Land the message in ten seconds.
A visitor gives you a few seconds of attention and a little trust. What you do with both decides whether they ever call.
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A website is a social contract.
Someone who lands on your site is trusting you with something: their time, their problem, and a hunch that you might be the one who can help. If you answer them honestly, you've made an agreement, and it runs both ways.
That agreement changes who contacts you. A visitor who felt understood reaches you with real intent, ready to work with you, and tends to stay a customer for years. A visitor who felt sold to, or ignored, either never calls or calls to haggle.
The decisions we make on the page pay a dividend long into the future.
Three questions.
We don't open a design tool until we can answer these about the person on the other side of the screen.
Why is the visitor here?
What's happening in their life right now? How do they feel? What are they worried about? Someone who needs help today is in a very different place from someone comparing options for next month, and the page should know which one it's talking to.
What do they need to hear?
Every visitor has a need, and a few concerns sitting behind it. Can I afford this? Will anyone actually call me back? Will I be talked down to? We speak to those directly, in the order they come up.
How do they benefit?
If I hire you, what do I get? Years in business isn't an answer on its own. Responsiveness, patience, flexibility and an outcome that fits the person are. We say the benefit the way the visitor would.
Then we guide them, one step at a time.
Every site we build walks a visitor through the same four steps: address the issue, establish trust, build a connection, and make it easy to get in touch. Here's what that looks like for a small repair shop. The shop is made up, but the problem it solves is a familiar one.
Say it in the first ten seconds.
The visitor arrived with a problem. The first screen speaks to it in their words, answers "am I in the right place?", and puts the next step, a number that dials when tapped, within reach of a thumb.
Answer the worry before they ask.
Cost, honesty and whether anyone will follow through are what hold people back. Meet them with specifics: a price before any work, the old part shown and explained, a warranty that's written down.
Show them what it's like to work with you.
This is where a visitor decides whether you're someone they'd enjoy dealing with. Real people, plain language, and room for their schedule and budget say it better than a list of credentials.
Make the next step easy, and keep your promise.
A short form or a tap-to-call button, a clear statement of when they'll hear back, and nothing in the way. If you tell a visitor you'll call within fifteen minutes, then call.
Most mobile sites are just smaller sites.
For most local businesses that sell to consumers, the majority of visits now come from a phone. Sites that sell to other businesses often tell a different story, which is why we look at who the audience really is before we trust an average.
Your visitor is rarely giving you their full attention.
Someone is talking to them. The screen is cracked. The sun is glaring. A child needs something. They can spare a fraction of their attention, and they won't spend it hunting for your phone number.
A well-designed mobile site accepts that, and does the work for them:
- The answer is on the first screen, not three taps in.
- The phone number dials when tapped.
- Buttons are big enough for a thumb that isn't paying attention.
- Forms ask for the minimum, in the order a person thinks.
- Text stays readable in sunlight, with one hand.
The first conversation is free and useful either way.
You'll leave knowing what your site should be doing differently, whether or not you hire us.
3D model “Mobile phone” by Alain Sorazu, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike. Hartwell Auto is a made-up example shop.