Is A New Website Worth The Investment?
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Have you ever been to a website and thought, “Wow; this looks horrendous and I can’t find anything I want”? If so, you’re not alone. A number of websites out there are cluttered, unorganized and simply lacking in aesthetic appeal; a smorgasbord of links and information that offer no direction. To this day, there are successful businesses whose websites are still lagging behind, stuck in the 90’s, with a look, feel and experience that just screams “out of date.”. As successful as these businesses are, presently; that success will be short lived unless a shift in their website and sales strategy occurs.
The New Target Market
A new market has emerged. A younger, faster, more digitally-inclined market, with purchase patterns different than what your company has ever encountered before. They are an entirely different animal than previous generations. If your company isn’t making an effort to understand this new market’s purchase patterns, then your company will go unseen in this new market’s purchase process.
We hear the question often, “Why do I need a better website if my business is still generating prospects?” The simple answer: You build for the future; not the present. Your current target market may not be involved in any new-age technology, but those days are coming to an end. Your current target market is slowly becoming your past target market, as the digital generation clips their heels, hustling in a new wave of browsing and buying.
What The Millennials Want
As millennials start to build their wealth and become a stronger buying presence, they rely on a strong user experience (UX) and an easily navigated interface (UI) along side websites that produce content and educate them on a product before they buy. It’s a hallmark of this digitally-driven generation: look, and look, and look again. Research. Research some more. And then buy. There is no debate on this subject because the statistics don’t lie. The new sales model for lead generation starts with answering prospects’ questions before they even contact you.
This shift in buyer behavior is call self-service. The days of handing out brochures, cold calling and inside sales are slowly coming to an end. That is not to say that your sales team should stop meeting with clients and engaging in thought provoking conversations. There will always be a need for human interaction; just not the disruptive, intrusive kind.
10 years ago, the sales funnel looked something like this:
Image credit: http://www.technoligence.com/
As you can see, today’s buyers understand they don’t need to call the business and spend hours weeding through sales pitches and friendly banter. Prospects should be able to pull up your website, read about your company, watch videos, and read educational blogs before they even pick up the phone to call you.
The Kicker
What’s truly amazing is that many companies are still ignoring these facts. These statistics, that evidence a major transition in the business to consumer market, are not being taken seriously by a majority of companies.
Tons of your competitors still have these cumbersome, hard-to-navigate websites that dedicate more space to their credentials, their skills, their talents – instead of providing answers and guidance to prospects.
Ask yourself this: when you shop for a service or product, do you call 5 different companies hoping to have your questioned answered? Or do you head straight to Google, type in your question and scan the titles until you find your best fit? We’re going to go out on a limb here and say that you research and self educate first; buy second. So is it any surprise that your prospects are doing the same exact thing? Over 80% of today’s consumers start their product hunt online.
So now that we know the facts, only you can answer: is a new website worth the investment? Go on your website, (hopefully you have one) and put yourself in your buyers shoes. Is your website easy to navigate? Does it convey a sense of trust and authority in your industry?
… Not sure if your website has the strength to convert prospects into leads? Mad Icarus Media offers a free 30 minute marketing and website assessment. No strings attached. No cold calling. No pestering sales pitch. We are dead set on helping our prospects understand the future of attracting, obtaining and nourishing qualified clients. Click below to begin transforming your business.
April 28, 2017
Thanks for this great info! I have also found this one pretty useful in calculating website worth parameters for free:
http://www.wix.ro
It is in romanian bat it is understandable and will do just fine. Give it a try!