The Essential Questions Your Website Needs to Answer

Customers who visit your site may start in a variety of different ways—perhaps on a landing page, or a blog post they found through a search engine. However, much like the old saying "All roads lead to Rome", your customer is eventually going to click through to your home page to find out more about your business and what you can offer. Knowing this, you need to be prepared to quickly and easily give your customer the full scoop on what it is you do, and what you provide (whether a product or service). You'll want to explain things clearly, but also in a way that is exciting and enticing. First impressions count! If your copy leaves your customer lingering on whether or not to continue scrolling down, there's a good likelihood that they will give up and click off your site.

Here are the 6 questions a customer is going to ask themselves when they come to your site:

1. What is this?

The description of your product or service should be as precise as possible. If your headline copy mentions that you sell pencils, but you actually specialize in selling mechanical pencils, you should emphasize that fact in your design. This can be done with fonts, colors, or anything you can think of to hone your customer's eye on the keyword you want.

2. Who is it for?

Answering this question is a matter of showing your customers that what you have is specifically for them. Take Square, for example. They use a variety of imagery showing the different types of small businesses that would want their mobile payment device.

3. How does it work?

Because you don't want to clutter your homepage with an overwhelming amount of copy, your best move is to provide a few brief sentences into what your product or service does. Think about the 2 or 3 most important things a potential customer should know, and then communicate those on your homepage. If you want to go more in-depth, provide a short video, or a call to action button leading to another page that fully describes your business.

4. How much does it cost?

Am upfront, transparent pricing model immediately shows your customer that you're ready for their business. Take WooBox for example: they show exactly what you get with their different pricing models.
Alternatively, if you offer a service that requires getting an estimate first, take the opportuntiy to allow your customer to set up a free consultation.

5. How can I trust this?

The sensation of trust comes from a variety of different sources. As humans, we are most likely to try something new based off of the recommendation of a peer or someone else who has tried the service we're interested in. That is why testimonials are so important for your business. A tactic that many sites use nowadays is to prominently display them on the homepage.
One of our clients, Chicago Casino Suppliers, does exactly this, displaying a slideshow of testimonials right below their event packages:

6. Where can I get started?

If your customer has made it this far in their thought process, there's a good chance they'll want to learn more about how they can take advantage of what you have to offer! This is where your main call to action comes into play. You want to build upon all of the momentum that you've built, and give your customer a large and easy signal as to what they need to do next. Guide them with large, colorful buttons or forms that instruct them as to what it is they would want to do.
For some ideas on what can go into an effective call to action, check out our recent article.
Are there any other questions you think a customer would ask themselves when visiting a small business website? Send us a comment on Facebook or a tweet to @SeafoamMedia with your thoughts!