Why Your Company Website Might Be Costing You Customers
When a potential customer contacts us, the first thing I do is review their website. Your company website is what a potential customer sees first, so I pretend I am a customer and then look at the website and see if it impresses me with useful content, easy navigation or great photos and videos.
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After that I do a quick SEO audit to look at traffic, keywords and a few other things to understand how the website is doing from Google’s perspective.After checking the website and the SEO most of the sites fall into a few categories:
- Very old websites that have pretty much stopped working
- Out of date template websites that are not attracting new customers
- Recent websites that are visually appealing but have no useful content.
I have yet to see any customer contact me with a website that I would give more than a 5/10 score to. And so I have a question:
Why are companies not able to see the issues that their own customers can see with their websites?
I will try to find some answers to this question in this article to see if we can help B2B manufacturers do better with their websites in the future.
Why businesses can’t see the problems with your own website
When you have had a website for a while you tend to get used to it and feel comfortable with it, a bit like a comfortable pair of shoes.
In psychology this is known as the “Mere exposure effect” and when this happens in digital marketing, you overlook the issues and keep using the website as it is something you are familiar with, even though it is not driving sales any more. This effect gets stronger, the longer it continues.
The next thing is something we call “Marketing Myopia”. Marketing Myopia is the inability to view things from the customer’s perspective. In this situation companies focus too much on their own products and services and tend to overlook the needs and desires of their customers.
The result of these two effects combined is often a catalog website with product photos and spec sheets, lots of information about the structure of the company and its history, but no content that answers customer’s real questions.
But Is the Company Website really that important?
In Taiwan many companies have been operating as OEM manufacturers for decades and have been very successful just waiting for the orders to come in without doing any real marketing.
But in the last few years, I have seen local manufacturers facing much stronger competition from their local peers and international competitors as many customers are starting their search for new suppliers on the internet and not at trade shows.
This problem has become even greater with the decline of marketing platforms like Alibaba and others, as well as the huge changes to Google search algorithm which have affected so many companies.
The sales process now starts on the internet not at trade shows
A study by McKinsey found that up to 80% of “B2B decision makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service” after the pandemic. Only about 20% of B2B buyers say they hope to return to in-person sales.
So this means that your company needs to be prepared with effective digital marketing and online sales too to take advantage of the new market trend. This means that investing in your website and digital marketing is now a critical part of your sales efforts; ignoring it is no longer an option.
So What Do You Need to Do Now?
A customer-focused website that delivers sales is crucial in today’s B2B environment. Finding the right marketing company to help you with this is a critical step in the process so take your time and evaluate the options carefully with your customers needs in mind.
Here are a few articles that I have written that I hope will help you to make better digital marketing decisions:
- Should You Work With The Same Digital Marketing Company as Your Competitors?
- Online Marketing: A Guide for Taiwanese Manufacturers in 2024
- Are You Being Sold or Served? The Two Types of Marketing Companies You May Meet
- B2B Manufacturers: Should You Sell on Alibaba Taiwan? Read This First
- What’s the Difference Between a Web Design Company and a Marketing Company?
GlobalSense works with Taiwan manufacturers to understand their needs and develop marketing strategies that will help you succeed in the global marketplace. If you would like us to review your website for you, please sign up for our free SEO audit for manufacturers and find out how your website is really performing.