Increasing Website Traffic and Customer Self-service |
By Richard Rosen |
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You have spent (and continue to spend) hundreds of thousands of dollars on your website. You have a full-time staff to update the content, monitor traffic and enhance your site. The site is good, or very good, and your web designers are top notch. You’ve even branded your portal with a fancy name to add a sense of openness and community. Yet, traffic is below expectations and portal signups continue to lag. What’s in it for me? I am no psychologist, but people are wired for self-preservation and "what’s in it for me," or to put it another way, "what’s easiest for me." If you want to reduce call center volume and have more customers use self-service, then self-service must be more convenient than picking up the phone and calling the call center. If you want customers to switch to e-billing, then it must be easier and more convenient than getting a paper bill in the mail, and if you want to encourage electronic payments, then the same holds: It must be convenient and easy and quick. The key to getting more website traffic and increase the use of your portal is going to be driven by two factors: 1. Relevant content—customers have to have a reason to go there. 2. Ease of access to that content—it must be the best option for your audience. Easing access to your website content and portal Let me offer you a few suggestions, which have been demonstrated to a) increase web traffic, b) increase customer self-service, c) yield higher conversion rates to e-billing and e-delivery and d) grow electronic payments. 1. Use email to deliver a bill or document; do not just email a link.
i. Save the cost of the customer service representative.
3. Mobile apps are all the rage today as a way to enhance a customer’s online experience.
Customer communications is an evolutionary process. You should leverage your investments and enhance customer communications by building a multi-channel capability around your website and portal. In the end, you will have a more loyal, and profitable, customer and a better return on your investment. Richard Rosen is the chief executive officer of The RH Rosen Group, a firm that provides solutions to help businesses improve processes and customer communications with the intent to create real, recurring benefits in: cost reduction, electronic payment, shipment tracking and printing/mailing. Contact him at RichR@RHRosenGroup.com or visit www.rhrosengroup.com. |