| Understanding
Web Surfing Behaviour - How to Convert Visitors to Customers
Within a decade of its
introduction, Internet has become an extremely important
marketing tool for small and medium enterprises. Today,
it is a major source for acquiring customers. Understanding
behaviour pattern in the web has become a crucial element
in attracting potential customers and transact business.
Successful marketers constantly endeavour to learn
consumer habits and shape their marketing strategy accordingly.
Learning behaviour of potential customers in the Web
help you prepare accordingly and drive a successful
deal.
I have compiled here some interesting facts and statistics
about sufers behaviour in the Net. Let us understand
these and examine their implication on your marketing
strategy, specifically how this knowledge can contribute
to your success in Internet.
Fact No 1 - Web-Site is Essential for International
Business
First thing first - to be successful in Internet, you
must have an Internet presence. The 9th Annual Middleburg/Ross
Survey of Media Professionals found that over 70% of
working journalists list the company website as the
first stop when researching a breaking story or a feature.
Same is the case with other professionals whose first
port of call on any subject is the company web-site.
Having no web-site mostly mean no customer and hence
no business. There are other more compelling reasons
like building trust, 24-hour storefront, business e-mail
etc. The days of doing business over Internet using
free or paid e-mail are truly over - if you are serious
about your business and expect serious customers from
Internet - a professional web-site is essential.
Fact No 2 - You have barely 5 seconds to impress and
engage a visitor
Research shows that web surfers tend to scan through
pages before they read anything. What it means in reality
is - a surfer may leave your website even if you have
loads of useful information. You must be able to engage
him/her before he/she decides to move out. In the dial-up
days - it used to be called 'Battle for 20 seconds'
when surfers decided to read-on or move out of a web-page
within maximum 20 seconds. Today, with broadband connection
and faster servers - a web-site has barely 5-seconds
to impress a visitor.
What is the implication of this fact ? In addition
to fast loading, attractive design and lay-out - you
must provide the surfer easy and convenient click options.
As soon as the scan is over and the surfer feels comfortable
about the web-site, he/she should be able to locate
interesting links to click. Select right keywords, highlight
and bold at least 7 per fold - and you are telling the
customer what to do within those 7 highlighted or bolded
words... Your website has more of a chance of converting
a visitor into a customer
Fact No 3 - The Three-Click Rule
The three-click rule states that any page in a web-site
should be accessible in three clicks. Call your visitor
lazy, idle or bore - he/she is unlikely to click more
than three times to reach the destination page.
The implication for this fact is simple - make your
web-site really easy - easy to find, easy to remember,
easy to understand and most important - easy to navigate.
Do you use navigation bar in each page ? How many clicks
are required to reach home page from any other page
? Do you use an internal search engine ? How easy is
it to find 'Order Form' ? How many clicks required to
reach 'Send Enquiry' or 'Contact Us' page ?
Fact No 4: The 12-click deadline
An average user clicks 12 times before leaving a website.
If any page is accessible within 3-clicks, one may safely
assume that the surfer will visit 3 or 4 pages of your
website.
Implication of this fact - you must present your visitor
with something to act on (purchase/enquire/e-mail/fill
order-form) in each page, so that chances of a sale
is high within 12 clicks. Without your site being easy,
attractive, memorable, and clear... you'll just lose
that visitor.
Fact No 5: Importance of 7th Visit
Most buyers complete their purchase-related research
within two or more weeks before they buy. During this
period - he/she makes, on an average, 7 visits to the
web-site.
During this 2-weeks/7-visit duration - your web-site
must be able to make a lasting impression on the customer.
Some of the key success factors during this pre-sale
days are
- Your web-site must be up and running.
If the buyer finds your web-site down on crucial purchase-day
- the implication needs no explanation.
- Prompt customer service. Nothing is more disasterous
than delayed and incomplete response to pre-sale queries
-
Apart from timely and precise communication, the tone
and style of communication should be able to inspire
confidence. For example, while paying to any PayPal
merchant - PayPal displays the number of people who
have paid this merchant before you. Such reference of
successful sale significantly impresses a semi-decided
mind to go for a deal.
Happy and Productive Surfing
Dr. Amit K Chatterjee
Related Links:
Author
: Dr.
Amit K. Chatterjee
(Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15
years in various capacities like Research and Information
Analysis, Market Development, MIS, R&D Information
Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce venture
in 1997. The views expressed in this columns are
of his own. |
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