Website Checkup: Are You Answering The Who, What, When, Where, How, & Why?
You have just milliseconds for your website to form a positive impression and convince visitors to stay. Then, you only have a couple minutes of their attention when they do decide to stay. So, make sure your website is prominently covering the basics. Don’t make potential customers search for answers to the key questions of who, what, when, where, how, and why.
It’s great to answer these questions on main pages such as your homepage, about page, and product/service pages. But no matter where a potential customer lands on your website, it’s important they don’t have to work too hard to find the info they need.
Here are some angles to consider to make sure you are fully answering customers’ basic questions on your website.
Who Are You? Who Are Your Customers?
Yes, you need to demonstrate who you are and what you have to offer. But, this doesn’t fully answer the “who” question. You also need to explain who your customers are.
Who does your business serve? Who will most benefit from the products or services you offer? Are you selling to consumers or to other businesses? Do you specialize in solving problems for a particular industry? Do you specialize in solving problems for a specific type of person?
And, importantly: who isn’t the customer for you?
Many business leaders have a hard time thinking about scaring away any potential opportunity. But, ultimately, not narrowing down your target market can hurt your business. Remember, social proof is critical to your reputation. So, you don’t want customers who are going to buy and be dissatisfied and then leave negative reviews or badmouth you.
Think through who you can really help with your product or service. Who will be delighted with the purchase? Then, call them out- in a good way- on your website.
For example, I explicitly put a list of my ideal customers on my Home and About pages. From this list, as well as the copy throughout my site, it’s clear that if you’re a startup building your marketing lead engine, a therapist wanting to increase workshop attendance for your professional trainings, or an artist trying to sell more prints through your website, I’d love to help you. It’s also clear that I’m not going after enterprise accounts and the Fortune 500. And by being upfront about who I am and what my business is about, I doubt homophobes and racists are going to be hitting me up for marketing help.
So, make sure your website spells out who your products and services are for... and not for.
Whatcha Got?
What are you offering? An ongoing weekly class? A one-off workshop? A product? A service? Don’t leave them guessing.
Make sure your site makes it clear what you're offering, and that it’s easy for customers to navigate to the place on your site with the information about the offer they are interested in.
If you have multiple offerings, consider a brief summary on your homepage and then giving each offer or category of offer it’s own landing page.
Say you’re an artist and illustrator who would like to sell more of your fine art prints and merch but you would also like to be booked for more website illustration work. You could briefly introduce all three offers on your homepage, and then link out to individual pages that give more information on each offer. This would give potential customers a holistic view of everything you have available to them when they land on your homepage. Then, they can easily navigate to the offer they’re most interested in.
For example, you could build a Fine Art Prints page, a Merch page, and a Website Illustrations page. With landing pages for each offering, search engines will be able to better index your site. And, as you build supporting content, will help you to show up for related search queries. You can also optimize each page to support the purchase path that makes the most sense for it. For the Fine Art and Merch pages, for instance, you could have “add to cart” buttons that allow customers to make purchases directly from your website. For your Website Illustrations page, you could have your contact information prominently featured as well as a contact form inviting customers to reach out for more information about booking you for a website illustration engagement.
This approach gives your website visitors a much better chance of quickly understanding everything you offer and navigating to the option they’re most interested in.
When Can They Have It?
Is there a time limit for how long an offer will be available? Will prices go up at a certain point in time? How quick is the buying process? Shipping? What time zone are your business hours based in? If prospects reach out via your website, how quickly can they expect a response?
Be upfront about time conditions and constraints on your website, so customers aren’t in for a nasty surprise when they reach out or spend money on you and have to wait much longer than they were expecting.
Conversely, are you super responsive? Do you call leads back and respond to messages in under 48 hours? Do you ship items out super fast? Customers love responsiveness, so if you can actually make a responsiveness promise- and preferably have evidence to back it up- do it.
Answering the “when” questions on your website is an excellent opportunity to set reasonable expectations and soothe customers’ anxieties about the risk they are taking by reaching out or spending money on you.
Where You At?
Do customers need to come to a physical address to buy from you? Will you need to have phone consultations with customers in different time zones? Does your industry face differing legal requirements by country? Or, are you a virtual company and happy to work with anyone in the world?
Make sure your website answers all the relevant “where” questions.
How Do You Serve?
How are you going to deliver on your offer? What do buyers need to know about your methods and qualifications in order to trust your ability, quality, and credibility?
Explaining how you solve customer problems with your products or services is a huge opportunity for establishing trust. It’s also an opportunity to set yourself apart from the competition if you are doing something differently, better, more efficiently, or less expensively than your rivals.
Is there something about how you do things that can make buyers feel good about themselves for spending money on you? Make sure your website reflects that.
For example, let’s say you’ve taken pains with your production process to make sure it’s environmentally-friendly. That messaging should be prominently featured on your website.
But Why?
Why are you offering what you’re offering? Why is your business a business? What dream is being realized? What need is being answered?
Explaining your “why” on your website is a great way to establish your brand identity and what you’re all about. This is also an excellent opportunity to relate to and connect with your ideal customers on an emotional level.
If a customer resonates with your “why,” they have the potential to be more than just a financial transaction. If they feel good about why you do what you do and who you are, they become much more likely to advocate for your brand. Perhaps they’ll drop your name when friends are looking for recommendations. Next time you have an event, perhaps they’ll invite their colleagues to attend. Maybe they’ll post selfies wearing your merch on social media- and some of the likes they get will become your new customers.
“Why” carves out your place in the world- it’s the thing that ties together everything from you pricing, to your brand colors, to what you will and won’t do. And if your “why” is unique and distinct from your competitors, it’s also a good way to stand out.
Having a cohesive “why” will help you streamline the messaging on your website to tell a consistent and powerful story that turns visitors into customers.
Need some help making sure your website clearly answers the who, what, when, where, how, and why questions? We can help.
