We all want more business! And, let's face it. Your Web site is a key part of your marketing strategy. Drive more traffic to your Web site and make people want to come back to your site again and again and you will win more business - guaranteed! But how can you accomplish that? How do you make your Web site stickier?

At The Customer Experience Company, we just finished a fast-paced and VERY exciting usability study on a Web site. We'll share an actual case study with you in a future newsletter after the organization has implemented our recommendations and is seeing results. For now, though, we want to share some of the things that we learned during the project. You can use the ideas to improve the experience your Web site is delivering to your customers and prospects. First, here is some background information.

Background information
The Web site we were asked to study has over 10,000 pages of substantive content and three very specific target audiences. A survey done in 2003 indicated that this award-winning Web site could be more usable and better respond to the information needs of users. So, the organization hired us to conduct one-on-one interviews with the Web sites target audiences and find out exactly what needs to be done to improve the Web site.

How the study was done
Over a two-week period, we conducted 24 one-on-one interviews, each lasting about 90 minutes, with individuals from the three target audiences.

The interviews included three parts:
Part 1 - a conversation to encourage participants to share their impressions and feelings about the site
Part 2 - perform a series of common tasks to find out how the Web site measures up to users' expectations
Part 3 - a post-test questionnaire

What we learned
During hours and hours of interviews and transcribing of tapes, we gathered some fabulous ideas for improving Web sites in general. Over and over, the study participants told us what they liked about Web sites and what they don't like.

Here are 10 things that you can do to make your Web site one of the ones that people want to come back to again and again.

1. Determine the target audience for your Web site. One of the biggest dangers of developing a Web site before you have defined who's going to use it is that you'll miss the mark on meeting people's needs. Know exactly who is going to use your Web site, find out exactly what they need, and then organize and write the content of the site around this information.
   
   
2. Define the type of experience you want your Web site to deliver. Do your Web site users want to have fun? Are they looking for the latest information about a certain subject? What image do you want to communicate to your users? Know exactly what you want your users to experience and how you want them to feel when they visit your Web site, and then design your Web site and develop your content around this experience definition.
   
   
3. Use pictures to make your Web site relatable. If you're in a people business, make sure that there are pictures of people on your Web site. If you're in the promotions business, make sure there are pictures of your products. Pictures say a thousand words and they help people feel confident that they've reached the right site. They also help to reduce the amount of reading that people need to do - something that everyone wants desperately in this information-overload era.
   
   
4. Use plain language content. It's so frustrating to be wading through a sea of technical or complex information on a Web site. There's almost no better way to get people to click to one of your competitor's sites. Your users don't know your company lingo and, to be honest, they don't want or need that information. Visitors want clear and easy to understand information that's written in a way that makes them feel like reading it.
   
   
5. Make sure your home page is inviting. We've all heard the statistics on how many people abandon an organization's Web site after looking at the home page. Make sure that your Web site is not included in these statistics. Include a clear statement that tells visitors who you are and the purpose of the Web site. Provide a bird's eye view of the content of the site. Use clear labels that make sense to your audience (and not necessarily to you) to ensure that information is easy to find. Finally, make sure that the information that people need most often is accessible from your home page.
   
   
6. Think twice about using a flash introduction. Visitors get annoyed at having to watch a flash introduction when they're just looking for answers to their questions. You can have a flash presentation available on your site just don't make watching it a requirement of using your Web site. Flash presentations are a cool marketing technique for sharing the features and benefits of your products or services.
   
   
7. Use a variety of navigation aids. Making sure that visitors can find their way around your Web site and know where they are in your site at any given time is pivotal. Breadcrumbs are a great way to let your visitors know where they are in your Web site at any given moment. A Search tool is a must for larger or even information-intensive Web sites. A clear menu system that is organized in the way that users want to look for information is also very important.
   
   
8. Make sure your Search tool produces excellent results. Google writes the book on this one. Their use of a "Did You Mean" feature really helps people find what they're looking for. Maybe your Search tool could use this feature. And make sure your algorithm is working correctly. If your Search tool is supposed to be displaying relevant results, make sure it does. Check it. Try a few searches and see what you get.
   
   
9. Use online, dynamic forms. If you're collecting information from your visitors, use dynamic forms. These are online forms that only display the fields that need to be completed based on choices made. So, for example, if a user selects a free membership option, credit card information would not be displayed on the form. For users that select a paid option, that information automatically displays on the form. They're really neat and they work wonders for personalizing your visitors' Web site experiences.
   
   
10. Test and measure all the time! Your Web site development work never ends. People want fresh and new information all the time. Make sure that you're constantly asking your users what they want and then delivering. A good usability study will really help you shape future development of your Web site. Click here to ask for more information about our usability evaluation service.
    
    

Your Web site can work harder for you and help you win more business. Start making changes today to make your Web site stickier and in no time you'll notice the results.

Ruth-Anne Boyd is the Business Development Director at The Customer Experience Company. She is an award-winning writer, consultant, speaker and trainer with over 15 years experience in plain language communications and workflow simplification. Ruth-Anne has won 11 awards for her communication material. She is a frequently invited speaker, and a member of PLAIN (the Plain Language Association International), Canadian Women in Communications (CWC) and DigitalEve.