Finding the nearest store with a good locator
Development of online shop, dealer, retail, store, and office locators are vital for any brick and mortar business that relies on customers shopping at their locations. Service stations, convenience stores, restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, clothing stores, banks, insurance companies, and other businesses rely on online locators to help their customers locate their stores and get their in their vehicles.
correctly used a good online locator can be a great brand management tool. Web-based locators are highly conspicuous on a web site, and say a lot about a company depending on how well the locator functions , and is often the first experience a customer has with a company.
However, there are many more poorly designed web locators than good ones. A bad locator can become a disater if a customer tires to use it and gets lost, frustrated, or worse. Some of the best locators have elements that are both common and often expensive to put through. It is very easy to find bad locators. Google “locators” and see for yourself. Good ones, are few and far between.
Use the succeeding(a) tests to see if your locator is up to speed with the best:
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Accuracy — are your locations accurate? If you are relying on online geocoding tools you are probably 30 – over 60% inaccurate. Use Google street view or Satellite view to verify your location. You may be surprised. For example, to ensure customers can always get the latest information when the look for the nearest Exxon or Mobil station, they update their locator data on a daily basis.
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Useability – Many customers quickly give up if your site is hard or confusing to use. They will then turn to a competitor’s locator if yours is not up-to-snuff.
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Useability — consumers don’t just want to find where they are, they want to find the nearest location, locations along the way, locations with certain features such as diesel fuel at a gas station, hours of operation, printer friendly driving directions, single line address input that intelligently figures out a location with less than perfect address information. GPS downloads are now available on one of the best locators on the net, the ExxonMobil station locator.
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Kept up to date — is your information updated daily?
- Access – can your locator automatically change languages? If not, you are missing a large part of your customer base.
There are many more features and functions that seperate average locators from great locators. Find out who designs the best locators and hire them to do yours. Good locators are difficult to program. Bad ones are easy. A locator is necessary if you have multiple retail locations. Make sure your locator is an asset for your company.
