These might echo the basic lessons from the early days of the internet, but they’re still relevant today ― especially in an era of rapidly growing AI tools, robust social media platforms, and ever-expanding network bandwidth and device capabilities. When so many sales tools are available to digital marketers, it’s easy to lose sight of the power of a good website.
Many of the relevant lessons predate the first website. Historically, a great salesperson made it easy for customers to discover your product or service, learn about your company culture, and to get help with basic troubleshooting. A great website should do all of these things, and will only benefit from the power of the latest digital tools.
For example, many younger people are more comfortable when communicating via text message compared to phone calls. For legacy businesses with giant call centers, consider integrating text-message communication with your website. An AI bot running in the background of your site can read customers’ texts and send them a link to a relevant support article, reducing the burden on sales and support people and potentially bringing new customers to your site.
When your salesperson builds a relationship with a customer, they learn a lot about that customer. A website equipped with the proper analytical tracking tools is no different. It can help you understand who your customers are, how they use your website, and what they’re looking for once they arrive. If a salesperson is slow to produce the product, service, or information your customers are looking for, they risk losing the customer. A website that is slow to load or difficult to navigate is no different.
Social media marketing can allow brands to explore different content marketing tools and, in turn, attract different customers. But these tools should go hand-in-hand with your website. Social media is where customers talk about what’s relevant to them today, but traffic there does not inherently benefit your bottom line. Think of Instagram, Twitter/X, and LinkedIn as gateways to the articles, webinars, and other content that lives on your website. Like your best salesperson, your website is there for the long haul with something to pique your customers’ interest at the ready. It’s the place where you can control your message and curate a more holistic customer experience than customers will experience through social media.
There’s an important corollary to these truths: If you’re not directing traffic to your website because you don’t have faith in it, it’s time to fire your virtual salesperson! When it’s time for a new or refreshed website, don’t fall into the same traps that led your site astray in the first place. Here are some key questions to consider first:
- Who has the final oversight over the site, including everything related to the user experience?
- Who is helping oversee and write the content for the website – both for building, and for ongoing content development in the future? Content can (and should) come from a variety of internal sources, but an intake and curation system will make this a sustainable program in the long term.
- Does the site lack cohesiveness, and are each of your web designers adhering to a core style?
- Does the site track the necessary analytics? Is it integrated with your CRM to help build your customer profiles?
- Do you have a clear method for measuring your site’s ROI? When you’ve built the site, what are your measures of success?
- What is the long-term plan for maintaining, iterating, and improving the site?
A high-performance website can attract new business and create efficiencies in your existing business. In that regard, it might go beyond what even the best human salesperson can do. Against a backdrop of rapidly emerging digital marketing tools, the venerable website deserves as much attention as ever.