Jan 20 2010
Empathy: The Most Important Part of Your Website.
Do you want your potential clients to stay on your website, sign-up for your newsletter and maybe even call you? Of course you do because your website is your most important marketing tool.
Most of us know this and almost every business has a website these days. However, most websites I look at miss the mark completely in one huge area. They fail to build empathy with their potential clients.
What exactly does this mean? One definition on Wikepedia says “To empathize means to share, to experience the feelings of another person.” When a person feels empathy from you, they feel that you get it and you understand them. If you feel that someone really understands you, you are much more likely to trust, that they can also help you.
The very first thing on your website needs to be about your client and how they are feeling about their own situation. Talking about you or your services doesn’t build empathy in any way shape or form.
Have a look at your website from the eyes of your clients and their issues and their needs. If someone has a back ache, they don’t necessarily need a massage. They do need relief from pain and hope that they can stay pain free. They want to feel good.
If someone is stressed about their debts, they don’t need your financial advice. What they do need is a feeling of hope and to be free from financial stress. This formula is true for whatever your service or product, whether you are selling vacuum cleaners or acupuncture.
If you aren’t sure how to do this get some help, because this one tweak on your website will transform your whole business and your potential clients will stay on your site longer and are more likely to get involved.
Have a quick look at my website and notice the headline and the first sentence. Does it speak to you? Notice it doesn’t say anything about me or what I offer. Look at your own website and see if you are hitting the mark or whether you need to adjust your content. Contact me if you need help.
Hi, you mean that user experience should be considered when website building, is that right?
Your view is good.If you want to make your busniess more better,it is very necessary to do some improvements to your website.
You are spot on with this Kaya! I couldn’t agree more and am glad you are making people aware of this very important practice. It’s not enough to simply ‘get a site up’ – it has to be well thought out.
I guess it’s time to modify my site…I’m guilty of setting-up my site just to say I have a website up and running. Thanks for that piece of advice.
Thank you to all of you for your comments. I so very appreciate it!
China visa -Yes- it is all about user experience. Your website needs to be built to empathize and offer help to your potential customers.
Filter Bag – I agree that my website needs help! However I was only pointing out my headline – not the whole site. I strongly believe that if you don’t have the time to re-model your whole site right now, one thing you can do is make sure the content is there and needs to be about the benefits to your customers based on what their problem or issue is.
Don- thanks for the reinforcement!
Christina- you are welcome and let me know if you need any help. Kaya