do customers know you're open for them?
The new restaurant down the road from us has a little "open" sign in the window. But it's damn near impossible to tell if they're open. Even when they're open.
The open sign is white neon lettering. It's a fine sign.
But it's position in the window is in front of a floor lamp inside. That floor lamp is always on. It's the same white as the open sign.
Every time I drive by I wonder "is it the open sign or just the lamp" I can see? Because I'm a (mostly) responsible driver, my focus is more on the road than the sign.
And so I have never been to this cafe. Unless they make it obvious that they're open when I go by, I probably won't go to this cafe.
Do customers know that you're open for business?
We're going through this with accoil.com. Does the website (our storefront) tell visitors that we're open for them?
We're testing this in two simple ways:
When we update the copy, I send a few friends an email asking if they can do a quick exercise for me. Click the link, read the hero copy at the top of the page, tell me what we do and who we serve.
Using Harry's Three Rules
Can I visualize it?
Can I falsify it?
Can anybody else say it?
There are more intricate ways of doing this. Probably more reliable ways. But speed is important right now and the cost of not getting it 100% right isn't as high as it will be when we have loads of organic traffic going to the site.
If the right readers know what we sell, that we built if for them, and that they can buy (or try) from us right now our website is working.
If it would help, hit reply and send me your URL. I'll read it and reply with what I think you do and who your buyer is.
Hasta mañana
Peter
(339 / 500 words)
PS: Listening to Glass Beams on YouTube today: