A few days I wrote here in the Home Business Blog about how as business owners we need to optimize our web site and make sure that people can do as much as possible on line. As a caveat to that article I wanted to remind everyone that consumers are getting increasingly comfortable doing more and more on line. Not only do they expect to use the internet for purchases and research, they are also increasingly happy and comfortable to do so.
When I consider my own progress from skeptic to an experienced on line consumer, I can better understand what is happening to the market as a whole. I remember the first time I had to order an airline ticket on line—it probably took me two hours! I fussed and worried and could not possibly understand how a printed piece of paper was going to get me on an airplane! How did I know I was really choosing a seat? How did I know if the order went through? Now, just a few short years later, I think nothing of making a few clicks and knowing I will walk into the airport and get on a plane. I often don’t even take a printed itinerary with me—simply using my frequent flyer card to print my own boarding pass when I get to the airport. I could have never predicted the comfort level I would reach as a travel consumer!
For those of us running our own home businesses, we can take this fact of increased consumer confidence and expectations in regards to on line purchasing and apply it to our businesses. People not only expect to be able to make purchases, contacts, and conduct all manner of business over the internet, but they are comfortable and confident doing so. This means we have to have the capacity with our businesses and be willing to take some risks of our own.
Also: How Much Can Your Customers and Clients Do on Your Web Site?
and the COMPUTING Blog