Does your target audience suffer from online ADD?

Being online all day for work, I come across a fair number of websites. I also suffer from online ADD – a common ailment of web users.

The symptoms are very clear: visits under 10 seconds, high bounce rate, and a lack of any conversion whatsoever. What is the cause of such a horrible disease? Poor Navigation and content organization. “But I have a navigation point that clearly says ‘Products’…isn’t that good enough?” In truth – it isn’t. The website is just going to increase the cases of online ADD.

I’m not poking fun at ADD, but I am trying to make a point. People have VERY low attention spans online. Making it obvious who you are and what you sell or services you provide is critical.

Clickitis: Too many click on a website.
Too many clicks is rampant on many ecommerce sites. The websites makes the user click on Products> Choose Category > Choose Sub Category > Choose Product > Click on Product detail > Click to Buy. You better hope that your target customer REALLY wants to buy that product. How can you remedy this? Use your homepage! Your homepage is no longer a welcome message. It’s your traffic controller. Direct people where you want them to go! (But before this, you also need to understand what they are looking for. Keyword research is crucial.) If you offer both stock products and services, split your homepage up to address both. Highlight the products and services you want, with direct clicks to the meat of that content.

Don’t make people work for content.
Remember that many people when looking at products and services – they’re often looking at multiple sites to compare and research. Bringing your information to a higher level will help retain their visit. Sometimes it’s a really simple modification. I was speaking with a client about one of his sites and advised him that he should put each product category prominently in the navigation. After making this change – he saw in increase in length of site visits and conversions. Why? Because he wasn’t making people work for the information.

Call to Action!
Once you get people to the core of your content – in as few of clicks as possible – make sure you are giving them the next step. Many industrial companies cannot display pricing so a request for quote is the best way to start the buying cycle. Don’t expect that just because you have a navigation point that says “RFQ” or “Request More Information” that people are going to notice that. Make sure that you have that option in the content or page itself.

Understand online ADD
People scan webpages, they don’t read them. Here are a few tips for how to organize your content:

• Use headings to emphasis important pieces of information on a page.
• Put your important content (keyword rich!) towards the top of your page
• Link relevant pieces of content together, be it related products or related services

If you have whitepapers, specifications, CAD Files, or any other , don’t separate them from their respective product or service. I frequently see a dedicated page to specifications. This makes people click even more! All you have to do is go that next step and have a link to that specification from the respective product.

In summary, give people what they are looking for. Be aggressive with your audience. Organize your content.

Give and you shall receive.

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