Analyst: Steve Telleen
Issue:
Is it better to have a bad Web site or no Web site at all?
Response:
Is your web site running on executive autopilot,
created during the excitement of the Internet wave then left behind as
executive attention focused elsewhere in the business? If so, it is time
to decide what to do with the resources being expended to keep your web
site alive.
While web sites are cheap
compared to other channels and media, they are not free. The amount of
money spent to keep them running is significant, ranging from tens of
thousands of dollars annually for small sites, to hundreds of thousands
or millions of dollars for larger sites.
Would that money be
better spent elsewhere in the business? Maybe, but money is not the only
consideration with a web site. .
Customers have direct interaction with web sites in ways they
do not with broadcast and print media. According to research by BJ Fogg
of Stanford University, people develop the same emotional reactions to
interactive technologies that they do in their interactions with other
people. This means there is a second risk from keeping a neglected web
site, erosion of your corporate brand.
Lets face it. Brand is not logo recognition, even though that
often is the metric used to gage the value of mass media advertising
campaigns. Brand is the overall mental perception and emotions that
people develop about your company and products. While traditional brand
advertising can generate awareness and interest, once there is a direct
interaction with the company or product, particularly a negative one, it
quickly overrides the advertising perception.
Customers perceive interaction with your web site as a direct
interaction with your company. If your web site is frustrating your
customers and making them angry it is costing more than money; it is
tarnishing your overall brand image. This is much worse than having an
employee that is angering customers, because your web site interacts
with a much larger number of people than any single employee. Which
brings us back to the title question: Given the expense and risk of a
web site running on autopilot, should you just shut it down and not have
a web site?
What would happen if you did? The executive team should ask
this question, and should give it serious thought.
Who would notice or
miss your web site? Why? If the executive team decides the web site is
worth keeping, it is time to take it off executive autopilot and address
the value directly.
This is done by insisting that web site
objectives be developed, prioritized and aligned with the overall
business objectives and that the results are audited and tracked (see
PracticeByte, "Who
Should Set Web Site Business Objectives" , Steve Telleen)
If it is not worth this minimal
level of executive investment, then you should shut down your web site,
because the cost and risk to your company and brand are too great.
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