We can say that a company’s sales department acts as the link between consumers’ needs and the products and services on offer, guiding each customer through the ideal purchasing process.
Rather than simply selling, the sales department should influence the customer’s purchasing decision, with a view to ensuring their satisfaction.
Although the main aim of the sales team’s work remains the completion of the sale, at present, Selling does not simply mean providing goods or services in exchange for money, but rather to create value for the customer, that is to say, to solve problems and meet expectations.
Consequently, the sales department’s mission includes gaining an in-depth understanding of the customer, analysing their behaviour and offering effective solutions to meet their needs.
Above all else, the most important thing is the consumer safety and confidence in the solution being presented to them / sold to them, thereby helping to strengthen the customer’s connection with your brand.
O Website It is, in fact, an essential part of its commercial strategy. It is its Digital Advertising.
We are, therefore, talking about the one element of a brand that becomes its permanent home in the digital world, easily adaptable to its needs – from the presentation of your company to the latest news and achievements.
Companies that do not have an online presence are no longer recognised by their target audience, and this is reflected in their sales! Nowadays, given the current situation we find ourselves in, the purchasing process almost ALWAYS begins with a search on a search engine – such as Google – before making a purchase in a physical shop and/or online.
Think about your own experience as a user of digital channels. If you’ve heard about a particular product and/or service, search for it on Google and can’t find any information about it, your interest drops dramatically. Why? Because your expectations and trust in that brand have been let down.
The same applies to their customers. More than simply having your brand’s presence in the digital sphere, it is important that your target audience connects with it. This process always begins with your digital hub – your website – which lends credibility and professionalism to your brand.
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHEN THINKING ABOUT SETTING UP YOUR COMPANY’S ONLINE HEADQUARTERS?
1. Recruit qualified staff
Be careful! Imagine you’re about to build your company’s premises right now! Would you entrust this task to “your uncle’s friend’s cousin” who dabbles in building work? Or would you look for a professional with proven experience in construction?
We recommend playing it safe. Entrust the development of your brand’s website to knowledgeable professionals / know-how on this matter. We guarantee that the result will be a credible and professional online platform.
2. Plan your objectives carefully
A reputable company will help you achieve your goals in the online world! To do this, we just need you to tell us what your aim is in building the website and who your target audience is – do you want it to be simply a business card / company profile / portfolio / team page / customer testimonials (corporate website); or do you want to generate online sales? (Online shop / E-commerce); or do you want to share knowledge? (Blog)…
3. Ensure that the user experience is as good as possible
a. Trust and Security
The security of your website is a very important factor for search engines and in how your customers and users will perceive it. For example, Google is placing increasing importance on the user experience, as people need to be sure they are “browsing” secure pages, particularly when providing personal details, such as credit card information, or filling in contact forms, etc.
To this end, there are mechanisms in place to ensure that users enjoy a safe browsing experience, such as the SSL certificate / HTTPS, the Privacy Policy, also known as the Security Terms and Conditions, thereby ensuring transparency regarding the processing and purposes of the collection of personal data, amongst other things.
b. Design
Think about your company’s physical premises. If they look untidy and disorganised, your customers are likely to be less satisfied and may even decide not to return. The same applies online!
You’ve probably often wondered why some websites are so user-friendly and functional, whilst others aren’t. Well, when you build a website without considering the user experience (your target audience), it ends up being neither appealing nor functional.
An attractive and responsive design leads to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty, meeting the needs of the company’s target audience, thereby making it more useful from the user’s perspective.
c. Relevant, clear and well-organised content
Always bear in mind that users are a bit lazy and don’t have time to waste. Their lives are far too hectic. When they do have time to browse the internet, they look for information that is clear, simple, well-organised and quick to read. Above all, it is important that the content is properly structured and organised. There is no point in creating long, elaborate presentations. But there’s no need to worry either. For example, at Desassossego, we hand over the task of organising and adapting your website’s content to the copywriter who, together with the designer and programmer, will prepare and organise the content in an appealing and effective way to provide users with an intuitive and effective experience, ensuring they are properly informed.
d. Responsiveness
I’m sure you’ve experienced this before: you’ve visited a website on your mobile, for example, and some of the information you were reading was “cut off” or unreadable. This is because the website’s developers didn’t take the user experience into account, nor did they care about its functionality. These days, responsiveness is everything! Your website must be able to display correctly (without any text being cut off or images appearing distorted, for example) on any device – PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet.
e. Search engine optimisation (SEO)
Implementing an SEO strategy (Search Engine Optimisation) On your website, this is particularly important because anyone who doesn’t know you – or isn’t yet a customer – must be able to find your company, product or service when they search on search engines (Google, Bing, etc.), preferably on the first few pages of search results. Only in this way will you achieve a better ranking for your website on search engines. Of course, SEO strategies, when combined with other digital marketing strategies, improve the effectiveness of your communication across digital channels.
f. Analysis of statistical data (Web Analytics)
In the same way that you can gauge how your target audience behaves when they examine your product or service on your company’s premises – specifically, whether they liked the customer service, the way the information was presented, and the presentation itself, with the Google Analytics we are able to understand user behaviour on the website, such as the length of time they spend on a particular page, which pages are most frequently visited, the number of conversions, which pages have the highest bounce rates, amongst many other relevant factors that contribute effectively to the ongoing improvement and adaptation of the strategy set out for their website.
g. Ability to integrate digital marketing tools
You’ve probably come across this article via our social media channels. Well, there’s a reason for that. The content shared on our website is posted on social media, which in turn directs traffic back to the website. You can also easily see on our website which social media platforms we’re active on and visit them via the links provided. This makes it easy for us to create digital communication strategies – for example, by promoting this article on Facebook and directing traffic from the campaign to the website. Or, for instance, if we want you to subscribe to our newsletter, we need to integrate an email marketing tool. All of this should happen on your website, too.
As you can see, there are countless reasons why you should create or revamp your company’s website. A well-designed website makes all the difference to your business, and proof of this was the dramatic growth in brands’ digital presence during the pandemic we have been experiencing. The only question is, how many managed to create effective digital campaigns and how many will fall by the wayside? Because, believe me, your business deserves a future – and that future is today.