Revenue Journal®

Your website is one of the most important "employees" in your company. It is your company's most important salesperson and service person.

What kind of employee is it? Is it friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable? Or snarly and surly, thwarting the customer (and sabotaging the sale) at every turn?

I just bought a new laptop and its associated software and accessories. As I purchased and configured the computer, I was reminded again how stark the difference is between companies with a helpful website and companies with an obstructive website.

On the good side of the equation, we have CDW, the large computer company based in Illinois. I was considering buying my new laptop from them, but became convinced it was a good idea after talking to Jim Sterne. He told me he had gotten a cold call from them one day, which quickly turned into a warm call, which caused him to go to their website, and actually buy something. He has continued buying from CDW, over and over. Having now gone through a very pleasant and successful buying experience with them, I can understand his enthusiastic loyalty. More on CDW in a moment.

On the bad side of the equation, we have Qualcomm. I use their email client program, Eudora, partly because I like it and partly to avoid Outlook, a favorite target for hackers.

But Qualcomm doesn't make it easy to be a customer. Let's look at how unfriendly their website is, starting with this "answer the question and get your registration code" screen.

You'll note that something is missing, i.e., the question. I won't go into all the details here - it's just another one of those boring stories about how a company made it impossible to do what you should be able to do - but this screen is a good example of one of the "barriers to the sale" that I encountered while trying to pay for Eudora. And yes, my question is on file in Eudora's servers. And no, this webform didn't accept my answer, even though I know for sure it is the correct answer.

You might also note that the copyright dates are "1999, 2000" which tells me that no one at Qualcomm has actually bothered to go through the customer's buying process. If they did, they'd notice that the copyright footer hasn't been updated for five years. Qualcomm also does everything in its power to avoid interaction with customers. Here's their "support" screen. It should be called a "Go away and don't bother us, we're busy with much more important matters than your stupid issues" screen. Or, "Screw you" for short.

Note that there is no phone number here, and "Live person-to-person technical support is only available to Paid mode users."

Now, granted, Eudora is not Qualcomm's main focus these days; the company generates most of its income from its wireless chipsets and phones. But the company continues to support Eudora and has developed a version of it for wireless phones called Eudora2go. Qualcomm's own press materials once set the email program at 20 million users, now they say the number is 7 million. Even so, some CEOs would kill for an installed base of 7 million users. At the very least, they would not be treating those users the way Qualcomm is treating its users.

This page is a very rude salesperson: "I won't give you my phone number. I won't tell you my name. I won't give you my email address; you'll have to use a web form. And when I respond, it will be with an automated email that tries to answer your question (and fails), then refers you back to this page, filled with obstacles, so I can avoid interacting with you."

Contrast this closed, no-way-Jose site to the CDW site. The best apples-to-apples comparison is their "Contact Us" page, which gives you dozens of ways to contact them. They show email addresses, phone numbers, and fax information. They give their support hours, including Tech Support, which is 24/7. They provide direct links to other website areas and departments. They provide street addresses where appropriate. They list corporate headquarters - including the street address (it's amazing how few companies actually do this). They also provide a general Feedback link.

They have obviously gone to the other extreme - providing every possible opportunity for customers to contact them. And why not? Isn't that what you want customers to do? Isn't that what your website is all about? Aren't the best salespeople the kinds of people who pat you on the back and smile and shake your hand, and say, "What can I do for you?"

Here are some of the other things they're doing right. The left-hand nav is all about what the customer would want to do. It is an action-oriented list, starting with "My Purchases," and "Order Status." CDW is doing everything it can to make it easy for you to buy. Again, isn't that what you want customers to do?

If you click on "Account Team," you see a page (mostly) filled with smiling faces, including your "primary contact," the person who helped you with your order. Note how the page is personalized. The impression you get is there are a lot of people who can help you at CDW. Liz Keevan, my "primary contact," called me after I received my laptop computer to make sure everything worked out OK.

CDW even makes it easy for you to send them email via a webform; it's partially filled in with your information:

The people running CDW's website understand how to make the customer as familiar with the company and its people as possible. One way of doing that is to let the customer watch their commercials on the website. Maybe marketers are the only ones who would do that, but I think not - because the commercials are mildly entertaining, suitable for a business audience, and refreshingly void of the grossness so common in today's commercials.

The more you click around this website, the more you find tools that will help you spend more money with CDW. For example, on the home page, there's a section where you can build your own comparison charts, brands, bundles, and individual products. Note that they didn't just stop at "products," but they also included "brands," and "bundles." They obviously understand how people buy tech products, and have accommodated all the common methods. A CDW Account Manager helps you set this up so that your employees can go to this area, pick from the list, and buy their products from CDW.

If you want to follow CDW's example, you'll create a laundry list of all the ways you can make it easy for someone to contact you, and all the ways your customer might purchase your products. What are the actions associated with their buying process? Are you making it easy for them to compare products, mull over their choices (I did a lot of research before I bought my new laptop computer), and send info and images to others involved in the buying decision? Have you then given them access to individuals who are able to answer their questions?

Before you create the website resources that will make it easy for them to buy, make sure you understand every aspect of their buying process. Get on the phone with customers and ask them to describe it to you. Ask them what you could do on your website to make it easier for them. Ask them to refer you to any websites that made it easy for them to make a purchase and get help.

Turn their wish list into a prioritized project list, and chip away at it. Your website will start being a much more productive salesperson for your company. It will stop stabbing you in the back and start helping you make sales.