DOES YOUR WEBSITE PASS THE GRUNT TEST?
You have a great website right? You have image sliders, a list of your services, testimonials, galleries and every bit of information the customer needs to know to be wowed into calling you immediately, right? So why are they not calling? If you are not getting the sales and the calls, you may not need to add more and more new and shiny stuff. This is where many websites go horribly wrong.Donald Miller, founder and CEO of Storybrand- a marketing consultancy service, has studied consumer behavior and shares his insights as to how the human brain actually works, how it responds to visual information and how to optimize your website to get the best responses from customers. The insights he shares may surprise you.
How The Brain Works:
The human brain’s primary function and foundational function, which governs all subsequent behavior, is: survival. Every day we subconsciously organize and prioritize information that is going to help us in our ultimate quest to survive and achieve our goals. We are constantly tuning out information that we believe does not serve us, while sieving for information that does. Another main goal of the brain is to conserve calories. Our brain does not want to have to work too hard in processing information. When it feels it is presented with an overwhelming amount of information and confusing information, it takes measures to shut down to conserve energy. When this happens, we seem to lose interest and drift off. Miller refers to this as the “Curse of Knowledge”- presenting too much information to the customer than is necessary- leading to the opposite effect you were intending.What you really want to do, according to Miller is present enough information to intrigue , without causing information over-load. Miller, through his company: the Story Brand, has introduced :
“The Grunt Test”
What this is, is a five-second test. When showing a complete stranger your website for just five seconds they should be able to answer the fundamental questions:1. What is the product or service you offer?2. How will it better their life?3. What do they need to do to attain it? If these three questions can immediately be answered after just five seconds of looking at your site, it has passed the grunt test. If not, your site may need to be visually altered to do so.
Things You Can Do To Your Website To Ensure That It Passes The Grunt Test:
1. Ensure there is and easy-to-understand tagline that directly communicates what it is the product or service you offer.
2. Ensure there is an obvious call-to-action.
3. Visually show the success the customer will get from buying your product. For example, if you sell a fitness product, pictures of happy and fit looking people exercising will demonstrate the benefit of purchasing your product.
4. Break down categories of your product/services into bite-sized categories, including lists and bullet points. Avoid long-winded convoluted information.
5. Include the Brand script-This is the story of your customer and the story of where you play a Remember, the aim is not to talk down to your customer but to make the information as accessible and user-friendly as possible.
Reference:
Miller, D .retrieved from
http://www.5minutemarketingmakeover.com/