Each time your website is accessed, the potential of customer interaction is a very real one. Your website should be thought of in terms of a real, tangible shop front, with a window display that tempts the customer to cross the threshold of the shop and make inquiries about the products that you sell. There are many elements that make up the success of a website, and one of the greatest potential areas that many companies neglect is that of the window-shopper, a passing stranger that is a potential customer.
Keys to Success:
Maximizing your contact possibilities
Increasing your database of clients
Recording email addresses
Using your database to maximum effect
The potential of many websites is lost by ignoring the importance of contact. A customer visiting a website will only make a few clicks in order to find that essential link that puts them in contact with a business. It is essential to design the site in such a manner that the potential client is invited to contact your business, even if their search on this occasion is fruitless.
Email as a means of communication
The fact that your site attracted them in the first place tells you that your business falls within their field of interest. Every inquiry should be answered professionally and in a timely manner to maximize the possibility of providing a service or product that the client seeks. What customers remember is courtesy and concern for their needs. In a world of e-commerce, this makes your company stand out from the crowd and helps gain reputation for caring about the potential client.
The importance of each contact
By keeping a database of client emails, the company is providing themselves with a possible market for future ventures that may prove interesting both to the client and the company. What you may offer tomorrow could be that item that a customer seeks, and even a fruitless inquiry today has possibilities of fruition tomorrow.
Gather and Store
Building a list of potential clients is, at the core, a simple practice of gathering contact information and storing it for later use. This may be performed in countless ways, including the offering of a free newsletter signup box, capturing email addresses from inbound messages, pop up windows inviting the client to submit their contact information, and so on. The key is to set up the website infrastructure to capture leads. Ensure that you are making it easy for the potential clients to contact you, and offer rewards in doing so. Many companies offer an incentive to motivate their potential customers, such as “Sign up now for our newsletter and receive 10% off your order!”
Creating a list of potential clients for promotional purposes
Using this list of email addresses for newsletters of promotional items, or extensions of services offered, the company maximizes the potential with no real effort, since their initial visit to the site tells the company of their interest within the field of expertise covered by the company. One of the most important aspects of sales and marketing is leads, and each email received gives the company a potential lead to a future market.
For each deleted email, there is always the chance that one email will attract a customer and since email addresses of those that made contact are free, the resource should never be wasted.
Moving forward
In a competitive market, those email addresses form the highway to the future acting as the shop threshold inviting a customer to step inside and explore possibilities, as well as recommending to friends and colleagues with like interests. By caring about the customer and their needs, word soon spreads, and these leads provide a link to future success.