Traps to avoid if you want your prospects to stick around past the handshake
#1 in a series.
Trap #1: The mysterious home page.
It’s cool. It’s pretty. It’s got a talking head, animation, a soundtrack, an interest form, and half a dozen widgets. It’s crammed full of keywords that the SEO specialist gave you. It matches your brand personality, your product packaging, or the colors in the CEO’s office. Yet none of that matters if the prospect needs more than three seconds to figure out what it is that you do.
That means:
- The right words: A short, clear statement of what you offer. (Hint: it’s not your mission statement.)
- Pictures that communicate. If you sell products, show them and/or their benefits. If you’re a charity, show the people you help. If you offer a service that’s harder to depict in a snapshot, work with creative professionals who can help you find images that quickly communicate what you do.
- A look and feel that’s on brand. No matter what you do, you have competitors. Yet you differ from them in one or more ways that means something to your customers. That’s your USP (unique selling proposition). Are you the upscale custom brand? The low-price leader? The boutique brand? The friendly one? The one with the huge array of offerings? The one that specializes in a niche? The one with overnight shipping? Your USP should be reflected in every brand choice you make, from the colors in your design to the tone of your copy.
And it goes without saying (I hope) that your website should have branding elements in common with marketing and advertising you do through print, direct mail, broadcast, trade shows, social media, and every other channel. - Cues to help your audience self-identify. Your visitors have to know, instantly, that the site is for them. It would be an easy thing to say, “This site is for…” and simply list the members of your target audience. Easy — but not very effective. It’s much better to include stories, situations, images, benefit headlines, and other cues that let your audience identify themselves as part of your target market, and recognize you as someone who understands and can meet their needs.
In short, does your home page pass the “Wheelbarrow Test”?
I admit it. I made up the Wheelbarrow Test years ago on the spur of the moment, out of frustration. I did it during a meeting with six insanely smart people.
Three of them were business geniuses and three were technical geniuses. They talked about complete solutions, world-changing innovation, unique business models and flexible innovation. It was fabulous, and they were clearly excited. But after an hour of this, I still had no idea what they were planning to sell.
In desperation, I said, ”STOP. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes.
“Imagine that your customer is standing in front of you with a wheelbarrow full of money. If he gives it to you, what does he get in exchange? Is it a box with a product inside? Is it hardware? Software? Something to wear? Something to eat? A consultant showing up on his doorstep? A subscription or a service?”
“If you can’t answer that question clearly on the home page, then your website will not succeed. And if your website is crucial to sales, neither will your company.”
The conference room got very quiet. The six geniuses looked at each other. Four of them said “Oh…” The two Europeans said, “Eaux…” And at last they understood the critically important task at hand.
When we start working with a new client at C3 Advertising, invariably the first item on the client’s wish list is a website redesign. Clients are often dismayed if their existing home page doesn’t pass the Wheelbarrow Test (although it often explains a lot about why their current site isn’t working). But all is not lost.
“Cheer up,” I say. “Chances are, your competitors’ sites don’t pass the Wheelbarrow Test, either.”