Author: Ashish Roy
January 3rd, 2018
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A website, in its most basic form, is an opportunity for a company to communicate their offerings to potential customers. While that may sound simple, it is not inherently easy to create a successful site. Significant thought must be given to the design and usability of a site for customers to stay engaged. Based on a study published by Adobe, 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if they find the content and layout to be unattractive.
First and foremost, website design is essential for gaining and keeping customers.
We have all been there, right? Landed on a website where we are trying to find a particular piece of information or buy something. One study found that 86% of visitors want to view a company’s products and services once they have landed on a homepage. If a site is not designed to meet the visitor’s expectations, they will stop engaging with the website.
Secondly, a badly designed website will not function optimally. The design and development of a site will determine how fast page’s load, and when it comes to websites, the faster the better. An Adobe study found that 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if the images will not load. That is a significant loss of visitors if a site is poorly executed.
That is exactly the reason why website design is important. Bad website design loses customers.
So you want to know if you have a well-designed website or not? There are a few measures to consider when you evaluate the quality of your website design.
Superior navigation, fast loading pages, and reliability are a start when it comes to having a high-level of usability. Site visitors should not have to search too hard to find what they need on your site. They shouldn’t have to twiddle their thumbs while you page loads. If you want to get the most accurate measure on usability, ask your users through a site survey.
Websites style should be in alignment with the company’s branding and marketing strategy. A website is a chance for a company to communicate with their customers. During the design process, it is a good idea to ask, “what solutions can we provide for our customers through our website?” Here are a few question to ask when evaluation the aesthetics of your site.
Your website design is only as good as visitor’s ability to find it. Make sure your site is constructed in a way that maximizes search engine optimization. This will start and end at the code level, so make sure developers take part in this evaluation. Ask your developer is there is any superfluous code that could be eliminated. Code should be streamlined and clean. Also ask if there are keywords are maximized in the titles, heading and meta descriptions. This helps the search engine to locate the keywords associated with your business.
There is a fine balance between too much and too little content. You don’t want to overwhelm site visitors but you also want to give them the information they need. Ask yourself if all of the content included is relevant, cut what is not. Evaluate if the content flows in a logical, easy-to-understand way. As mentioned earlier in the article, 38% of users will stop engaging with an article if they find the content to be unattractive. It is very important to the success of the site to have content that is engaging, interesting, and relevant to the users.
Design is the basis for how visitors judge your site. In fact, a study found that first impressions are 94% design-related, meaning a huge level of importance is placed on customers first-time visit to your site. With a great first impression, you can expect to see more users engaging with your site.
A good website design decreases the visitor’s time to find the information they are looking to gain from the site. Website design should keep the buyer persona and buyer journey in mind to make the process as smooth as possible. A convenient experience is more likely to earn the business repeat customers.
By having a successful website design, more traffic will be generated. Subsequently, data points such as where they live, what they are buying and which pages they are visiting will be available through website analytics. This is valuable information that can be used to leverage effective marketing strategies to boost the company’s overall performance.
If a site is well-designed, contact information will be easy to for the customer to find. 51% of people think “thorough contact information” is the most important element missing from company websites. Being that 60% of small business websites do not have a telephone number on their site, this information can give a company a competitive advantage against other sites.
All in all, website design should be a paramount priority for companies who intent to do business online. There are numerous benefits for those that take the time to research and define a design strategy that reflects positively on the company’s overall mission and strategy.
Are you looking for affordable website design services for your business? Are you in a need of a complete makeover of your business website? If yes then Cibirix can help you out. Contact us today for a free consultation.
Since founding Cibirix, Ashish has leveraged his marketing degree to lead the agency in crafting meaningful digital marketing experiences for clients. His results-driven approach is a unique mix of analytical thinking, crisp visual aesthetics and a desire to simplify frontends while developing robust architecture. With a passion for design, technology, & marketing, He leads each aspect of the agency’s business and oversees its talented team of digital professionals.
