I am a busy modern day women like so many others today, and I use the web to take care of things I do not have the time in my hectic schedule to accomplish. Last night I picked out some cute sundresses that should be arriving next week. Tonight I decided what I wanted for my birthday was a day at a spa. I have been to a few spas on recommendations in New York and visited a few vacation spas so I know what I am interested in and for me the first thing is ambience. The spa needs to have a certain relaxing feel. Next I usually evaluate packages, services and rates. This evening however, I am feeling rather stressed searching for a spa in New England. I know it seems silly to be feeling stressed when looking for a place to de-stress but I am. More than half of the spa web sites I visited did not have pictures of the actual facilities and the other half had maybe one or two images and then shots of people (most likely stock photography) enjoying spa services. I don’t have time to run around and visit each spa and see if it meets my needs so I tried to visit online with no luck. This made me wonder if company’s realize why people visit their web sites? Have they asked the important questions about the message their web site is sending?

Does your web site really express your message? A day spa’s message is to show potential customers how their location can help melt away stress. How can someone get a good sense of what that will feel like if they do not know what the spa looks like? As a customer I don’t want to arrive at a spa and be disappointed because I was hoping for one kind of environment and received another. That will cause me to be uncomfortable in a place where comfort is part of the experience. Your web site is part of the experience. It is a way to make a first impression. Each of the spas I found on my journey this evening were listed on Spafinder.com and I visited over 20 spas and only found 2 that gave me images of the actual spa itself. I had my credit card out ready to buy and each one lost the opportunity to close the sale because they missed the point of their web message.

When we work with our customers to design their web site, we don’t ask them to tell us about their company, we ask them to tell us about their clients. We ask them to give us reasons why clients chose to work with them over their competitors, and we build from there. This is just a starting point but an important one. If you’re driving traffic to your web site and no one is buying – maybe it is time to think about the message your sending. Show your potential and existing customers that your about their needs – not your own.

Labels: emarketing, web design, web marketing