We have touched on this subject before in SMEs on EStreet, but despite the facts that:

1. the UK has the most active online population of any country in Europe with around 21 million logging on every day and 72% using the Internet to make purchases


2. according to the Office of National Statistics show that between 2005-2006, consumers spent £103 billion in online purchases in the UK alone

UK SMEs seem determined to sleepwalk to disaster when it comes to the web:

1. 23% of websites have not been updated launch


2. The average age of a website is four years


3. Only 8% of respondents had an e-commerce element to their sites


4. 25% of companies had no way of tracking their site


5. 38% had no budget at all for website updates


6. For those with a budget the annual spend was around £250

All of this according to a survey by Netflare mentioned here.

UK SMEs really need to think!!!

ServiceXRG has released a report about how the web is changing the way businesses engage with customers.

Find the report here: http://www.inquira.com/resources/OnlineExperience.asp.

They divide a ‘successful experience’ into 4 stages:

Exploration: where the “customer is looking for the tools, resources and information” they need.

Formulation: where customers have to make a decision amongst the many opportunities they find.

Validation: where customers “check their decision with professional reviews, magazine articles, comments from peers, and other trusted sources”.

Action: where they do something.

Some critical observations from the study include:

Customers may know what they want but not always how to get it, so sites must help customers find what they want and then make it easy to get it. Sounds obvious, but so many sites just havn’t thought it out with simple one click and intuitive navigation etc.

When customers and prospects can’t find what they are looking for on a site they will look for it elsewhere and can then lock in to the competitor.

The report says:

“The key to delivering a compelling on-line shopping experience lies with the ability to provide customers with the means to find the information they need to make an informed purchase decision. Influencing the product research and shopping experience can have profound financial implications. Companies that deliver a positive experience by providing customers with tools and information that ultimately compel them to buy their products enjoy the associated financial rewards.”

But, unfortunately:

“Only 44% of customers indicate that the information found on company web sites meets their
shopping and product research needs.”

That means 56% don’t!!!

So the rules that the report comes up with and that are ‘plain common sense’ too:

• Understand what your customers expect
• Work out what's stopping you achieving that
• Work out how you can deliver it
• Identify the content and tools required
• Make the right investment to achieve your goals
• Try out your own site and fix problems
• Establish success criteria and monitor them
• Rinse and repeat