While Christmas shopping, I purchased an item on my daughters list from a major retail chain. I made the purchase online from their website- but it TOOK 3 TRIES! If the purchase had been for me, or if I could have purchased it elsewhere – I would have. The system did not recognize my login because it was deleted since I purchased last year. Then after I registered for a new account – it cleared the shopping cart. After re-selecting my items, another problem forced me to enter my contact information AGAIN!

I have seen websites with wrong addresses, wrong phone numbers, forms not working, shopping carts that cleared info and other problems that keep prospects from contacting or buying from a business. Sometimes these things were never correct, but often, some seemingly unrelated change has occurred that “breaks” the process. I suggest that you pretend to be a prospect and contact your business as they would. Do this regularly and use every means. Evaluate your prospects’ or customers’ experience.

See the article on “Your Search Results are not My Search Results” to turn off your search history and see what a first time searcher would see. Search for your company. Click on an ad. Does it take you the the right page? Try calling the phone number, faxing, completing a form. Don’t do it half way – test it as a prospect would. If it’s too difficult for you – how do you think your prospects feel? Test and verify these things regularly to make sure everything is working well.