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What is "customer-centric" web design?

Web sites that sell more business and get more repeat visits are designed from the customer's perspective.

Customer-centric vs. the rest

Customer-centric design starts with your customers and what they want to do - it's not about your organisation, products and services.

The easiest way to explain the difference is to look at two web sites from the same industry that demonstrate the difference.

The navigation scheme

Is your navigation scheme all about you and your products or is it about your customer?

This scheme starts with two tabs "Personal" and "Business" - allowing the customer to "self-identify" as to their interest - and then present appropriate options. The first item in this scheme is "Company Info". Customers are not interested in your organisation - they are interested in themselves. Feed that interest - or lose them! When you click on "Products" you get the list - but you have to guess which product you might need. A customer-centric approach attempts to ascertain your needs and then suggest the product.

Self-Identification

This common feature of customer-centric sites enables the customer to select why they are there or what their overall need is and then the site is structured to answer their questions or meet their need.

Banking sites generally provide this on the first page allowing the customer to select between Personal, Business and Rural (Agribusiness).

Answering the questions

A good web site knows what questions the customer has in mind and answers them. A well designed site almost seems to know what the customer is thinking.

Don't make your customer do the work

The more you can help your customer and minimise the effort they have to do, the better chance they will buy your products and/or do business with you.

Buying a cellphone.
One site shows the catalogue - you can see the phone as you move your mouse over each item in the list. The other site shows the picture, the price and key features. And, it even allows the customer to select up to 3 phones and presents a direct feature comparison. Customer-centric thinking - the customer will want to compare models before buying, so let's help them do that easily and reduce the work they have to do to make a "buy" decision.

What about my organisation's website?

Take a look at your site navigation scheme. Does it allow your customers to identify themselves by some broad classification or through a list of customer needs? If yes, you're on the right track, if not, your site isn't working as well as it could be.

If you'd like an independent assessment, contact me, Mike Osborne.