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Scsi's WebKISS™ Guide #12: What Does Your Company Web Site Convey About Customer-Centric Focus?
Scsi's "Web-based Keep-It-Simple, Sonoff" document -- Scsi's WebKISS™ Guide #12: What Does Your Company Web Site Convey About Customer-Centric Focus? highlights numerous "failure to communicate" Web site design situations that should be collectively addressed to better serve both prospective and existing customers.
Why bother? It's good business and it makes economic sense as well. For by taking proactive customer-centric steps, you will contribute significantly toward maximizing return-on-investment (ROI) in your company's Web sites.
For your convenience, the major headings provided on this Web page are listed immediately below:
NOTE: Relevant hyperlinks are included within the associated paragraphs to make your browsing session productive and all the more enjoyable.
What Should Always Be Provided?
To start off on a positive note, Scsi provides below in alphabetical order the following list of essentials that every company Web site should address -- assuming that its dominant objective is to convey information and useful content to its Web visitors.
Most of the above-mentioned topics are rather self-explanatory. However, in the interests of being more complete, here are some additional comments for your examination and reflection.
- Contact information should be both easily located and provide several options (e-mail; phone number(s), regular mail address, and so on).
- Save time for your Web site visitors by providing as many of the above-listed essentials as possible. They will reward you with their business, as well as recommend to their associates and friends to visit your Web site to appreciate how much thoughtfulness and customer-centric focus is present among its Web pages.
- Don't skimp on providing supporting and illustrative information that will better educate your Web site visitors so that their decisionmaking task will be eased by your having been so thorough in your content, coverage, and explanations.
- By clearly explaining things and making navigation schemes almost intuitive, your Web site will stand out from those which might be classified as falling into the "take it or leave it" league of also-rans that never really understood what it takes or means to be customer-centric.
- Recognize this challenge as a true "win-win" situation: Your Web site will almost certainly achieve improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings (see Scsi's WebKISS™ Guide #8: Want to Increase Your Search Engine Rankings? for more details) when you adopt and implement Scsi's Web Best Practices.
What Is Perhaps Less Glaringly Missing?
Listed below in alphabetical order are some categories of customer-centric matters that most Web sites fail to provide relevant information about (or specific implementations of) on at least one Web page.
- Accessibility-related Implementations
- Consistent Page Layouts
- Definitions of Terms and Acronyms
- Graceful Error Handling Processing (See Scsi's Contingency Page, for an example)
- Logical Sequences in Content Presentation
- Page Content's Date and Timestamp
- Privacy Policy (see Scsi's Privacy Policy for a specific implementation example.)
- User-focused Signposts (see Scsi's Web Best Practice #3 for more information.)
With Some Effort What Could Easily Have Been Done Better?
Listed below in alphabetical order are some categories of customer-centric matters that most Web sites seldom encounter but which Scsi suggests be adopted and implemented by any information dissemination-focused company.
- Convenient E-mail-based Feedback Hyperlinks
- Cross References provided among Web site's related Web pages
- Downloadable PDFs (with associated hyperlinks embedded) of Web Page Contents
- Intelligent Printing-related Options (access Scsi's Web Best Practice #8 for more information)
- Keep-It-Simple Architectural Elements and Alternatives to avoid any need for requiring use of Scripting, Multimedia, various Plug-Ins, and so on.
- Liquid Layout Design to readily accommodate various size display screens and browser window resizings. (Access Scsi's Web Best Practice #7 for more details.)
- Meaningful Naming of Files and Directories
- Simplified Navigation (examine Scsi's Access Keys for specific examples.)
- User-Controlled Text Resizing (Access Scsi's Web Best Practice #6 for more details.)
What Actions Should You Take Next?
What are some of the takeaways from this presentation? That depends on what side of the fence you are on, namely: 1) Web site owner and/or content developer, or 2) Web site visitor, prospective customer, or existing customer.
So, the following list may apply to one or both categories and should be applied accordingly.
- Before making any Major Web Site Design Changes, Inform Web Visitors of Anticipated Changes and Ask for Specific Feedback
- Focus on Addressing What Web Visitors, Prospects, and Customers Want Answered
- Periodically Revisit Your Web Pages to Update Content to assure its Usefulness
- Provide Web Site Feedback and Critiques Indicating the Good, the Bad, and the (downright) Ugly Observations that Every Company Should Receive from its Web Visitors, Prospects, and Customers
- Retain one or more Independent Reviewers to Assess Your Company's Web Site(s) for Customer-Centricity
Web Page Validation and Contact Information
This Scsi's WebKISS™ Guide #12: What Does Your Company Web Site Convey About Cestomer-Centric Focus? page was last updated, validated Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 3:50 p.m. EDT -- to assure full conformance to W3C's XHTML 1.0 Strict, CSS, and WCAG Accessibility (Priorities 1, 2, and 3, inclusive) recommendations -- and uploaded on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 4:45 p.m. EDT by Raymond Sonoff, President of Sonoff Consulting Services, Inc., 271 Saxony Drive, Crestview Hills, KY 41017 USA: Telephone: (859) 261-5908.
Remember: If you have some questions to ask, wish to request additional information about specific topics, or want to send a request for proposal, Scsi will always welcome your inquiries and respond promptly -- often the very same day -- to your e-mail communications. -- 
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