Chapter 6- Developing and Maintaining Effective Online and Mobile Websites

The many roles of websites

Increase sales (ecommerce) and generate sales leads

Increase awareness and knowledge about the brand

Advertise products and services

Act as a hub for content marketing campaigns

Interface with social media accounts

Provide customer service

Retain and grow the value of customers

Build an online community

Cost savings, especially promotion and customer service

when setting objectives for a website, marketers must be concerned about...

the role of the site in overall marketing strategy for the firm

what makes a website effective?

clean, crisp designs

satisfy customers (CX)

User experience (UX) often used to describe...

the usability of a website or a mobile app

How marketers create effective B2B websites

Understand target audience, create personas

Create right content for right journey stage

Put content where buyers are most responsive

Marketing and sales must work together

Track and measure results

what else do ecommerce sites need?

• Easy-to-Follow Navigation Through Largest Site

• Compelling Product Images

• Fast Loading Time—All Pages

• Appropriate Theme and Approach

• Shopping Cart, Search Bar, Sign-In Easy to Use

• Good Contact Info—Live Chat Desirable

• Clear Payment Options

• Store Finder Tool

steps in the website development process

1. establish site objectives

2. identify and describe target market

3. design site content and navigation structure

4. conduct usability tests

5. deploy and tune site

6. measure and evaluate site effectiveness

7. refine and improve site effectiveness

creating team for process is essential

How large/complex is the project

What is the budget

What expertise is needed

Are these skills available in the organization

How many consultants/freelancers will be needed and what will they cost

Necessary Skills Depend on Complexity of Site;Number of People Depend on Size

Strategy and planning

Project management

Information architecture; user interface design

Graphic design; media specialists

Web technology

Site (content) production

SMART goals

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time Specific

Cascading goals

company long term objectives

company short term goals

department short term goals

individual short term goals

domain name

a human-readable form of an IP address

the destination you type into a web browser

cybersquatting

registering, selling, or using a domain name to profit from someone else's trademark

Content Management System (CMS)

assists in the building and maintenance of your website, thus allowing people with little or no coding skills to add or edit website content

WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get

what is WYSIWYG

website editing software that allows content to be created and edited without the need for coding

what types of content do you think help make a site effective?

Visuals (static, video, animated)

Gamification (if appropriate)

Storytelling Content

intent

what is the purpose for coming to a site?

Necessary elements on every page

toolbar- logo, back to home page, contact info and more

personalized communication can still occur...

without the customer registering on the site, with anonymous users and cookie tracking

usability testing

essential element of site development

performed at intervals during site's life

Prototype Testing

the process by which a model (real or simulated) is constructed to test the product's performance under actual operating conditions, as well as consumer reactions to the prototypes

key issues in usability testing

Don't Consider Eliminating It

Be Sure Testers are Target Audience

Key is to Have Testers Perform One or More Typical Tasks on Site

Especially in Early Stages, Ask Them What They Think

Frequent Small-Scale Tests Better Than One Large One

Can Be Outsourced or Internal

Techniques Are Focus Group Research + Web Metrics

____ of usability problems uncovered with ___ user tests ______ uncovered by testing ____ users

75%

5

100%

15

special requirements for B2B usability

Content for long B2B decision journey

Good product information

Content to meet needs of "choosers" and "users"

Carefully designed, accurate pricing information

Filters to help locate the correct information for segments of users

Deploy and tune the site

Technical stage

Deploying the site to the appropriate servers

Tuning it for optimum performance

Ongoing in-house monitoring is required to maintain site performances

Marketers need to be vigilant to ensure the sit is

Measuring business effectiveness of the site

-ongoing monitoring of site performance essential

-IT responsible for operational performance

-marketing responsible for effectiveness

Site design option- stand alone

separate URL, must redirect, interfering with CX

Separate maintenance

Severe decline in popularity

adaptive design

Design team adapts a known solution to satisfy a different need to produce a novel application

app is a clear choice when

- Interactivity Is Essential (Games)

- Personalization Is Necessary (Financial Services)

- Complex Calculations, Reports Are Necessary (Mortgages)

- Certain Functions Are Required (Click-to-Call)

- Functionality Needed Even When Wireless Connection Is Not Available

characteristics of a good app

The brand must have a clear app strategy

Helpful if task is often performed on the go, not on a desktop

The brand has the resources to produce a good app

The target audience is heavily mobile

Mobile provides a structure for _________ to customers wants and needs.

listening

micro-moments

not measured in duration of time, moments when people turn to devices to gratify an immediate need for action or information

micro-moments describe the multi-channel customer journey

know > research

go > shopping location/source

do > need help

buy > product design made need help on other issues

mobile strategy

design

usability

traffic funnels

mobile content

mobile advertising

local opportunities

social

designing a mobile friendly site

- Use responsive technology that makes web design mobile

- Simple design and navigation

- All content short and to the point (relevance)

- Design forms for mobile use

- Use geolocation technology

- Easy to find and use contact information

- Fast loading is essential

designing for successful user experience:

- be sure content is the priamry focus

- long pages requiring scrolling are not friendly

- use menus that make it easy to move around

- layer content (main points on first page, details on secondary pages)

- be sure you are using relevant technology

- GPS, Click to call

- prepopulate forms

put the CTA on the first page

design for mobile CX

KISS (keep it so simple)

Dominant considerations (fast loading, customer security)

effective mobile marketing

Know what the audience is looking for /needs

Map the customer journey

Develop content for each micro-moment

Track the performance of content

% use mobile device at some point in purchase journey

42%

geofencing

a perimeter within which ads will be seen

contextual local

Placing Ads With Channels Designed for Local (Yelp, Weather, etc)

what % of apps are Uninstalled Within First 3 Months?

70-80%

retail =

apps + technology

Retail Technologies

- beacons determine where people are

- RFID tags determine where products are

- bluetooth for comms

- virtual reality

- augmented reality

retail app priorities

-ability to get things done in just a few steps

-price checking

-ability to earn loyalty points by using the apps

steps in designing effective mobile apps

1. user task>app features

2. menus—organized, customer terminology

3. back button>back one step, not beginning

4. use auto-detection of user location

5. seamless transition to website if necessary

6. prominent search bar

7. search that works well

8. easy-to-use filters and sort options