10 web commandments for manufacturers

How to cater for the expectations of your online customers. CRAIG REARDON

By Craig Reardon

Continuing our series on online benchmarks for different business sectors, this week we look at the special needs of manufacturers.

In the recent past, manufacturers have fundamentally differed from most other businesses in that they predominantly did not deal directly with end-customers, instead tapping into wholesale and retail markets to disseminate their product.

But like many sectors, the internet has provided unprecedented opportunities to alter the value chain and, if strategically viable, put manufacturers directly in touch with end-customers.

Many have chosen to stick to the conventional path and leave the end-customer relationship to intermediaries, however many new manufacturers have ignored convention and chosen to deal directly with them – for better or for worse.

So are manufacturers better off looking at these newly enabled marketing or sticking with the tried and true? Or should they cultivate a middle ground?

Whichever strategy is chosen, the following provides a useful guide to what their customers expect of their online presence.

By checking those targets you are meeting, you can check your standing at the finish. While written with smaller manufacturers in mind, it would be worth larger ones casting their eye over it too.

1 – We are not biting the hand that feeds

Before any manufacturer embarks on a web strategy, they need to understand its affects on current or future sales channels. Your retail clients will be rightly miffed if all of a sudden you start promoting and selling the very same product they have been happily and loyally buying from you for years, and in turn representing successfully to end-customers.

On the other hand, if you think your web strategy is robust enough, you could go direct to consumers and earn some of the margin you have been hitherto giving away. Either way care needs to be taken because burnt bridges can be very difficult to re-build.

2 – We have arranged professional photography of all our products

This absolute no-brainer is not practiced by countless manufacturers. Why go to the all the trouble of researching, producing and improving world class products if the shots of them on your and your intermediaries websites are poorly lit, out of focus and standing in some shadowy corner of a warehouse? This is one of the biggest blunders on the web today.

The equation is very simple. Unless your product looks enticing and as good as it possibly can, online customers will simply ignore it. And that goes for your retailers’ sites too. Spend the money, provide them with professional shots and watch as both your online and offline sales increase.

3 – We provide as much professional product information as possible

Another simple equation. The more product information you provide, in as many media as possible, the closer you will take customers to the sale. Online consumers hate delays. If they want something, they want it now (or at least arranged now) so they can spend their precious time doing other things.

So give them as much information as possible and make it available as photography, video, testimonials, lab tests, PDFs or any other evidence that will get the customer over the line.

4 – We have a content management system

Given that your website is going to have to change constantly to keep up with new and improved products, customer service questions and technical information, you don’t to have to be charged an arm and leg every time you need something changed.

An easy to use CMS will put your website back under your control to make changes whenever you need to and saving a bundle in the process. Just make sure you follow the “styleguide” your designer established for you though.

5 – We have a password protected area for our retailers

Websites can be a brilliant tool to communicate special information to your intermediaries. Providing this will also increase productivity as they can help themselves rather than take up the valuable time of staff.

Password protected areas (or extranets) are now a common and affordable way of providing this product information on demand. This can be given even more value by pointing to it with a regular e-newsletter.

6 – We are prominent on search engines

Don’t let your competitors get the jump on you. Make sure you are prominent for all relevant keywords (which can be researched) so that you increase your chances of providing the information they need and in turn making the sale.

7- Our site is ultra professional

As for point 2 above, why go to all the effort in creating a great product only to be let down by its online representation. Professional websites are now well documented as providing excellent returns on your investment, so don’t let yourselves or your customers down by providing a sub-standard website – particularly if you appeal to a web savvy younger audience.

8 – We invite feedback at every opportunity

One of the great benefits of a website is allowing customers and other stakeholders the opportunity to comment on your product. Instead of blocking their attempts to give you this gold, use your website to warmly and openly invite them to do so. A great example of this is practised by coffee giant Starbucks.

9 – We have a strategy for web 2.0 marketing

While most of us were sleeping, Generation-Y took over the world wide web. They did this by transforming it from the monologue “one to many” modus operandi we were so familiar with, thanks to traditional media, to a living, breathing organic dialogue which makes them as loud as wealthy manufacturers and brands.

Call it heresy, call it what you like, but it’s not going to go away any time in our lifetimes, so we all better get used to it and work out how to deal with it.

Outspoken US e-marketer Marta Kagen tells it how it is with her landmark presentation “What the f**k is social media”, which can be found at www.slideshare.com. Show it to your staff at your next marketing meeting.

10 – We constantly provide new product news and information to our customers

The beauty of the web is that for the first time, you can communicate with literally millions of potential customers for the fraction of the price you once had to find. Every single piece of news about your products and company should be dispersed to this ready and willing market at every opportunity.

What was once fodder for your media release is now a multi-channel, multi-media approach that makes word-of-mouth sound like a vinyl LP on the wrong speed. Do your research, investigate how your child, niece or friend’s kids go about communicating online, and you’ll soon see the light and adjust your strategy accordingly.

So how did you go? As a guide, here’s what your score means.

8 – 10. Good work. You are likely to be meeting your customers’ online expectations and enjoying the benefits of a professional web presence.

5 – 7 Fair. You will be getting some benefits from your web presence but need to take action on those items that didn’t rank.

Less than 5. Poor. To remain competitive, you should get some professional assistance – before it’s too late!

Craig Reardon is a leading eBusiness educator and founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which provide the gamut of ‘pre-built’ website solutions, technologies and services to SMEs in Melbourne and beyond. www.theeteam.com.au