I got home from work today {Friday} when my wife asked me “did you have a chance to go to the bank today?” Crap! I totally forgot all about it. I needed to get a cashiers check and I – being Stephen – totally spaced it. It was 5:15 pm. I wondered, is my bank – Arizona Federal Credit Union still open?
So what do you think I did? Yep – I went online. Not to Arizona Federal’s website {that would take too long} I asked Google. Arizona-Federal-Hours. Google dumped me right back to the home page of Arizona Federal Credit Union.
So I looked for the tab on their website that said “hours” or “hours and locations”. I didn’t find it. It wasn’t there. I looked and I looked, it wasn’t there. I clicked on locations, a list of Arizona Federal locations opened, even including a chart of which locations were open on which days, even including the number of drive thru lanes – NO mention of the hours.
As I am rooting around Arizona Federal’s website I am noticing how frustrated I am getting. I start using words like “stupid” and “dumb” and “this SUCKS!” Here I am, spending my time – time is money by the way – looking for the hours of my bank. My Bank. All I needed was the stupid hours – was my bank still open or not?
While I am rooting around the website I am calling the bank. I have the recorded message on speaker as I am still searching for their hours.
Thank you for calling AZ Fed
To conduct your call in English press 1
1
For account balances. . . . press 1
To apply for a loan please press 2
For a list of locations and hours. . . please press 33
For branches in the east valley including. . .press 1
For branches in the west valley including . . . press 21
The following 1s a list of locations in the east valley. . . .hours given do not reflect holidays. . . .blah blah blahOur Ahwatukee branch is open from . . . .
Oh My Gawd! Just gimme that damnn hours! {I am thinking}
I am not a happy camper. All I want is the damn branch hours and time is slipping away! I can’t find the hours listed in Google, on Arizona Federal’s website, I am forced to call and listen to an automated message and the fact that it is now 5:35 is not lost on my wife in the background “are they open. . . .well, Stephen, are they?”
Finally I hear the automated chick say the location I need is open tomorrow – Saturday – all is well in the world.
The experience I had looking for something as simple as Arizona Federal’s branch hours is something you should pay particular attention to. Not because you bank with them as well – this post isn’t even about Arizona Federal – it’s about giving consumers what they want – when they want it.
I bank with AZ Federal. I like them. There are not many credit unions around my house, as annoying as this ordeal was, I certainly am not going to change banks over it. It’s kind of my fault. I could have not forgotten to go to the bank [brain fart] or remembered earlier or any number of things. Besides, changing to another bank would be a sacrafice for me, again, there are not a lot of banks around my house. Changing would require an extra drive or an inconvenience or whatever.
There are only a few banks around my house but there are thousands, hell – hundreds of thousands of real estate websites for consumers to choose from. Follow me here. I looked around AZ Fed’s website and called them because I do business with them, they have my car loans, my checking, savings etc. As a consumer, there was a reason for me to root around their website, there was a reason for me to call.
Transfer this to real estate websites. When a consumer askes Google a question – 4-bedroom-homes-for-sale-Chandler they expect to land on the page with 4 bedroom homes for sale in Chandler, if they don’t, they LEAVE! They hit the back button on their browser or they do another Google search. THEY WILL NOT ROOT AROUND YOUR WEBSITE FOR THE INFORMATION THEY WANT.
Why Should They?
Choice. I told you there are not a lot of banks around my house. I have a limited choice. There are thousands of other real estate websites for consumers to choose from. THOUSANDS. Even worse – for you – many consumers perceive REALTOR A to be the same as REALTOR B, the information on REALTOR A’s website to be the same as REALTOR B’s, so why should they invest any time rooting around your website to get the info they want?
It’s simple. They won’t.
Marketing Takeaway
Your real estate website should be optimized in a way where consumers that find it in a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing should land on the exact page with the exact information they are looking for. I employ every means possible to help my visitors find the information they are looking for as quickly and as easily as possible.
I do not want you landing on my homepage. If you do – I have FAILED. Information should be as easily accessible as possible and as easy to understand as possible. Not everyone went to college, hell, not everyone went to high school, use common, universal terms and cut out all the REALTOR® jargon. No one cares about comps – except you.
You want to get consumers on your real estate website experiencing the brand of you. You want them searching for properties, watching virtual tours, looking at pictures, reading descriptions, testimonials. This will only happen IF you can get them to the information they requested as easily as possible, in as few clicks as possible. We want what we want WHEN WE WANT IT.
Got an IDX? Require consumers to register right away – at your own risk. I know I wouldn’t. Show me the value of your website, the search capabilities, the videos, pictures – give me 5 searches or so THEN ask me to give it up – my name, email phone # etc
Give People What They Want! They Won’t Wait For You. Oh, and AZ Federal – please, for the love of unicorns and puppies – optimize your website so others like me (there are a lot of us) can find the exact info they want in a google search {please}. And while we are at it – drop that automated chick, customer service is king – nothing beats a human.
If you a Phoenix REALTOR that would like help with your real estate marketing or WordPress website, please fill out the form below. I can help.
