In the age of online, e-commerce customers expect nothing less than a top-notch Web site when they visit their favourite virtual store. As ordinary citizens, it's only natural these online shoppers will come to expect the same level of service delivery from their governments. Online is where it's at. But what does it take to deliver top-notch customer service in cyberspace? Here are 10 tips from those who run and evaluate top corporate Web sites.
1 Build it for users
Development needs to support what users want, not necessarily what the company wants to promote, says Kerry Bodine, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. "You design with your users in mind at every key decision point," she says.
It sounds simple, but it often requires a shift in thinking. "Developers are very focused on building the technology and not necessarily looking at whether it makes sense to the user," says Helen Galasso, a marketing executive at Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp. in Parsippany, N.J. "I had a developer say, 'If [the users] can't figure out how to use it, then they shouldn't use it.' That's what you have to combat."
2 Listen to users
Forrester has reviewed more than 200 Web sites and found that a mere two per cent pass its usability tests. Companies could do better if they recruited actual users to test their sites, Bodine says. "You want to see where they stumble, what they're confused by," she adds, noting that the companies with the highest-ranked sites run usability tests frequently.
3 Make information easy to find
Users want a Web site they can easily navigate, says Jeff Sluder, digital brand manager for PG.com, the Web site for The Procter & Gamble Co. in Cincinnati. "Site visitors are frustrated when they land on a page, realize it is not what they thought it would be and have to use the Back button and try again. Usually, they will simply leave and go on to the next site on their search engine's list," he says.
The Web team at Merrill Lynch agrees. It designed its site to remember the page each customer uses when visiting ML.com. "They're often trying to log-on to one of the smaller sites, such as ML Direct," says Joseph Infozino, director of Merrill Lynch corporate technology. "So the first time, they go to ML.com, but the next time, we remember to bring them right there to save them a click."
4 Accommodate all users
The average age of people filling prescriptions on Medco.com is 54, and 20 per cent of those individuals are over the age of 65, says Tom Feitel, chief Web officer at Medco Health Solutions Inc., a pharmacy benefits management company in Franklin Lakes, N.J.
To empower people with vision problems or other disabilities, Medco designed an accessible Web site. For example, it eliminated drop-down menus, which can be challenging for those whose hands shake. It expanded the size of certain images and changed the color palette and font sizes to make the site easier to navigate and read.
Web administrators should also make sure their sites can be used on computers of varying capabilities and with a range of connection speeds, says Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group Inc., an Ipswich, Mass.-based research and consulting firm that focuses on how corporations treat their online customers.
5 Be responsive
Coldwell Banker developed a program called Lead Router to ensure that its real estate agents don't miss any potential leads generated online, says Charlie Young, senior vice-president of marketing. The tool converts online inquiries into text messages that are sent to agents' cell phones within 10 seconds. "Not only are we able to answer virtually all of our leads," Young says, "but most of them get answered in eight hours or less."
The companies with the best Web sites don't restrict contact with their online users to the Internet, Golesworthy says. They post their brick-and-mortar contact information as well as e-mail addresses. They have formal systems for handling incoming messages, thus guaranteeing customers a response, and the top sites also have instant, online chat features.
Continued: Five common design flaws
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