Three types of websites that fail: (1)websites created from the company's point-of-view, not the visitor's; (2) information-oriented websites that operate like a brochure, and fail to engage the visitor in dialog, and (3) transaction-oriented sites that assume every visitor is ready to buy.
Relationship-oriented
websites attempt to establish bonds with visitors. 90% of business
websites give little thought to customer relationship
development.
I think it's important for us to
understand just what happened that caused a spate of visible
Dot-Com failures. I see seven common mistakes that underlie many
of these failures.
1. Too many competitors 2. Short-term mentality 3. Undisciplined growth 4. Unrealistic revenue projections 5. Inexperienced management 6. Underestimating the costs of establishing a national brand 7. Lack of customer-centered focus
One of the biggest mistakes Dot-Coms made was to grab for the large sectors that were filled with competitors. Pet supplies had a number of competitors. Grocery home delivery had its share. So did books and CDs and apparel, drugstores and computer PCs. With brick-and-mortar stores, competition is limited primarily by driving distance, so several similar stores can flourish in the same general area. But on the Internet, geography is no barrier,
Select online target markets that are unfilled or underfilled niches. Instead of going head to head with an established competitor, find a customer need that has not been well met on the Internet, and then fill that narrow niche with excellence.
Because so many Dot-Com investors and CEOs had visions of early IPOs (Initial Public Offerings of stock) or acquisitions that would make them millionaires, their goal often was to ramp up quickly, never mind the long-term consequences of their actions. so many decisions were made for short-term results rather than long-term health. The result, too often, was chaos.
SuperBowl 2000, a majority of the ads, costing $2.5 million or more, were from Dot-Coms desperate to build national recognition -- as if you could build a brand with a single 30 second TV ad! Advertising may provide name recognition and positioning in the consumer's mind, but part of developing a strong brand is building up a series of good experiences with a company or product. That only takes place over time and demands excellence in customer service, product fulfillment, and product quality.
Many Dot-Coms began with brilliant ideas, but ideas unrelated to real customer demand. Rather, they sprang from creative minds that didn't bother pilot testing thoroughly with customer feedback. See what the customer responds to. Learn what your customers desire by e-mailing a simple survey to your house list and asking for suggestions on how you can better meet their needs. Ask your customer service personnel what customers are asking for. Build a "make a suggestion" link on your website.
Pray about your business and ask God for wisdom about the direction you should take.
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