The Importance of Web Design
We all use websites every day. We typically think of a business website as a place to get into contact with a company, and see what products and services they offer. While this is one of the functions of a website, there is much more to an effective website. A great website gives your brand a persuasive voice that invites the user to become a part of your culture, while creating a pleasant user experience.
Your ideal customer just arrived at your website. Now what? What compels them to click the ‘buy now’ button? What stirs them to take action, call now, or even read the content on your site? Unfortunately for a lot of websites, nothing. You may have all the necessary information about your products and services, but lack the ability to draw customers in.
According to a study by Forrester, a well designed user interface can increase website conversion rates by up to 200%. To maintain a positive user experience, it is imperative that your website design is visually appealing, easy to read, and easy to navigate.
Common Web Design Mistakes & Solutions
Lack of Heirarchy
In order to communicate clearly, we must prioritize certain elements and information over others. Hierarchy can be established with color, size, and font choice. For example, if we use the same size font for every piece of text, it sends a message that all the information is equally important, and makes it hard for a user them to navigate the content. Strong and clear hierarchy will guide your client along a carefully paved path to place an order, get a quote, or call now, while still giving the user a feeling of control.
Unclear CTAs / Reduce Cognitive Load UX
An attractive web page with clear hierarchy makes navigation easy for the user, but this is worthless if the CTA (Call-to-Aaction) isn’t obvious. Your website should have clear and prominent CTAs that encourage visitors to take action. These buttons should be strategically placed on your site and use action-oriented language like, “Call now, Get a Quote, Add to Cart”
A great website doesn’t come with directions on how to use the site, it uses signifiers to guide the user through the site. A signifier is any perceivable indicator that communicates appropriate behavior to a person. This could be as subtle as a button changing color when you hover over it, or as obvious as the text on the button that says, “call now”.
(src: The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman pg. 14)
Too Much Content
It's important to provide high-quality, informative content that is relevant to your target audience and establishes your business as an authority in your industry. This includes text, images, and videos that provide value to visitors and establish your business as an authority in your industry. People don’t want filler content with industry jargon, they want useful and relatable content that helps them take the next step to improvement. A website with poor quality or irrelevant content is unlikely to attract and retain visitors.
All unnecessary Information should be removed from the site. The website should only have information that is valuable, relevant, and contributes to the desired result. It’s crucial to find the perfect balance between too much and too little information.
Users should have all the necessary information to take action and the ability to easily find the info they’re looking for. If your users have to spend too much time finding the information they need, they're likely to get frustrated and leave your site.
To avoid this, make sure your website is clear, concise, and easy to use. Visual Cues, like highlighting the current page or button hover animations, make actions predictable and give your client a feeling of comfort. They should always be able to predict what the result of pressing a button will be, and should never be unsure or anxious about what a specific action will cause.
(src: https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/ui-design/4-golden-rules-ui-design/)
Mobile Website Optimization
With more people using their mobile devices to access the internet, it's important to ensure that your website is fully optimized for mobile. A website that is difficult to use on a mobile device can lead to a poor user experience and result in lost business.
We often see websites with great design, but with a poor user experience for mobile users. Viewing that same website is a different story. Without optimizing your website for mobile use you will have cut-off text, images, and buttons, giving your customers no possible way to take action, and losing you potential clients.
Post Author:
Craig Bartlett
