A Fresh Look At Your Website Content Through the Eyes of Your Customer
When you look at your website you are most likely looking at it as a tool for your business. It is something to updates, something that communicates what you do, and something that hopefully brings in new customers. But have you ever looked at it through the eyes of your customers? Believe it not our websites are more about them than are about us, and if it doesn’t connect with new potential customers our business doesn’t grow.
So today I want to encourage you to put yourself in the place of a dream customer and take a look at your website through their eyes.
Step #1: Change your scenery.
Where we are in any given moment has a big impact on our mind set in that moment. For example, years ago I did a Myer’s Briggs training with the company I was working with. I initially did the assessment they sent us at home one evening, minutes after putting my kids to bed. In that moment I was sitting in the middle of a kitchen that still had the dinner mess. I had lunches to make for the day, and I was thinking about the struggle my son was having with his weekly spelling tests. I did the assessment in a moment of, “Let me get this done real quick so I can get to all the other stuff I need to get done.”
The following morning, while sitting at my desk at work, I read over the results of the assessment and thought, “this does not sound like me at all!” It was me, but it was the tired and somewhat cranky mom me. Not the “professional I can do anything” me.
Location matters. So think about where your ideal customer will be sitting in their own daily life when they land on your website. Will they be
- On the couch while the family is watching TV?
- At a soccer match waiting for the game to start?
- In bed doing a little early morning surfing before they start their day?
- Some where else you can easily see within your mind?
Keep in mind that you may come up with multiple possibilities. Don’t worry about which one to choose, just choose one, and do what you can to put yourself in a similar place.
Step #2: Use a different device.
As you are relocating to another location away from your normal office, this is probably going to happen anyway, but just in case you love to carry that trusty laptop around everywhere I thought I better add this step in.
Grab you iPad, tablet, or smartphone. If you use a standard desktop computer, grab a laptop. Just grab a different device to use for this review. Doing so is going to help strengthen that different mindset we talked about in step #1.
Step #3: The review.
Now it is time to put yourself in the mindset of a customer who is looking for exactly what you have to offer. You will want to have a notebook and pen for this part so you can take notes as you go through your review.
Keep in mind that for the purposes of this review you are only looking at the conversation you are having with your ideal customers. Looking at things on a different device may reveal some formatting issues you want to correct, such as words over faces, or line spacing being squished. Make a note of these things, but don’t stress about them in this moment. Right now I just want you to focus on the conversation you have been creating with your website visitors.
Before you begin your review, answer this question…
What is the ONE thing my customer wants most?
Is that one thing clear right away? Within 5 seconds of opening your website? If not, make a note to change this. We live in a world where we have what we need literally at our fingertips. When we don’t get that, we often will quickly lose interest.
As you continue reading through the content on your website, allow yourself to be guided from page to page as a customer. Take notes along the way on anything that doesn’t feel warm, inviting and genuine. Don’t get caught up in the need to make changes now. This is only going to take you out of this customer mindset and stress you out. Plus, there will be time to do that later.
Step #4: Put your notes away and do something else.
Take a walk, have a glass of wine, work on another project. Just do something different, because focusing on the changes you want to make at this moment is more than likely going to stress you out. So take a break.
Step 5: Review your notes.
You have taken your break (for at least a few hours!), now it is time to review your notes. With a fresh notebook page and pen in hand look through the notes you made while reviewing your website, and start outlining a plan for the changes you want to make. Then spend a few minutes prioritizing those changes so you are focused on what is most important first.
A final note…
Your website is living creature of its own. There are always going to be changes to make, tweaks to be done, and pages or content to be reworked. This is totally normal. Life changes, businesses grow and needs shift. Go with it. Enjoy the process and be grateful to yourself for all the things you are doing to make your corner of the world a better place.
