You're familiar with search engine optimization, which decrees that there are a certain set of words that people tend to search with. But when those same people arrive on your Web site, a different set of words become important. These are "customer carewords."
Choosing the right search keywords will bring people to your Web site, but choosing the right customer carewords will bring them through your Web site—and complete the sale.
So says Gerry McGovern, who practically invented the concept of Web content that sells. Gerry has published three books on the subject, and he's been wielding his content pickaxe online since the early 90s... in Internet time, that's... 104 years, give or take a decade.
Last month, Gerry led a MarketingProfs virtual seminar, counseling attendees on how to tune their Web site content to up conversion rates, increase inquiries, and enhance customer satisfaction. Here are some of the highlights of that lively and well-attended event.
Q: What are customer carewords? How can they improve your site?
A: Customer carewords are the small set of words that customers really care about once they arrive at your Web site. Search words will bring customers to your Web site. Carewords take them through your Web site. Instead of hitting the Back button, carewords get customers to act in a positive way on your Web site.
An example: If someone is interested in doing an executive MBA, they might search for "executive MBA"; but once they're at the Web site, a strong careword phrase might be "advance your career," a phrase they won't have searched for.
Another example: Someone buying a new car might search for "new car," but once on a car Web site they might find carewords such as Affordability, Price, Low fuel consumption.
Q: How does a company select the carewords that are most relevant to their business?
A: Here's where you can get the initial list of potential carewords:
First, your own Web site: Level 1 and 2 of your classification are a good source.
Next: Competitor Web sites: What are the major carewords that your big competitors are using?
Search analysis (internal, external): What are the most popular searches on your Web site? What are the most popular searches in your industry on the Web in general? Use Google Trends, AdWords, Overture, to find out.
Web site visitor analysis: What are the most popular pages on your Web site? These can be a good source of potential carewords.
Customer brainstorm: Do very short, 5-10 minute usability tests with about 20 customers. Get them in front of your Web site and ask them what their top tasks are.
And, finally, customer feedback: What are customers calling the help desk most about?
Q: How do you merge carewords of two different types of audiences at the same company—audiences that may not have the same set of "preferred" carewords?
A: Most Web sites are task-dominant rather than audience-dominant. So, when I come to an airline Web site I want to book a flight, regardless of who I am. When I come to a hotel Web site I want to book a room. If I have a rash and go to a health Web site, it doesn't really matter who I am; I just want to get rid of the rash.
Web sites may have different audiences but their needs/tasks may be the same. If so, the same carewords should work. If your Web site has genuinely different audiences with very different needs and a very different way of looking at the world, then you'll need different sets of carewords. But that's not usually the case.
Q: If a customer careword is not on the list, should you allow the customer to add it to the list?
A: Only in the initial preparation phase, when you are assembling the list. When you get customers to vote, it's vital that they all see the same list of carewords. Otherwise, the data you get back is not going to be useful.
Q: When you are recommending "testing" customer carewords, who does the testing—an outside company?
A: It can be done in-house, but sometimes it's easier to politically sell the results if it's done by an external agency.
Q: How do we find a "good" company, and what can a client expect to pay for word and phrase testing?
A: The complexity and expense of the process really depends on the size of organization. A small company with a limited product range can probably carry out the process for about $5,000. A large organization would need to spend in the region of $50,000 to get a good result.
Q: Often what people say is very different from what they do. People may vote for key words/tasks, but have you ever measured/observed their use of sites, their actual actions, to support the polling results?
A: Absolutely. That's why the Customer Carewords approach we use is a poll, not a survey. People are asked to vote quickly and they are often given a list of up to 100 carewords. Thus, we get their gut-instinct response.
We tested the approach over a three-year period within the tourism industry. We gave 2,500 people in 13 countries a list of 145 tourism related carewords and asked them to quickly vote for their top 10. The top two carewords, getting 17% of the overall vote, were "accommodation" and "special offers." When you look at the leading travel tourism Web sites (hotels.com, Travelocity, Expedia, etc.), the first thing you see on their homepages in the ability to book, and deals/special offers.
Q: Big companies can afford all kinds of testing, but how can small or medium-sized businesses approach testing?
A: If you want the Web to work for you, you must test, test, test. The essence of the Web is self-service and self-service management is all about observation and testing. Where do you find a McDonald's or Wal-Mart manager? On the floor, helping and watching their customers. Web management decisions should be based customer behavior data, not the opinion of designers or marketers.
Q: How do you convince management that the research is worth doing, especially when you are building sites for smaller firms or organizations that don't fully understand what goes into the proper Web site development process?
A: Ultimately it's about results. A site that is customer-tested and customer-focused will deliver more sales, better services, and build a stronger brand. If you invest in understanding your customers you'll reap rich rewards. On the Web, customers are highly impatient, and if you don't quickly deliver exactly what they need... they hit the Back button.
Q: What is a typical response rate for online surveys?
A: It's very hard to estimate any typical rate. It really depends on the industry, organization, and type of carewords poll you are doing. When we do these for intranets, we can get a 25% response rate and more. When we do them for large commercial B2C organizations, the response rate can be as little as 0.5%.
Q: In a B2B environment, it can be difficult to get people to complete surveys. Do you suggest offering some "gift" for answering survey?
A: Yes, a gift definitely increases response rate. People feel that there might be something in it for them.
Q: How are you collecting contact info for your online surveys (with regard to spam laws), if the client doesn't have a list? Do you rent one?
A: You can rent a list, but most clients tend to have some sort of list. Another alternative is to use Google AdWords. Buy the keywords relating to your area and then use the ad to promote the survey. For example, we did one with a company selling in-car GPS systems. We bought ads around those words, with the ad itself saying: "Win a GPS system. Take our survey."
Q: In some industries, the organization and customers speak much of the time in abbreviations or acronyms—for example, HRA refers to health risk assessment, EAP refers to employee assistance program, ergo refers to ergonomics. Is it OK to repeat this type of language on the Web site?
A: Only if you absolutely know that this is the language of your customers. I have encountered many organizations that love acronyms. I have often found that many of the employees of the organization itself don't even know what some of their acronyms mean.
Be very, very careful in assuming that your customers—and particularly your potential customers—speak your language. Organization-centric language and thinking is the number one reason Web sites fail. To succeed on the Web, you must put the customer first.
Remember, you are NOT the customer.
