20 Point Checklist
A Intro to The Hierarchy of Business Needs
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Table of Contents 1.
The Hierarchy of Online Business Needs
2.
Level Definitions
3.
Functional
4.
Website Speed
5.
Reliable
6.
Understood
7.
Attraction
8.
Online Ordering
9.
Performance
10. Get in Touch
The Hierarchy of Online Business Needs
What is the hierarchy of business needs? The hierarchy of business needs describes the stages of online business maturity. This pyramid will provide the framework for the 20 point checklist. In this educational series, we're going to cover at a real high-level some fundamental concepts from each of the phases, and we'll provide some pointers on how to improve in that particular phase. When you put it all together, you'll get a sense of how your website is performing, and where it can improve for the better.
Level Definitions 1: Functional
First level of website value is function. At the bare minimum, we want to see that it exists, hosting, security, decent load time, spam-free, and error free.
2: Reliable
Second level up on website value is reliable. Good design, updated platform, analytics, and responsive-website design are all signs of a site with good reliability.
3: Understood
Third level up on the value of a website is being understood. A deliberate planned strategy in place to move from simply reading the website to dining at the restaurant.
4: Attraction
Fourth level up on the value spectrum is attraction. There are many tools available to bring the ideal diner to your website and establishment.
5. Performance
Fifth level up on the value spectrum is performance. It's reaching the ROI through sophisticated tools.
Functional The first level in the hierarchy of website needs is functional. A website, at the bare minimum, must be online and functional to serve a business well. In this section, we'll cover 4 things that impact how the website functions.
1. Hosting The right host provider for the current stage of business you are in. A self-hosted solution offers more flexibility, control, and freedom to do what you need from your website.
2. Security Websites need protection from hackers. It's important to have a solution in place to protect the website against hackers, viruses, malware, trojans, and lots of other digital vermin lurking about the web searching for easy websites to invade. On-going maintenance is an important part of security.
3. Load Time There's a clear need for speed online. Your first impression online is literally made in under 10 seconds. If you have Google Analytics installed on your website, you can see average time spent on your website, for a more detailed look there's a breakdown.
4. Error Free Pages, pictures, words, and many other details across the website are vulnerable to having an error. With a quick scan or a magnifying glass, we want the website to be error free.
Website Speed
Time is money. With every tick marking 1 second past, patience for the website is evaporating. Did you know the vast majority of people leave in the first 10 seconds?! View loading statistics Find out your current website speed using this speed test in just a handful of seconds via Pingdom. Start Website Speed Test
Reliable As we move up the hierarchy of needs, the second fundamental step is having a reliable website. There are numerous variables that impact just how reliable a website is. Let's talk about 4 factors that influence reliability.
5. Good Design Good design solves problems. The degree to which a website is easy to use, navigate, and find information traces back to how good the design in. Multi-million & multi-billion dollar companies invest in the improvement of their design to take it to the next level of ease of use.
6. Updated CMS Platform CMS stands for content management system. It's tech speak for the tools that allow you to edit your website. For example, Wordpress is a CMS. After you login, you can view website pages and edit the page. These content management systems need regular updates to keep the site functioning, safe to use, secure, and free of vulnerabilities.
7. Analyics Statistics allow an unparalled degree of transparency, accountability, and clarity for your website and online marketing. Google Analytics is full of practical insights on how your website is being used by prospective diners. By extracting those morsels of information, wiser choices can be made.
8. Responsive Design Do you have a cell phone?! Most people do. They whip them out when they're busy, when they're bored, and even at the restaurant. If you want Google to refer more prospective diners your way, it is very important to have a responsive website that adjusts to the screen size of the device from cellphone to desktop.
Understood The third level in the hierarchy of website needs is to be understood. A website needs to understand the point of view of the diner reading the website to persuade them.
9. Quality Written Content With the right blend of words, dining expectations will be described to a tee. Half the battle with online reviews is whether or not expectations were met. Expectations should borrow a bit from Goldilocks, not too high and not too low to avoid diners frustration.
10. List Building There are many benefits to starting your own email newsletter. There are even more ways to build your email list size thanks to all the tools available these days. Email newsletters
11. Lead Nurturing Strategy To build loyalty, to stay top of mind, to renew excitement, it is helpful to build an email list with past, present, and future restaurant diners. Your email list is something that should be grown, organized, and curated to give the best email experience to the email recipients.
12. Conversion Strategy To purposefully create a path that deliberately helps people move from merely a website visitor to an email subscriber to a diner to a repeat diner to a vocal fan takes meticulous planning. With a conversion plan, systems are created with tools to reach business goals consistently.
Attraction The fourth level in the hierarchy of website needs is attraction. A website needs to attract the right diner to your restaurant website. There are many ways for diners to discover you online. For the sake of brevity and speed, we're only going to highlight 4 ways diners discover your website.
13. Social Media Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc. are popular forms of social media that people use to capture, discuss, and share their dining experiences. Word of mouth has taken digital form. With a few clicks of the mouse, people can get the word out for better or worse. Naturally, these comments begin to add up and shape a narrative about the quality and experience of a dining destination.
14. Paid Traffic Advertising budgets are best spent where your ideal diner is online. Given the massive adoption of social networks, like Facebook, it's often not a matter of if your ideal diner is on Facebook but a matter of when. With the right ads, right message, and right timing, your ideal diner can receive exciting reasons to dine at your establishment.
15. Loyalty Program To boost the number of transactions per diner, a loyalty program can help them come back for more. Each visit is a new opportunity to remind them of how delicious the food is, the atmosphere of the space, and the quality of the service.
16. Online Ordering Online ordering brings many benefits to a restaurant website.If yes, do you have online security?If yes, how are online sales doing?If yes, is improving # and $ amount of orders?
Online Ordering
By 2012, according to the Internet Retailer, 50% of Domino's pizza revenue comes from online ordering and mobile app. View Article
Performance The fifth level in the hierarchy of website needs is performance. A website that performs at a high level has all the previous 4 levels working like a well oiled machine. At this level, it is all about taking sales & performance high enough to reach business objectives in strategy, sales, and service.
17. Customer Acquisition On many websites, there's only one form: the contact us form. What the research by Hubspot shows is, there's a direct relationship between forms on a landing page and new inbound leads. If you want more email subscribers, leads, and online orders, it's important to have lead generation strategy to improve quality & quantity.
18. Online Driving Offline Sales Online efforts can increase success seen at physical restaurants by increasing awareness and appeal of a food & beverage establishment. There are specific tools to track how online strategies translate offline in-restaurant purchases.
19. Website Design Testing The most objective, observable, and optimal changes in website performance are heavily influenced by website design testing. In a testing environment, two versions of a website page are put to the test in real world environment to see which one completes the objective best. With clear facts on the winning side, gradual improvements yield better and better results that translate into: more email subscribers, more purchases, higher purchases, and higher levels of buyer satisfaction. The return on investment is several times over investment.
20. Measured Return on Investment At this level of maturity, there are systems in place for attraction, sales, lead nurturing, attribution, and statistics. The dots are connected, and the ROI is clear, evident, and abundant.
Get in Touch
Can you already begin to see where your restaurant website can improve for the better? If the answer is yes, then take the next step to put the wheels in motion to realize your the potential of your website. Press the button below to schedule a convenient appointment.
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