Your website may be used by customers or employees. Either way, it has to provide useful tools to them — and with a more robust website in place, it can ensure that you’re giving people what they need. A better store locator can make it possible to provide maps, directories, and so much more.
There are a number of reasons why you should consider adding one to your website.
Let Customers Find You
When people get to your website, you want to make it easy for people to find you. More specifically, you want them to find the location of yours that is closest to them. It may be difficult for people to know which location is closest when all you do is list a bunch of cities where you’re located.
Customers need to find you in order to do business with you. Don’t limit the details that you provide. Instead, provide a full location content management system that offers maps. This way, people can see the locations on a map and choose the one that they want to visit.
Provide Comprehensive Details
The more information you give a potential customer, the more likely they’ll visit. You don’t want to leave a customer guessing on the details. Once they find a location they are interested in visiting, give them the details that are important, including:
- A physical address
- A contact phone number
- A direct website address
- Operating hours
When you provide more information, it gives people confidence in your business. It also ensures that they can simply visit your website to get what they need. If they have to conduct additional web searches, they may forget it and choose to do business with a competitor.
Utilize Templates
When you use a better store locator on your website, you can utilize templates. You don’t have to be a professional web builder. Instead, you can upload your data from a CSV or other file, choose the template design that works for your site, and install it on your website.
It allows you to have a professional look that incorporates the details that matter.
The user experience matters more than ever before. If you can’t provide people with a good-looking locator, they can easily do business with another company — one that has already decided to invest in better store locator software.
Offer Geolocation
Not everyone wants to do a comprehensive search where they have to enter their address or type in their zip code. Instead, they want a simple site that locates the nearest location automatically. In order for this to happen, you need to have geolocation in place. It allows a person’s location to be sent to the site. Then, it will tell the person the location closest to where they’re at.
One of the added benefits of geolocation is that it can be used on any device. That way, a person can even find out about locations from their mobile device while they’re on the go, getting to your location even faster.
Reduce Incoming Calls
When you have more information on your website, it allows people to find out the information for themselves. If people can’t find what they need, they’ll call your location. This can take a considerable amount of time away from your employees’ productivity.
Whether you have a 1-800 customer service hotline or people are calling the individual locations, it is time that employees have to spend dealing with basic information. When your website contains more comprehensive details, it allows your employees to deal with more important tasks throughout the workday.
Provide Employees with More Information
Your employees should also have more information at their fingertips. If you have to give your employees a catalog of all of your locations, or they have to conduct a Google search, it’s not going to look very professional. In today’s day and age, people want answers immediately. If your employees have to go looking for the answers, they’ll be disappointed.
Your employees can use the location content management tools in order to give location details. Additionally, if an employee knows that a customer is traveling from out of town, they can also provide details on the location closest to where their home is. It allows your employees to go above and beyond while also ensuring that customers know the many ways that they can interact with your brand.
Maintain the Information Online
Things change periodically — and you need to keep up with it all. Whether a location opens, closes, or simply changes its phone number, you need to make sure that people know about it. If the information on your website is out of date, it can cause consumers to lose trust in you. However, with the right location management tools, you can make updates and have the information updated on your website for all to see in no time at all.
Plus, you don’t need to involve a webmaster. It ensures that the information is updated as it happens instead of weeks or months later.
Compete with Other Businesses
There may be a lot of competition within your industry. Regardless of what you have to offer, you need to make sure you have a competitive edge. Do some market research to find out what your competitors have to offer on their website. If they have a store locator tool already in place, you’re going to want one of your own. If they don’t have one, it’s all the more reason for you to have one — providing you with the upper hand.
Ultimately, you have to make it easy for people to find the locations that are closest to where they are. It can list some of the top-performing stores in their area as well as all the details that they may need in order to interact with the location.
Comprehensive store locator software, complete with lots of features, is only a click away. Learn more about our store locator software by scheduling a demo with us at MetaLocator today.