Make Customers Love Your Website

by    dave pasch

Once your website is up and running, there are some things you can do to keep them coming back.

Be there for your customer. Even the best websites still leave some questions unanswered. Do you have a way for your customers to reach you if they need more information or clarification?

Make sure your contact information is on every page. It could be incorporated into the artwork at the top or bottom of the page, giving a consistent location.

Give them more than an e-mail address. Some potential customers want to know there is a real person behind the business. Offer a phone number in addition to an e-mail address on your website so they have that option.

Protect their money. If your website is selling a product or service, you need to let your customer know it's safe to let go of their financial information in order to make a purchase. In most cases, you will have a simple 'buy now' button beside the product or service.

Where does that take the customer? Do they go to a secure page to checkout? Many customers will look for that little safety lock icon at the bottom of their screen, of the 'https' at the beginning of the web address to make sure it's safe before they enter credit card or other sensitive information.

Check with your shopping cart provider to make sure they offer secure encrypted services.

Your website is your network chances are anyone who clicks into your website is interested in your products or services.

These are the people you want to know who you are, and remember anytime they need similar items or services. The best way to do that is to remind them you exist. That means you have to know who they are. One way to do this is to collect their information.

You can do this by offering a club or newsletter offering the latest news and information about your products or services.

A frequent shopper club is a popular use of this tactic. From the customer standpoint, if they sign up, they're getting sales and discounts for free. For you, it's priceless to have their information. You can use that e-mail address list to let customers know when you have new services or products or sales.

Just be cautious not to over use those lists. If people receive too many e-mails from you, they may start to consider you a pest more than a prospective place to spend their money.

If you can create a website that gives the customer what they need, and also offer the service, information and support we all seek, they'll keep coming back.