We're no longer in the 90s. Our website needs to be sophisticatedly simple
TO: Website Team
FROM: Azleen Abdul Rahim, CMO
SUBJECT: We're no longer in the 90s. Our website needs to be sophisticatedly simple.
Guys,
Azleen here. Yesterday, I had a coffee with one potential customer. Halfway through the conversation, I thought of sharing our corporate website with him. Unfortunately, I couldn't do it. It's just too 90s. It's just too old-school. Let's have a 30-minute meeting first thing tomorrow morning. I want to talk about this. I will send an invite shortly. Read and understand this email first before coming to the meeting room tomorrow.
To support our Ops BOBI, the website needs to reflect our brand, which covers a combination of authority, modern, future-proof, elegant, sophisticated, easy to navigate and simple. The user experience must be visually uncluttered yet intellectually deep. The objective is to establish a high level of credibility and trust. In this era, customers will validate us before they ever consider or purchase our products. Yes, it is that simple.
Now, the primary menu at the top of the website must be dedicated exclusively to our product lines. Nothing else. I want the minimalist concept here. Each product page is to be overhauled to include a comprehensive yet structured narrative that describes the product, defines the problem we solve, how it works, the benefits, our specific target audience, and any relevant sub-categories, should there be any. Keep it precise, sharp and smooth. I want a clear breakdown of how it works, transparent pricing, and a paragraph that indirectly defines the why us statement. And please stop using stock photos and videos and AI-generated ones too. I want to use only authentic images and video footage. Get the Community team members to help out with photo shoots and video footage population work. We need the market to see the real people, real products, and real processes behind our brand to bring impact via authenticity.
The rest of the supporting information will now be placed in a secondary menu at the footer of the website. This menu will house the link to our upcoming in-house magazine (I'm copying what this company, AAR & Company, is doing, and they are just brilliant at this), the FAQs, Contact, and About sections. This is also where the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy will reside. By separating these menus into two, I believe the customers can remain focused on our value proposition while keeping the necessary brand infrastructure accessible. This strategic layout serves the customer's need for a thorough navigation while maintaining the premium, polished feel of a modern brand. What matters more is that we will make them stay for at least 3 minutes or more. The longer they stay on our website, the better our chances of getting them to buy something. If IKEA can make visitors stay for hours in their stores, we can do the same for our website too.
I don't intend to add lead magnets, any other CTA-related buttons or the core web vitals in this draft just yet. I want to keep it simple and see the outcome first. We shall discuss and add those things when we cross the bridge at version 3 of the draft.
Come up with the potential sitemap first today. Bring it to the meeting tomorrow. Once we agree on the new website structure, wireframe and a series of potential copywriting, we can decide in the meeting on the timeline required to complete the entire website's first draft. I reckon it won't exceed 30-calendar days.
See you all tomorrow.
Azleen
P.S. Thanks for reading. Text now if you require a CMO.
