Think about how you choose a local business for your needs – if they’re listed on a Google search, you think – yeah, they seem legit...look like they can be trusted; I wonder if they are still in business though...You then check if they have a website – they don’t. Chances are you will find someone else.

48% of customers will stop considering a business if it doesn’t have a website
- Telstra Small Business Intelligence Report 2018

This statistic from the Telstra Small Business Intelligence Report is pretty powerful stuff.  It gives a very blunt message that businesses will get a bite at almost half of customers if they have a website. 

The three reasons behind this is because when a business has a website, customers feel like that business is:

1) Legitimate 

2) Credible

3) In-business

It does require a change in thinking.  That is hard.  Especially if your pharmacy has survived on word-of-mouth, yellowpages, whitepages and local advertising such as the local rag.  The hard truth is that customers have moved on from those forms of advertising.  They rely on their social networks and they turn to Google for their information.  Google and Facebook/Instagram have created high levels of trust with users.  They're reliable and convenient.  In pharmacy we know - convenience is numero uno!  

When your pharmacy has a website, you make it convenient for your customers to view the information they need.  Your website feeds information into Google, who then match it with the customer's search terms.  Do that and you're in business, you will sit in the slipstream of Google's legitimacy and will be perceived as credible.  The consequences of not doing that are pretty dire.  

Another thought barrier is just knowing where to start and what to do - something covered in our other blogs and I'd encourage you to have a look. We've had a heap of pharmacy owners admit that it's been in their 'too hard basket' for too long: paralysed on how to get it done. 

When you do the sums about websites and customer generation it becomes a pretty easy decision:

Imagine that your website brings you two new customers every day because of your content and layout.  (We cover why this is important in another blog).  If those two customers spend $10 gross profit in your pharmacy you will make minimum $7300 gross profit dollars per year extra.  

Three simple reasons a website is a must for small businesses like pharmacies