Return on investment (ROI) is never far from the minds of business owners.
Okay, let’s be honest—it’s never far from any of our minds. ROI determines the success of a business strategy. It gives feedback on what marketing techniques are effective and which will run you into the ground. Improving ROI often means improving the structures and underlying frameworks that power your marketing outreach.
Translation? Your website.
Web Design and the Sales Funnel
If an improved marketing ROI is your goal, the first place to look is your site.
Websites are more than just digital hubs for your store — they're comprehensive assets that should engage with viewers, intuitively guide them throughout the site, and direct them to where they can learn more about your brand. Websites form the backbone of the digital sales funnel: The ROI-focused framework that helps turn viewers from disinterested prospects into happy customers. The typical sales funnel looks something like this:
- Awareness: Customers understand they have a problem but don’t know how to solve it. They may begin searching for solutions online or looking for recommendations via social media.
- Evaluation: Customers have identified their problem and are beginning to research possible solutions. They’ll visit websites, read blogs, and start to compare options.
- Decision/Action: Customers have reviewed their options and are ready to purchase.
With this basic funnel in mind, let’s examine each step again while reviewing your website’s role in the process.
Awareness
In the first stage, getting found is the name of the game. Your website needs to be optimized for SEO if you want to get found in an organic search, and once prospects find you, your site needs to be appealing and intuitive to use. If your site design is sloppy, customers won't think much of your company and won’t even give you a chance. Getting yourself out there is essential to a strong marketing ROI. In fact, 66 percent of marketers say improving SEO and growing their organic search visibility is their top marketing priority.
Evaluation
Your site needs to be structured in such a way that allows customers to easily learn about your company and the services you have to offer. Online resources (such as blogs or industry white papers) need to be accessible. Navigation needs to be simple. According to research by Demand Gen, 47 percent of buyers engaged with three to five pieces of content before contacting a sales rep. Forget boosting your ROI if your site can’t easily guide users through this necessary research phase.
Decision
This is the most critical moment of the sales funnel. Many buyers get anxiety before committing to a purchase, so your site needs to assuage their concerns by being as streamlined as possible. Consider the structure of your landing page, the location of your call-to- action (CTA), and what on-site text you may include as they consider purchasing. Even something as basic as moving your CTA below or above the fold could increase your conversion rate hundreds of times over. Is your site is optimized enough to catch these fickle customers?