Do you have a website that’s focused on getting prospective customers the information they need quickly? As a systems integrator, your customers are looking for a diverse range of products and services.
Your website should accomplish three main goals: to reassure, to answer questions, and to provide low-friction ways of communicating.
The most important thing your site should do is reassure visitors that you’re who they want to work with. Present yourself professionally and heavily feature testimonials from satisfied clients.
Next, your site needs to answer questions. Make it ultra-simple for users to get their questions answered. Like customers in any context, they want to know if you can do what they want, how long it will take, and how much it might cost. Pricing is a sensitive subject for systems integrators—particularly because the needs of custom projects can vary so widely. Make is so users can easily and quickly reach out for a custom quote, and return their request promptly.
Finally, provide low-friction ways of communication. Some customers hesitate to set up a call because they worry it will lead to a high-pressure sales conversation. You need to have a low-commitment outlet for people who are just beginning the buying process. Including a chat feature on your website or encouraging text messages are good ways to open channels of communication that feel more casual to the end user, but still allow you to collect critical information for your database.
With these goals in mind, here are 10 ways to up your website game.
1. Get the basics covered. Making your website mobile-friendly has been covered to death, but there are still some sites out there that don’t display well on mobile phones. This is a major problem because it’s likely that 50 to 60 percent of your traffic comes from mobile devices. As a systems integrator, you also want to make sure you have amazing photos of the installations you’ve done; the portfolio page tends to be one of the highest-trafficked pages on systems integrator websites.
2. Add low-friction channels of communication. Live chat and text messages are the perfect way to get customers to engage, even if they are not yet ready for a more extensive conversation. Adding Facebook Customer Chat to your website is probably the easiest place to start. It automatically sends website chats to your Facebook business page and the Facebook Messenger app on your phone. Invite employees to be admins of your Facebook page and they’ll be able to reply to customer inquiries, too.
3. Make it dead simple to reach out. Have your phone number and a clear call to action (like “Call for Your Free Consultation”) on every page.
4. Create a “Leave a Review” page. Make sure it features easy, one-click links for customers to leave a review on their favorite platforms. Here’s how to create a one-click Google review link, for example.
5. Scatter testimonials everywhere, especially on the homepage. Yes, you need a testimonials page. Your testimonials are your greatest online sales tool, so don’t keep them hidden on just a single page. Put them front and center on your website’s homepage, and wherever they add value on other pages.
6. Have separate pages for each important product or service. With the popularity of long, one-page websites, it might be tempting to use that minimalist technique with your own website. Resist the urge! Having a separate page for each product and service that’s important to you is critical for your search engine rankings, and it’s vital if you’re running any kind of ads online—you want to make sure to drop customers on a landing page that’s relevant to the ad they clicked on. As an alternative, write a series of blog posts focusing on the services you offer, and make sure the title of the post and the content feature the service as well as your city’s name.
7. Rethink your contact forms. How long is it taking you to reply to contact form inquiries? Chances are, it’s probably too long. Studies show that you have the best chance of converting a customer if you’re able to reply in the first hour. Improve your chances by sending contact form entries to your smartphone so you can respond to promising inquiries in minutes. (This feature is available in Caldera Forms, Gravity Forms, and others.)
8. Keep your content fresh. This is easier said than done, but you can lean into your strengths here. Are your techs able to take photos of the jobs they do and post them to Instagram? You can link your Instagram feed directly to your website. And, of course, a blog that focuses on common customer questions is ideal. Try answering questions you hear a lot from customers, like “How do can I use AV to create a state-of-the-art conference room?”
9. Make use of brand partner photography. Brands like Extron, QSC, and Samsung have put incredible time into their photography. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you need to use your own photos throughout your website, particularly if they aren’t high quality—keep them isolated to the portfolio and/or case studies pages. The rest of your website needs to be focused on selling a vision of what your customers’ businesses could look like. Often the best tools for that come from your partners.
10. Include a frequently asked questions (FAQs) page. Your website is a sales tool, and part of the sales process is removing objections. An FAQ section is a great way to preempt objections by walking readers through the common questions you get from clients, reducing uncertainty, and painting a picture of what it’ll be like to work together.
While there is much more to a website than what we’ve covered, these 10 tips will go a long way to making your website a more integral part of your sales process and will take you leagues above your local competition.
Ryan Kane helps systems integrators get more leads through digital marketing at Uptumble.
