New Zealand business websites may be a bit narcissistic

MEDIA RELEASE

Insight Online

29 January 2019

Study suggests many New Zealand business websites may be a bit narcissistic

Many of New Zealand’s medium to large business websites are slow, generic and verging on narcissistic, a six month informal study by a local online marketing agency suggests.

Kim Voon, head of digital marketing agency Insight Online, says that his agency team has analysed and graded more than 60 New Zealand websites over the last six months and at least 80 percent of the websites were failing in key areas.

“We graded the websites between one and four. Almost all of the websites we graded made the conversation about themselves instead of their customers’ needs.

“Most of the websites graded were also loading too slowly and less than five per cent actually had a clear purpose and call-to-action.”

Voon says the agency graded websites on a scale of one to four:

Grade 1: A generic brochure site;

Grade 2: A brochure site with a blog or news section and a newsletter sign-up;

Grade 3: A website with a good quality, regularly updated content, video, and some online activity intended to drive traffic to the website;

Grade 4: The website was integral to the sales and marketing funnel. It had a clear purpose, email sign-up, strong social channels and a clearly defined conversion funnel.

“Around 80 per cent of the websites we graded fell into grade one and two; probably about 15 per cent were in grade three and five per cent qualified for grade four.

“Recent research out of the UK by eCommerce agency PushON found that a quarter of B2B customers shun websites with poor website usability. Another UK study found that 36 per cent of leaders are unsure about their 2019 digital marketing strategy – and I’d say the same issues apply in New Zealand, if not more so.”

Voon says it’s easier for B2C websites to earn a return-on-investment because they attract higher volumes of traffic, but B2B websites in particular need to do better.

“Most marketing managers understand that the website is integral to their sales and marketing function – because they know that ‘customers’ are ‘checking them out’ – but many lack clarity on what purpose they want their website to perform.”

He offers the following three tips for companies wanting to achieve more sales from their websites:

1. Give your website purpose

“People often think that a web presence is enough, but that’s a lost opportunity. Give your website purpose – whether it’s to educate, capture email addresses, book consultations or sell product – and then work out how you can point the entire strategic intent of your site towards achieving that purpose,” says Voon.

Secondly, audit the website. Is it fit for purpose? Is it attracting the right kind of customers? Is it capturing them for the right amount of time? Does it lead to action? How does it compare with competitor websites?

2. Align your website to that purpose

“Don’t put up a blog or install the latest chat bot just because everyone else is doing it. Instead, once you understand the purpose of the site, make every page, every piece of content and every call-to-action about achieving that purpose.

“Many websites fail because they try to be all things to all people. That’s a mistake. No website can do everything, even trying to get it to do one thing well is a challenge!”

3. Make it about the customer

“Narcissistic is a strong word, but that's what society thinks about people who are only interested in talking about how great they are… and websites are no different.”

“A good website is one that is tailored to the customers’ needs, wants and interests. What you want and what your customer wants aren’t the same thing.”

Voon says that not all websites have to be at grade four level to achieve a good return. The level of your competitors plays a big part. For example, industrial and manufacturing company websites can get away with being at the grade two level, but B2B services and consultants need to be at level three and four to get ahead.

For more information visit: https://insightonline.co.nz/

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