The Keys to Designing an Emotionally Powerful – And, Ultimately, Successful – Website for Your Laundromat
Many laundromat owners love to advertise. And several of these operators use their websites for that intended purpose.
However, in my estimation, most of these sites are completely ineffective, except perhaps for the directions showing how to actually get to the laundromat.
Why do I say this? Because so many laundromat sites never truly engage with their intended audience – and, therefore, never really sell potential customers on the business.
This is because they aren’t psychologically sound and don’t show any real empathy for the site visitors. They are based on the false premise that people actually care about a laundromat owner’s business.
They don’t. In fact, it’s pretty darn hard to get people to care much about anything in today’s world. There’s too much “input” coming at us from all directions on a daily basis. Everyone is dealing with stimulus overload.
According to recent behavioral science research, the average potential customer spends no more than four seconds (often less) reading a headline before he or she decides to stay on that content or depart the site for greener online pastures.
This is because the construction of an effective, attention-grabbing website involves a number of psychologically sound steps that must be intrinsic within the site. Of all the key elements, the headline is the most critical – so use a relatively short, emotionally charged phrase, such as “How Unhappy Were You When You Last Visited a Laundromat?”
Also, be sure to incorporate a lot of photos on your site. However, I’d suggest leaving out any images customers for legal reasons.
Many laundry owners likely still attempt to design their own sites without the knowledge of how to build a website that sells. As a result, many operators end up merely offering a bunch of facts about their laundromats, without ever actually engaging potential customers.
It’s easy to just slap together a business website. Unfortunately, with the astronomical number of sites now out there, it has never been more difficult for small-business owners to get noticed. In fact, your store’s website has less chance of working for you than ever before, unless the validity of the design is rock solid in attracting the human creature by virtue of solid psychology – and not your psychology, the psychology of your potential customers.
First and fundamentally foremost, your website must demonstrate empathy for the audience. In other words, you have to know exactly to whom you’re talking. And, of course, your site absolutely must consider cultural diversity.
Being empathetic requires effort. It requires both the inclination to feel what another person is feeling and to analyze why. To improve your empathy skills, be sure you’re keenly aware of your feelings and emotions. As with any skill, empathy can be learned and improved upon.
Cultivating an empathetic personality will challenge your particular perspective – including your prejudices and biases – to help you view the world more objectively. You will need to become curious about other people to learn more about their lives. Use your imagination and put yourself in your customers’ shoes.
Despite living on a planet with more than seven billion people, we spend our entire lives essentially mentally isolated. Too often, we are unable to experience the world other than through our own senses and via the canvas of our mind’s eye – except, that is, when we are able to empathize. Then we are able to catch a glimpse of life beyond our own narrow viewpoint, and we can “see through the eyes” of another person.
Getting back to business, to draw people’s attention to your laundromat website, you first must tap into their emotions. You’ve probably heard it said before that customers “buy on emotion and justify with logic.” This is true.
Buying decisions are not about your story. Such decisions are always about the customers’ stories – and they all have stories about every subject imaginable, including their choice of laundromat. Often, these stories are full of uncomfortable feelings and bad memories about past laundromat experiences.
For example, these feelings could arise from a dirty store, several out-of-order machines, a poor assortment of vended products or none at all, unfriendly or rude attendants, inadequate parking, no air conditioning in the summer or poor heating in the winter, inconvenient hours of operation, and so on. Nonetheless, all potential customers have a story to tell – be it unhappy or simply unfinished. And this creates a huge opportunity for you, as you build your psychologically appealing website.
Your site is a chance to rewrite customers’ stories – and take them from their present state to a better one that will exceed their expectations.
Yes, it’s difficult to get noticed online and even more difficult to get potential customers to care about your business. However, empathizing with their pain points and revising their “stories” often will do the job. A new story, via your website, will permit these customers to reinvest in and deliver a new, better future for themselves.
Perhaps the most impactful way to personalize your website is to include a video of you talking about your laundry business and your concerns for your customers. This can take two forms: (1) you can hire someone to produce a video of you talking, or (2) you can hire an interviewer to ask you prepared questions.
Either way, a video of you on your website is essential in my estimation. Personally, I’ve used them in my business with great success. In your video, you will need to promise to rewrite your customers’ stories in your own manner. Show them that you are human, display empathy for them, and clearly express that you understand their culture. Of course, be sure to hit on all of the possible laundromat pain points they may have experienced.
At times, life can be difficult, especially for your laundry customers and potential customers – even if they may not always show it. Through your website, let them know you’re focused on removing any difficulties or annoyances from the laundry chore – and then go about making your laundromat and everything about it a first-class customer experience.
