Billboard To Nowhere: Why Farmers Should Have a Webstore Before a Website
At Barn2Door, we know that a Farmer’s Brand is critical to attracting new customers, driving brand loyalty, and capturing sales. That’s why we offer the software and services to build Farmers’ custom websites that make it easy for visitors to shop from your store. However, one of the most common questions we get asked is why doesn’t Barn2Door build the website before the Farm store?
Visitor’s #1 priority when visiting a website is to navigate to shop from your Farm. Therefore, if you don’t have a live online store, your Farm will miss out on sales. We often refer to this concept as a Billboard to Nowhere. Having a billboard in the middle of nowhere is equivalent to having a website without a store. A company wouldn’t spend money advertising their business in the middle of nowhere, just like how Farmers with websites that offer no clear direction to shop from your Farm will lose out on capturing orders.
Your Farm store is an asset that should be leveraged through all channels, especially email and social media. Without a live store, Farmers will be stuck manually accepting orders (through email, call, text, etc.), and website visitors won’t have the shopping experience they expect from your Farm. Additionally, when it comes to marketing your Farm on email, social media, and your website, sales conversion for your Farm is dramatically higher (up to 10x greater), when offering a point-and-click purchase experience versus a “manual inquiry” (send an email, or call/text me).
The good news is that you can get your Farm store up and running in a matter of days or weeks (including setting up your inventory, arranging fulfillment dates, and plugging in your prices) - depending on the complexity of your business. Barn2Door focuses on your Farm store first so you can begin selling and capturing orders as soon as possible.
In contrast, the process of building a custom Farm website involves writing copy, edits, design and navigation reviews, Farm photos adds and edits, etc. This process can take up to four weeks as our Designers solicit feedback and ensure that the website meets the Farmers’ expectations before it is published. For more information about Barn2Door’s Website Build Process, check out this blog:
Your Farm store is the foundation of having a thriving direct-to-market Farm business and meeting Buyers’ expectations of a convenient purchasing experience. So, just like companies who would not choose to advertise their businesses on a billboard in the middle of nowhere, Farmers don’t want a website without Farm store for Buyers to make a purchase.
At Barn2Door, we provide the software and the services to help Farmers grow and manage direct sales. If you’re curious how we can help your Farm increase sales, access more customers, and save time, watch this 5-minute video.