Frank Schulte-Ladbeck

Two restaurants opened up near my home, and they may provide insight into how you should see your website.

You never will know what a customer will want until engage them. You may think that with a website that you may not be speaking directly (as in face to face). This would be a poor choice to follow. Whether they speak to you or not, website visitors are engaging you. I thought about these two restaurants recently opened, and about my experiences with them. It occurred to me that they are good examples of might be going through the thoughts of our site’s visitors.

    Hello, my name is Frank, and I leave comments. I respond to people on Twitter and Facebook. I leave comments on blog posts. I send emails to companies. Not every single time, but quite often. When I go into a business, I like speaking to the owner or to the manager. This is particularly true at restaurants. I just introduce myself with maybe a few remarks about the place. Not all customers are like me; however, I think people with the same habit as I have may be bigger influencers. We are looking to feel welcomed, and we tell others when we have not been. At restaurant “A”, the owner was quite polite, but he made it clear that he was not interested in talking to me. It was after a visit where he saw that I was bringing in other patrons that he finally came over to really say hello. At restaurant “B”, the owner came to me before I had the chance to seek him out, telling me about what he has done with the place. I felt a connection with “B”, and I recommend him more to others because of it.

    How does this apply to my website: you never know who may be an influencer, so take any contact coming through your site with care. Let them know that they matter.

    Sure you can sell out of a box, but does that encourage visitors to come back? We do not need to have a nice environment to eat in; we need the food to be good. That statement does not take into account our desires. As a patron, I do not want to sit in a shabby place. I desire an aesthetic appeal to enjoy my meal. Both “A” and “B” recognized this fact. “B” began making changes sooner, which gives the impression that he was on top of things. “A”, however, came out swinging in the decoration department in a big way. He purchased many expensive plants and containers to give a wonderful feel to his patio area. “B” went into another direction- he bought cheap decorations to give a certain party feeling to his place, but he spent more on some little things like napkins and tablecloths. In the end, I liked what both had done.

    How does this apply to my website: no business is static. Both owners recognized a need, and they answered it. Which is more effective? A grand gesture leaves a good impression, but so did the attention to detail. This has to be based upon your clients feedback, or your assumption what they may want.

    I want more service and more product for the same low price as before. People are looking for free on the internet. Business models have sprung up that rely on giving the product away for free (maybe asking for a donation), then charging for service to that product. We check for value. I paid $5 for this shwarma; did I get as much as I did at the last place? If I pay $10 for a lunch at “A”, do I get the same amount as I do at “B”? As customers, we make determinations about value received. We notice changes in what we consider to be the value. “A” provided meals which may have been the right portion, but they felt as if I was not getting the most value for the money. “B” was constantly playing with the portions and offerings to find the optimal balance. With “A”, I felt a little cheated, and with “B”, I felt like I was the subject of an experiment.

   How does this apply to my website: make the customer feel as though they are getting a good value. If you are too generous in the beginning, only to take it away, you may be leaving your customers confused about the value they are receiving. As I mentioned, many site visitors are looking for something to take away without payment. This could be the nugget of information that they were looking to find. It may be something more. For example, I collected my blog writings from several different blog sites into pdfs with a similar theme. I did some editing to make them work apart from the site, and I added some details to help with the marketing, then I gave them away for free. This has turned out to be a great marketing tool, but I can fail here. What happens if I do not add more of these files? I recently spent time tweaking the page to make it easier for a visitor to find the item that he will want to download. The visitor may not be finding an additional file to download, but a sense of value has been added- I saved them time. Also, I updated the information in these files. Again, this leaves the perception of value being added. Finally, I began organizing some files for a new pdf based upon blog posts, so I will add another file for them. This is about a year after having added the first set of files.

    I have been going back to “B” on a weekly basis. With “A”, I may or may not go back. I think the key was the initial engagement. The initial encounter though is walking into the business. For a website, it is the at the first load into the browser. If they stay beyond the first three seconds (the typical amount of time that most visitors spend on a site), you have to ensure that they can find what they desire. Once they communicate to you, you have to listen, but you also need to respond.