What a fancy website taught me

Hi hi….This might turn into a rant but……

After having a deep tête-à-tête with myself, I finally gave into the urge to sign up for a training because…….‘Self-development’. I knew what training I wanted to get done, but did not know which faciliator to enroll with. I clicked on my browser and typed in the keyword on the ever friendly platform ‘google’.
Am I the only one who never clicks the second page when google results come up? (let me know in the comment section if you do this too) I just feel if the information I need is not on the first page, then it cannot be the best. Well, I cleared the search box and typed again, I opened three links on separate tabs and the quest began.

The first facilitator had a really fancy and captivating website and I admit I kind of thought I would not have to go through the other two sites I had not checked. I mean, if you have a nice website design, you should have good content as well. Delving further into its pages, I began to get peeved, mainly because there were inexcusable grammatical errors and I could not find the details I wanted. The graphics designer did a lovely job but I could not say the same for the content creator (or writer). Fine, I read nice testimonials from previous students but why do I have to call the facilitator to find out certain things that should be clearly spelt out? How have you been in existence for over a decade and you do not know that your training schedule for 2017 should be ‘up and running’ on your website? Even if the batch for January had just ended as it indicated, why is there no update for the rest of the months in 2017. For an information seeking customer as myself, I just could not comprehend such oversight. That was me thinking.

I am not even going to go on about how silly it is that they did not think it was necessary to have any social media account in 2017……someone needs to get with the programme already. This website needed a content lift.

I noticed I was getting riled up and immediately closed the page. The second facilitator had a not so fancy website but boyyyyyyyyyyyy……. they did blow me away. Easy navigation, schedule for the whole of 2017 was available, FAQ’s, certification exam details, mock exam questions, affiliations, maps for easy navigation….. I found answers to every question I had. Oliver Twist would not have had a thing on me because as satisfied as I was, I still wanted more and went ahead to call the contact number. I was sold, not by any fancy graphics design but by the content and information that was readily available.

I still had a third website to go through but by this time, I already knew what I wanted. I quickly scanned through the nicely designed website which had very helpful content as well. I already had an affinity (as a #BBNaija loyalist, this word stuck when miyonce used it to describe his relationship with tboss) towards the first facilitator, so I just mentally noted the third website as a plan B. Since I like to have options, I planned to make an informed decision later based on pricing and proximity.

The whole process got me thinking a bit and those thoughts are the essence of this post.

Basically, the first facilator just lost a potential client because their fancy and brightly coloured website failed as regards providing helpful content.  A fancy website should also paint (in words) a beautiful picture of how a client should view the product available. There are several ways to make your clients aware of the services you provide and ‘packaging’ is undeniably top amongst the list when presenting your product. So I am thinking, what happens when your client is attracted to your product because it is nicely packaged but the product fails to meet your clients expectation afterwards? 

I am certain that we have once made a choice to pick an item off the counter because of its nice package but after opening the product we find out it does not meet our expectation. A most recent counter experience would be purchasing a certain brand of corned beef because my favourite exeter brand was not available and well this brand came in a lovely package. Do I need to explain how this brand of corned beef ruined the taste of my pasta? Of course, I do not plan to buy that brand again.

To efficiently market a product or service, there are factors we need to get right and this is where the marketing mix comes to mind. The need to take the four P’s seriously cannot be over-emphasized. Whether it is a product or a service that is being offered, the product, the price, the place and promotion are as important as eachother. None is more important than the other and they should all support the purpose of meeting the clients expectation. Even with a competitive price, good location and a jaw dropping advert, a product is a waste if it does not keep the clients requesting for more.

The fancy website would have been a convenient ‘place’ to get information about their ‘product’ which is the training they provide, but it lacked the content (Promotion) that could have convinced me to engage the facility. A successful product or service means nothing unless the benefit of such service can be communicated clearly to potential clients. It is also possible that a facility/service provider gets a percentage of clients through referrals but what happens to the percentage of clients that you can get through an updated website or social media? The plan is to inform as many clients as possible right? The website was clearly the means I chose to get information but I was disappointed.

If you are in the business of providing any form of service, ensure that the means for promotion you adopt communicates the values and benefits of your product. The same attention should also go to the pricing, place and product.

The expectation is that you pick a thing a two from this post plus didn’t the whole ‘marketing mix thing’ remind you of your commerce or business studies class? *wink* ?

Have you ever bought a product based on either price, promotion or place and then realise after a trial that the product is just  bleeeeeeeeeehhhh?

Do share your experience in the comment section.

Love, Peace and Cupcakes

Phaytea???

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