Engagement, Emotional Connection and Reducing Bounce Rates: How is your EC?

This is the beginning of a series surrounding the FastPivot concept of Pivot 360 (P360).

P360 is about: Connect, Convert and Commit.

Being busy, we all lose touch.  Sorry about that.  Our team has been busy serving well and doing great things!  Forgive us for losing track of each other!  Got time to reconnect?

Most etailers and online business are hyperfocused on their Connection and SEO Ranking on Google. That is understandable.  Like the offramp of an interstate, Google is a critical traffic artery.

However, too little consideration is given to the Emotional Connection that visitors get when they arrive at the site online.  Without connection, engagement is low and bounce rates are high.

Years of doing site reviews at Internet Retailer have convinced me that there are seven things that separate the small and struggling from the successful in the business of *true*  Connection.

• People connect with people, many sites have no photos of warm, happy people or warm scenes anywhere. Hellooooo? Does anyone live here?  Who are these people anyhow?  Man, this place is cold!
• There is a sense of place.  Weak sites feel generic. There is not a single element that connects in any one positive memorable way.  Utterly forgettable.
• There is a history.   Brands we serve like Everlast and www.shop3m.com and American Mucle all have a history behind them that helps tell the story of how the Brand ‘wears it’s clothes’ and ‘walks it’s talk.’
• There is a story and a voice.    Why is it so hard to get good content from merchants and busy business owners?  Do they not realize they DO have a great story to tell?
• There is “a look.”  If your nephew did your web design as a favor, chances are good you don’t have ‘the look’ and it probably was no favor.    We also have discussions here about stores that owners thought were ‘unique’ by another designer but when compared with the rest of that portfolio, they discover they really aren’t very unique at all.
• There is a future:  Change is a sign of present and future life.  Are you wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday?  Neglected blogs, out of stock products and out of date promotions, or banners that haven’t changed equal death.  Returning visitors may conclude this place is static and may even be abandoned.  Invest in change: new content and new banners and even little seasonal site ’tweaks’  help create the dynamic future, not the stuck and static past.  Bring in the social ‘tweet stream’ for more conversation and interaction
• There is a purpose beyond profit.  Dru & Asher Collie, our friends and founders at SoleHope.org have the purpose of the elimination a parasite called “jiggers”  in Africa and resulting freedom from foot related diseases by investing in education, shoemakers and shoes.  Yes, there is a “Toms Shoes” promise in their model as well and it doesn’t hurt their shoes are really cute and unique.

Regardless of your opinion of the achievements of Lance Armstrong, you must admit his foundation has gone beyond his own personal achievement (or failures) in helping many cope and “Live Strong” with cancer.  We wish our friends at the Lance Armstrong Foundation all the best in making the world a better place and redefining and charting a course their future.

At least for our ‘Ideal” clients they recognize it is all a stewardship.  We gain and hopefully hold our clients confidence and trust by delivering results.

One of our aspirations is to be a Golden Rule Business, by consistently loving well, living well by our values and by serving well.

Love well, live well, serve well.  I like that.

“As you would desire be done unto you, do so also.” 

Will you join us on that journey?  Engage me with your site and your purpose?

May we reconnect with you and get your thoughts on the importance of  Emotional Connection ?  (EC)

So how is your EC?  Does your site connect emotionally?  How you making an Emotional Connection with your audience?