Christopher Derrell, head of web development at Adtelligent, is urging entrepreneurs to integrate websites into their sales strategies.

“When I say websites, I’m not just talking about the digital brochure that displays your services. When you think about a website like that, it’s very static, very unchanging way for a website to exist,” Derrell said.

A 2024 corporate website must be able to move potential customers through the complete sales funnel, Derrell emphasised.

He was speaking at the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) Digital Jamaica Summit & Showcase held recently at the Jamaica Pegasus.

Few MSMEs have a website

However, only 27.89 per cent of Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Jamaica have undertaken the development or updating of their corporate website in the last five years, based on a comprehensive survey of MSMEs across Jamaica conducted by the JBDC.

This means that a significant portion of businesses are without a modern, updated website optimised to channel potential customers to complete purchases.

Salesforce defines a sales funnel as: “A marketing term used to capture and describe the journey that potential customers go through, from prospecting to purchase.”

The sales funnel typically involves six stages. In the first three stages, the potential customer learns about your brand and engages with your offerings, while in the last three stages they are empowered to take action and finalise the transaction.

In the same way, Derrell says the 2024 website must encourage potential customers to take action.

“For every single brand out there, you have to ensure that your website serves every single customer. For the person who has never heard of you and stumbled across your website, your website has to teach them who you are. For the person who is interested, they have to know that you have the exact solution that you are looking for. For decision, there needs to be a way for them to commit. If your website doesn’t have a way for them to take action then there is nothing they can do,” Derrell explained.