Writing effective websites

The Madrigal approach to website content

Your website, very often, is a person’s first introduction to your business – it is their first meeting with you.
You want to convert this visitor into a loyal customer – your success depends on creating a meaningful and sustainable customer relationship – this is customer engagement.

Is your website engaging?

Engagement is the ultimate objective. In customer-behaviour theory you get your customer to move along a sequence of steps from recognizing a need; to making a buying decision; to developing a relationship with your company.

Getting your customers into this sequence and ultimately engaging with your business is the aim of your website’s content, it determines how it is written and how it is presented.

Madrigal Communications uses a seven-step model, the Seven Cs. It explains how to get your customer engaged with your business through your website and provides the basis for developing appropriate content. Contact us for more information about the Seven Cs.

Getting their attention

Your prospect arrives at your site. You have only a few seconds to tell them about your business’s products and services. They will assess quickly whether you are offering what they are looking for, that is, are you a good match. They are very fickle and very impatient.
Here the importance of plain English and good web-writing are obvious. Short, sharp and appealing language is needed. You need to get their interest and keep it!

You must also understand your customers. What sort of language should you be using, what tone, what colours and images will appeal to them, what is informing their buying decision, etc. Are they buying on price or convenience? Are they after higher levels of service?

Short online attention span

In a recent study, Akamai Technologies found that users’ online attention span is getting shorter. If a shopping website took longer than 4 seconds to load, 75% of the participants would not return.

They also found that 30% of visitors formed a negative perception about organisations with poorly designed websites. Some of the major complaints were poor navigation or long checkout processes.