Your website isn’t for you. It’s for your audience.
When people land on your site, they’re looking for signals that they’re in the right place and that you’re the right person to solve their problem.
The best way to make sure your website resonates? Know how your audience processes information.
Broad demographics - generation, lifestyle, how your audience grew up - shape how people decide who to trust. That context matters more than we give it credit for.
When I was in high school, we texted with T9 and saw commercials everywhere that said something like 1-800-CONTACTS for people to call.
I can translate it because phone keypads had letters - it was easy to figure out and 1-800-CONTACTS was way easier to remember than 1-800-266-8228.
(anyone else hear the tagline right after the phone number? 1-800-CONTACTS: We deliver. You save.)
That same approach doesn’t really work anymore.
Our phones today do still have the letters on the keypad, but it doesn’t match how we use our devices. We’re not translating or dialing manually - we’re tapping, clicking, and expecting instant connectivity.
If your website has a 1-800-CONTACTS style of call to action, you’re probably going to lose trust with people because you’re using a contact playbook that’s 20 years old.
Your website isn’t just telling people what you do - that’s just a pretty brochure. It’s guiding people to work with you:
- If your audience expects to fill out a form, make the form easy to find.
- If they want to talk it through, make it easy to book a call.
- If they’re ready to buy, don’t slow them down.
The playbook your audience expects is built into how they already move through the world. Your website just needs to speak that language.