Recently, I was waiting for a connecting flight at an airport, so I decided  to  get a sandwich at a fast food counter.  Since there were no other customers, the people behind the counter were enjoying a few minutes of downtime.  I stood there for a few moments as they went on with their conversation.  Finally, feeling ignored, I asked if they were open.

One of them made her way to the cash register in front of me, and stood silently, looking off into the distance  somewhere beyond me.  Hmmm….Did that mean I  was supposed to order?  Should I wait till she was ready?

So I took a stab at ordering.  Wordlessly, the cashier punched in my order and stood there, while I tried to read the display on the cash register to see what I owed.  I paid her, and got my change and my food. 

“Thank you,” I said. I wasn’t terribly surprised by the lack of response.

Though I have an entire soapbox on the state of customer service, I’ll liken the characters in this fast food story to a website.

If you’re in business, your website is an employee, of sorts.  It should be working for you, pulling in customers, addressing their needs (not yours), showing visitors  how they need you, letting them know what they should do next, and making them want more.

Well-known fast food chains may be able to get away with poor service (at least in the short run), but for growing businesses  who hope to gain clients and revenue with their websites, their  prospects’ intial experiences are critical.

Does your website sit idly in cyberspace, waiting for someone to happen by?  When someone does happen by, does your website focus on your potential customer’s needs,  or is it all about you?  Will visitors know what they need to do next, or is it up to them to figure it out?   Does it have persuasive copy that grabs them and makes them want more? 

If we thought of our websites as employees, most of us would pay more attention to how they represented our businesses - how effective they were, and whether the money and resources we spent on them were being wasted.  If your website isn’t working in your best interests, it’s time for your “employee” to have a performance adjustment.
 

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