Communication Platform
Your website should be a global communication resource. Clearly demonstrating the superior characteristics of your organization, service, product, etc. We couldn't count how many times during a client engagement that we are "told" about the company, its history, the product superiority, engineering and quality of the service - that simply isn't communicated on the website. When a visitor loads your website, he/she should be presented with any and all material that you would say to your customer during a sales presentation or product demonstration. If it doesn't then you put yourself into a reactive environment, waiting for a potential customer to engage your organization to get the information.
Our website designs are communication platforms. The design phase consists of taking into account everything that your organization says to a potential customer in a sales engagement and accounting for that information in the organization and architecture of the website itself. For example a client is discussing his/her product, during the discussion all of the characteristics of the product are explained and even comparison to alternatives. In our experiences, the sales demonstration is always far more informative than the information available on the client website. Why?
Value Proposition Communication
If you're selling document filing services and your website looks and reads just like your competitors, offering equal information and marketing statements, the same satisfaction guarantee and quality of customer service as the rest, then the playing field is equal from a website visitor standpoint. However, during a client engagement the organizational members thoroughly explain the process and how they have developed a system that controls the quality, creates document packages faster so that they can be submitted to government offices for recording the same day the order is placed. More information about the service package explains that additional forms and templates are included for free that make the next step easier for their clients. Customer Relationship Management software facilitates order information, subscription renewals and ordering copies or additional documentation. Now they explain the competition's process and we hear the value proposition. When this is laid out for analysis, the two companies are not equal, one has a superior characteristic. Ease of use, turn around time and quality control. This needs to be communicated clearly to prospect clients, before they call you to ask a question.
Product Superiority Communication
We have engaged an off road suspension system component manufacturer. Looking at his website and his competition, we see the same thing. High performance suspension systems and they both read like each other, statements such as "We deliver the highest quality suspension systems for your vehicle..." - Then we talk to the owner and we hear the real story. The founder of this organization has spent years working on vehicle specific valves for his shocks, custom shaft lengths and explained the engineering process to get his systems to where they are now. He then explains that his competitor is simply reselling components as a system and anyone can go buy the same shock straight from the manufacturer, however his shocks are custom set ups for each vehicle, motor weight and application.
A lot of information comes from simple engagement discussions. We learn that organization A is performing research and development and building functional systems, where each component was designed and custom built to work with each other. Those pieces won't work without the others, a true system. Here we extract characteristics and his identity can be demonstrated. This is communicated to customers in person, however shoppers see his website and it offers the same information as the other guy and everybody appears to be equal. Not the case. More discussion about comparisons and when we lay everything out on a chart, we can see that organization A has lighter weight and stronger materials, tested components, race proven designs and it costs less than organization B who is packaging up off the shelf components and marketing suspension systems to the same customer base.
The communication platform is an act of including these information properties into website organizational process. Now we build containers for all of this information and make it available at the highest impact points within the website. Now when a website viewer is reading about component specification, we can demonstrate superiority, explain what materials are used and why, document the R&D process behind the final product and communicate product characteristics that also demonstrate the values of the client organization. Communicating commitment to quality, the research and engineering and performance system test results built into the solution.
Design Impact
Now that we have value proposition content and we can relate that to a visitor experience, we can test new website elements. When a viewer is looking at product details and pricing, we can present the competitive comparison table, showing each system component, lined up, side-by-side with the alternative. When the viewer is reading about specifications, we can present the research and engineering process and philosophy behind the company and illustrate the quality of the product from another angle. When a viewer is looking at various packages, we can present additional information, such as these packages are the only buildable systems on the market - if the customer wants the level III kit, but doesn't have the money at the time, he/she can start with Level I and by adding a component, reach Level II and so forth, until the customer has what he/she wants. The competition? You have to buy the next level system all over again, none of the components are interchangeable with each other. These impact elements have to be accounted for in the website design. Where the customer is looking at the information they came to find, you present additional materials of interest and continue communicating your value proposition and brand superiority at the moment of highest impact.
We design for performance and impact. When we engage a client, we extract every success point and leverage that through a well engineered communication platform that you call your website.