By Laura Harrison
It’s no secret that having a good online presence has become imperative to success for most businesses. However, as the popularity of internet has grown, competition has dramatically increased and making a business stand out online from its competitors has never been so vital.
As technology has evolved, consumer’s online expectations have significantly increased. Consumers are looking for a stimulating and engaging online experience that keeps them entertained. For example, according to Mintel, 45% of consumers visit ecommerce websites for the experience rather than the transaction.
So the question is how can businesses create the ideal online experience for their customers that makes them choose them over competitors? Here’s a good introduction of all the things businesses should consider…
Live Chat
Enabling live chat on a website is rapidly becoming more popular and is a great way to enhance user experience. Unlike a physical store, a website lacks person to person contact, but if a website features live chat, consumers can get the feeling of a human presence. This will not only help to enhance brand personality but will also help to increase consumers’ confidence into purchasing goods/services.
Furthermore, giving consumers a variety of options of how they can contact a business will increase the chances of them actually doing so because it creates a sense of personalisation. For example, for those customers that don’t have time to make a phone call or fill out an enquiry form will have the choice to immediately talk to someone via live chat and get a response straight away. Best of Suffolk, a company that specialises in Suffolk cottages have already seen the benefits of live chat, discovering that it is a ‘great way to tap into the younger generations who do not feel comfortable calling and asking questions’.
Video/Vlogging
The popularity of video has rocketed over recent years – there are over 1 billion unique monthly visitors on YouTube and an average internet user watches 186 videos every month. What’s more, video isn’t just popular with the younger generation, with the age demographic for YouTube being 18-54. Therefore, because video is so popular with consumers for such a broad range of people, it is a great way to improve user’s online experience. Businesses that already have a written blog should up grade it to a video blog (vlogging) because when it comes to engaging customers, online video is 5.33 times more effective than text alone and videos are shared 12 times more than links and text posts combined.
If a business is not very familiar with video and feeling overwhelmed with how to begin a video blog, there is plenty of online advice from professional video production companies. For example, Lambda Films, who specialize in video production in Essex offer chatty, informal advice on how to achieve the most effective online video marketing campaigns for businesses and organizations of all sizes.
Laura Harrison is a freelance writer and she enjoys writing about a broad range of topics, in particular business and technology. Follow her at @Laura_JHarrison.
