From the Editor – October 2008 eBiz Insider magazine. Download the complete issue as a PDF by clicking here.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover.” Yes, and isn’t that the problem? Appearance is paramount! When you meet someone for the first time, that first look formulates your opinion of that person for quite some time to come. The initial impression another person makes on you may well vary depending on whether they are neatly dressed or completely disheveled.
Appearance is crucial in our world. In cyberspace, you have only a few seconds to make that initial impression on the person visiting your website. If your site looks disheveled, contains outdated content and is an organizational nightmare, do you think customers are going to stick around to shop from you? Here are some tips to make that first impression count:
- Keep your navigation simple – break down your nav bar into clearly defined “departments” to avoid confusion.
- Don’t clutter your front page or landing pages – don’t overload them with tons of product, loads of text and blinking or flashing distractions.
- Keep content fresh and timely – if it’s January 3rd, you shouldn’t have your holiday products featured, unless you’re blowing them out. Change your featured products at least once a week.
- Keep customer comments updated – last thing a potential customer wants to see when deciding whether to order from you or not is a comment from a customer dated four years ago. Kill the dates or replace outdated comments with new ones.
- Get a designer! You’re neighbor in 8th grade is NOT a designer. You wouldn’t have him paint your house and you shouldn’t hire him to design your website. Professionalism is important.
Here is an example of how appearances count. I was on a domestic flight recently and sat in a row which is a bulkhead seat. As in any bulkhead seat, you’re going to have people putting their feet on the wall getting it a little dirty. But the appearance of this bulkhead wall was something more than just a “little dirty” as you can see from the photos below.
The first thing that came to my mind was, “wow, if they can’t take five minutes to bring in a rug shampooer to go over that wall, are they doing regular maintenance on their planes?” I fly a lot and recognized the plane as being at least 20 years old, but that isn’t an excuse to not clean it. I’ve been on planes that were older and much cleaner. The point is that impression made me begin to question not only the plane, but the wisdom of flying that airline at all.
Don’t let your customer’s minds wander when they hit your site, make that first impression count!
