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The Metrics

For this study, I’ve defined the “ease of access” to a company’s contact information as two components. First, the number of clicks, from the home page, it takes to get to a page where contact info is provided. And second, the amount of time it takes to find the contact info.

The Rules

To normalize the results and make it easy for website-to-website comparisons, I did not include the time it takes for pages to load. In other words, the clock starts once the home page is loaded. From there it’s a matter of scanning the page as a first time visitor, finding contact info, or finding a link to access contact info. Again, the page load times were not included.

The Study

I looked at several websites, both non-profit organizations and for-profit companies, to glean some averages and establish a baseline for future conversations and decision-making. I only tested sites where I really was a first time visitor to avoid skewing the data.

The Results

For the websites tested, the average number of clicks to find contact information is provided in the chart below. The non-profit sites included organization like churches, museums, etc. The for-profit companies were a diverse group from window companies and auto repair shops, to lawyers, web designers, doctors and hobby stores. The non-profit site had a mean average of 0.63 clicks, with the most common (the mode) being 1 click from the home page. The for-profit sites had a mean of only 0.37 clicks, 41% less than the non-profits. Also worth noting, the mode (most common) for the companies was 0 clicks.

For the same websites, the average amount of time, in seconds, to find the contact information is provided in the chart below. The non-profit organizations had a mean time of 5.1 seconds, while the for-profit companies had an average of just 2.7 seconds, 47% faster.

Conclusions

Non-profit organizations do not consider easy access to contact info as much as for-profit companies when they design their site.

Given these results, one might conclude that the time required to find contact info on non-profit sites was longer simply as a result of more clicks. While that is certainly a major factor, another important characteristic was its placement. On for-profit sites it was often much easier to see contact info as it was set apart using color or a graphic, or changes in font size or style. In scanning a page for contact info, it really helps when it stands out right away. In some cases, I had to scan the page more than once before I found it, even when it was on the home page.

Although page load times were omitted in this study, it’s worth mentioning how annoying it is to wait for Flash intros and splash pages to load. It’s also distracting and annoying when videos automatically start playing. Don’t bother a potential customer with extra junk, or make them wait when they just want your phone number or address.

For-profit sites took an average of 2.7 seconds to find the contact info, but with many of them the phone number was at the top of the home page. In other words, it took 0 seconds and 0 clicks to find it. The phone number was often the very first thing that stood out once the page loaded. If being contacted is critically important to your business, you should consider doing something similar.

Take Action

Ask a few friends or family members to visit your website for the first time and see how long it takes them to find your contact info. Then compare it to the averages I’ve provided. Ask them to comment on how well the info stood out and if it was clearly identified. Obviously, the fewer the clicks the better, but I think the total time required is even more important as it also includes the time to find links, plus the time to scan a page and identify the contact info.

The pitch is always the same. First they identify themselves as calling from a generic company name, usually something like “Data Movers” or “Search Performance” (however, upon further investigation I’ve found that this is often not the actual company they’re calling from). Then they mention that their company “works for”, “works with”, or is a “strategic partner of” Google. Sure. Then they continue to explain that there’s a great opportunity right now, for your specific business because they have “some openings on page one” of Google, Bing and Yahoo for “your products or services” in “your specific geographic area”. Really?

They have a well-honed 30 second sales pitch. But if you ask them anything specific they can’t answer. For example: What’s my name? What’s my company name? What services or products do I offer? Where am I located? What is my service area? They don’t know because they’re just playing a numbers game. The more people they call, the more chances they have to sucker someone with a quick pitch.

How can they have “openings” for my specific business if they don’t know what my business is? Answer, they don’t. And that’s not how search engines work anyway. There are no openings. Beware, these guys will sell you anything.

During a recent conversation they offered to provide me a free proposal for one of my sites, www.mymurrieta.com. They were confident my search rankings could improve and they could get my site on page one of Google. However, the conversation ended abruptly when I explained that mymurrieta.com has nearly 4,200 pages and is on page one of Google for hundreds of combinations of searches.

Take a look at BeerVersusBeer.com

Ever considered advertising your business at the local movie theater? During the pre-show, theaters often display national, regional and local ads, before the previews and the feature itself. I’ve been researching cinema advertising for a while now, speaking with account representatives at Screenvision, and considering the options. Most importantly, I’ve been generating ROI goals, as theater advertising isn’t the cheapest form of promotion.

In-theater advertising offers another way to attract geo-targeted clients. It’s an appealing option that few local companies take advantage of. But the moviegoer demographics tell an encouraging story. According to Screenvision, 9 out of 10 moviegoers pay attention to the ads. What else is there to look at? You’re in a big dark room, facing a 40 foot screen, and you can’t turn it off. Compare that to broadcast television, where 55% of TV watchers avoid commercials entirely by changing the channel or skipping it with a DVR.

We’re starting with a 28 week run on 7 screens. Each screen shows an average of 5 movies per day, and the ad runs 3 times per showing. That means our ad will run about 735 times per week. With an average audience of 7,000 per week, we’re expecting to be seen by a maximum of just under 200,000 people. Knowing that only about 50% of moviegoers arrive for the pre-show (according to Screenvision), that brings it down to about 100,000 people in about 6 months

Like everything else, this is part experiment. We enjoy trying varied marketing strategies both for our own promotion, and to gain meaningful knowledge we can pass on to our clients through actual experience. See you at the movies!

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