys me a lot, and it has me mystified. It's the
peculiar online sales tactic of making the customer work really
hard to discover what something costs. You go to a Web site or
you receive a piece of email promoting a particular product or
service. However, no pricing information is available. It may
not even be readily apparent that the item is for sale. You
click your way through a big Web site, finally to locate pricing
information in tiny print in an obscure corner. Sometimes
there's just an invitation to phone them or to send an email for
more information. I dunno