Chances are you’re not doing regular kumbaya business retreats to meditate in some yurt, contemplating how your website strategy aligns with your company growth. The majority of business leaders are down in the trenches focusing on hitting monthly numbers and keeping customers happy in real time. There are just not enough hours in the day for the website unless some red flag pops up.
We hear this all the time because we talk to dozens of business owners every week about their website and online marketing. We see that the big opportunity lies in spotting web-related red flags early, so you can quickly and efficiently make the investment in improving your site. If you wait too long and miss the signs, you’re missing out on growth and eventually stuck doing a big tech project just to maintain the status quo.
Here are the three most common signs to watch out for. Identifying these will tell you that upgrading your website functionality is worth the effort.
1. Your customers are asking
Due to the proliferation of well-designed software and websites from large enterprises, consumers expect that businesses of all sizes have the same high-quality online experience.
At Pronto, we see this effect play out often (though not exclusively) with gyms, yoga studios, and other businesses that serve a close community. Their customers ask them to start a community forum online, to make it easier to manage their membership through the website, and to make booking classes or seeing class availability better integrated with the website.
These requests may seem like “nice-to-have” perks. Maybe you offer these things using a mix of third-party tools. But if your customers are asking you to make an upgrade, you better listen and take action. Otherwise they might start looking elsewhere. Little inconveniences matter when customers are taking these actions regularly.
2. Your business offerings are expanding
This red flag falls under the category of “good problems” to have. You probably started off selling new offerings to existing clients as add-ons, then you gained some traction and started pitching your new stuff to warm prospects. But now it’s time to use your new offerings to attract new business and grow.
This is easier said than done. Tacking on some new web pages will look disjointed, add clutter to your site, and confuse a prospect. Just slapping a bulleted list of your new offerings somewhere on some convenient page isn’t getting anyone excited to pick up the phone.
You need to invest in a website experience that organizes your old and new offerings into a uniform catalog or suite that’s easy to find, filter, and select so new visitors can request a multi-product quote. Can you actually sell these new offerings online? Even better! But you definitely need to invest in a good website experience; otherwise you’re likely to look unprepared, cause friction with a new visitor, and potentially lose the sale.
3. Too much of your time spent managing tools
Your greatest resource is time, so a silent killer to growth is often too many tools being used in an inefficient manner. How you got here is 100% understandable. Some time ago you had a specific website need, so you got a specific tool to solve the problem. Fast forward a few years and now your website operations are a hodgepodge of individual tools.
Having too many tools sucks time because each has their own logins, their own billing, and their own support. Maybe in the beginning they all worked together harmoniously, but after numerous version updates, your tools don’t integrate anymore and you’re left running manual tasks to fill the gaps. Exactly what you were trying to avoid in the first place.
At Pronto, we see this particularly with e-commerce businesses as they grow. And there is some benefit starting with a one-problem-one-tool approach. In the beginning you don’t know what you need, and you’re reacting to what the business demands. But down the road you know your eStore and what tools your business needs so you can properly evaluate an integrated solution. You’re better informed to make a value judgement on the efficiency of integrating your payment gateway, inventory, and invoices, etc.
The moment you’re staring at a bunch of logins and wondering where the last two hours just went, is the point where it’s smart to invest in upgrading your operations.
Whichever of these three common red flags resonates most with your business experience, you’re going to need to make investments or upgrades sooner than later. Keep your eyes open for the tell-tale signs so you can make that investment when it makes the most sense and ultimately realize the most upside.
About Pronto Managed Website Plus & Managed eStore
Pronto Marketing is a leading managed website and marketing service catering to small businesses worldwide. With our Managed Website Plus & eStore offering, we give business owners advanced website functionality typically available only to organizations with sizable in-house teams or those paying large sums for custom development projects.
With Managed Website Plus Pronto clients can, through seamless integration with their website, receive payments, sell subscriptions, manage memberships, schedule events, manage accommodations, and book appointments.
eStore takes it a step further to enable clients who have catalogues of products and SKUs to efficiently manage and sell online. This and more is made possible through Pronto’s extensive experience in developing and integrating WooCommerce open-ecommerce and Infusionsoft CRM into Pronto’s proprietary platform. Pronto is a WooCommerce prefered partner (also known as a WooExpert) and a certified Infusionsoft partner. For the full list of third-party vendors we partner and work with, follow this link.
Written by
Tim Kelsey
As the Director of Client Marketing Services at Pronto, Tim works closely with our clients to help them build and strengthen their online presence through a wide range of digital marketing channels.
