When you get started with creating a website you have a certain goal in mind. But are you currently working on specific fulfillment of your goal or answering the intent with which your intended visitors are coming to you? Because with what will you ultimately gain more?
Is your goal the same as the customer intent?
Let’s be realistic, goals and intent can differ from each other.
Your goal can be selling, while the seeker is looking for a solution to a problem (where a problem can also be fulfilling a wish). A phase where the focus is much more on information gathering, research etc.
If you only steer towards your goal (the sale) then you run a potential risk that this visitor will feel forced.
Through this item I want to stress the need of much less product or service oriented websites, and focus more on websites that solve “problems”. In marketing you would call this intent-driven, because you aim for intention.
If you look very globally at what we do in a huge number of cases then you can bring that back to; solving problems.
So go solve problems!
In a huge number of cases you have a website to solve a problem that people experience. Whether that is with the help of a product, a service, information or other means is irrelevant.
But you would be surprised how many websites are set up just to push a product or service. And therefore do not focus on the intent of solving the issue that would benefit potential customers the most.
Strange, right?! You offer solutions but you do not underline the connection between solution and problem. Which is precisely what is often what people are initially looking for.
You might see it better this way; it is much nicer to see the visitor as literally that, a visitor. And not yet as a customer. It is potentially a customer, but only if he or she can make a well-informed choice.
Instead of saying buy this product or service and being done.
Of course it is in almost no case really that simple but to keep the possibilities as clear as possible I go for that in this item.
Phases + intention
The actual intent can differ per phase in which the searching customer is.
Therefore always take into account the phases; awareness, consideration, decision. Try to map the different intentions that come with it for your website.
This way you can capture the entire customer experience for the different intent. Or if that is too much, determine what you want to cover.
You can do that based on personas or use cases.
Whatever the phase the visitor is in, you want to offer the most appropriate content to them at all times. The chance that the customer will actually convert is much higher if, in addition to seeing a good product or service, it also feels that the picture fits to you as a company.
Treat intentions as if you are experiencing them yourself
To really take a big step in that, it might even be best to put yourself (or as a team) in the scenarios / user cases. Only by fully thinking out / playing the scenario will you be able to offer the most suitable customer experience possible.
So think much less about “only” offering your product or service, but much more about offering a total solution to a problem or issue.
Brand ambassadors
One of the big advantages of dealing with your target group in such a way and focussing on their intent is that they are often much more involved / engaged. Not strange because you’re doing it with them and their situation in mind.
Because if people are really behind something, they will be much more inclined to promote the brand, to recommend it, and so on.
How I would put that into words simply sounded better in English;
The best experiences start with great customer journeys and are complemented by equally wonderful products
Without actually having to take extra actions afterwards, you actually create brand ambassadors by handling the problem properly.
What is a brand ambassador?
I think we might have to answer this question with clarity but there are many ways in which a brand ambassador is explained on the internet.
My preference therefore goes to this interpretation;
A brand ambassador identifies with your company / brand and the way in which it profiles itself. The ambassador is voluntarily active for the brand and expresses this in his own social network.
You probably already see why that is a very desirable situation. Then why would you miss out on that opportunity?
Look at the bigger picture!
Everyone knows the expression; Do not think in terms of problems, but in terms of solutions.
I personally think that expression is rather cliché, because I think that we should really look at the problem. Because if you are not looking at a problem properly / face it, how can you make a solution that adequately solves it and all of the aspects surrounding it?
So I always try to look at the larger picture when it comes to a problem. I look at how can I approach it to offer a solution in a way that it provides a solution for all desirable aspects and intentions of the target group.
Care to look at your project together?
