Does your website have what it takes to impress your users and convert them into leads? If your website has been underperforming lately, its outdated design may be to blame. Here’s why good website design is valuable to your company’s reputation and bottom line.
Make a Good First Impression
How important is good website design? It takes users less than one second to form their first impression about a website. When users make a decision that fast, they are using two metrics to assess your website: its load speed and its graphic design.
So, what happens if your site is unattractive or its navigation is confusing? Studies show that more than a third of users will abandon your site altogether and take their business to a competitor. What’s more, a Stanford University study found that 75 percent of users judge a company’s credibility by its website’s visual design alone. That means your outdated website may be actively hurting your company’s reputation and bottom line.
Okay—enough doom and gloom. How can you use good website design to impress users? Beautiful imagery, graphics, and font styles certainly help engage visitors to your site, especially when these elements work together to create a coherent brand. Simple and intuitive site navigation and page layout can keep users engaged and active on your website, too. Clear, compelling calls to action help you users understand what their next step is, whether it’s shopping your online store, signing up for your newsletter, or requesting a quote. The Origin Smart Marketing Solutionistas make these elements our priority when they design your new website.
Provide an Exceptional User Experience
Another value of good website design is an exceptional user experience. User experience or UX is a huge focus of website design. Simple navigation and ease of use are the goals. We help our clients think through how their prospects and customers will use their website and design a navigation structure that serves those goals. We like to think of your website as your best customer service representative. It should be easy to communicate with, friendly, and able to answer a users’ questions or solve their problems.
Build Trust with Leads
That Stanford study about design and credibility really drives home how important design is to building trust with potential leads. Whether or not you intend it to, your website sets the tone for how you do business. If your website is outdated or clunky, users will assume that’s how you do business. But if your site is clear, concise, engaging, and easy to navigate, your users will start to trust you. And greater trust leads to greater lead conversion.
Keep Branding Consistent and Coherent
One way to improve trust with your users is to make sure that your branding stays consistent across all of your marketing channels, both digital and print. Your brand is your company’s identity. It shows users who are searching for you that they are in the right place and working with the right company.
If you’ve updated your branding on your print materials and those updates haven’t made it to your website or social accounts yet (or vice versa), it’s time to align your marketing assets. Otherwise, you may be turning off your next big client. The Origin Smart Marketing Solutionistas love to help our clients make an outstanding impression with good website design. If it’s time to update your website or start a new site from scratch, get in touch with our talented creative team today.
