In many ways, a website is your business’s new storefront. With everything becoming digital and the pandemic limiting travel, this is where the action happens. However, that also means that your website should give customers everything they need.
By now, 30 million or 65% of small businesses in the US have a website, not counting all the big companies. That is a lot of competition and makes standing out in the market more important.
You need to make sure your website offers everything to your customers to entice them. Here are some of the essential website design elements you cannot do without to stand out.
Most Important Website Design Elements to Add
Call to Action Button
Picture this. You manage to get a customer to your website and show what you have to offer. They don’t just like it, they love it. They want to buy your product and avail of services, but then what?
The point of a website is to guide your customer through every step. If you lose their interest at any part, it can mean losing a sale. Even towards the end, you need to make sure you can push that desire into action. Without it, it will leave their excitement unanswered. That is why you need a Call to Action Button.
You see these all the time, to buy button for a product or book a consultation. It is the final step in the process and the most important. Whether or not the customer wants to go through with the process will determine whether or not your product interests them.
When placing a call to action button, you put them in a convenient area where your customers find them, and the placement should correspond with what you want them to do.
For example, it should be close to the essential information and description when selling a product. On the other hand, if you pitch something to your customer, the button should be at the bottom when the pitch ends.
When placing the button, it can also be an opportunity to give promotions. For example, you can say, “buy this and get x for free” or “hurry as there is only a limited number of slots.” This gives them some extra incentive to push the but
Information Accessibility
As the new storefront, your website, you’ll have a lot of information to present to your customers and investors. They will want to know who you are and what products you offer, including all the information that should be readily available on your website.
They will want to know the price, availability, and ingredients for every product. That is not to mention having a brief description. If you have a service, you should let your customers know what you will do to them.
Aside from the product, there is other essential information that you need to add. Things like your company history and values will also be an important addition. Next to that, there should be technical information like store locations and how to contact you.
However, you should ensure that you do that without leaving your website looking cluttered. All this information will be necessary, but not all customers will need it immediately. You should also arrange your website to allow people to go where they want and find it quickly.
If a customer wants to just look at a particular product, they should be able to find it. Meanwhile, if they’re going to go to customer service, they shouldn’t have to go shopping just to see that.
Combined Media
The beauty of the internet is that you have in a catalog or book words and pictures. However, you can use whatever you want, images, text, videos, and voice lines with the internet. They can create a memorable customer experience.
Combining media is an essential website design element. It isn’t just about placing everything on the page and calling it a day. You have to keep in mind many aspects when creating your website page.
Often, people treat the internet as just an extension of a book and put too much text, which is a mistake. If a customer goes into your website and sees a wall of text, they will click away. A website page should not be a news article and shouldn’t be full of text.
On the other hand, if there are too many videos, it can distract your customer from looking at different parts. When you have too many pictures, it can make reading more difficult as they can break up the text.
Aside from balance, it is also important to consider placement. You can’t just throw these different elements in haphazardly, and there has to be organized by placing each piece where they serve best. Pictures can emphasize descriptions and ideas of the text, while videos can be an excellent way to sum up.
Branding
The website doesn’t just reflect your products but also your company. When people look at your website, they should understand that this is precisely your brand by looking at it. There are hundreds of website templates online to begin creating your website, many of which contain the website design elements we talk about.
While these can be a great place to start, you should continue to build off from there. If you make your website as generic as this, there is nothing that will hook your customers. They might buy from you or avail of your services once, but nothing pulls them back.
Branding allows your customers to recognize who you are and applies here, just like real life.
The first and most important way to implement website design elements is by placing your brand on the website. Make sure the logo is visible somewhere, and try to adapt your color scheme to your website.
Many large and small businesses have a page explaining who they are. In the about us section, you can define your business and offer to customers. Be sure to make it sound like you are offering solutions rather than trying to sell something. Aside from that, you can talk about your values and what you want from the company.
Saying it is one thing, but applying it to your content is another. When creating content, it must reflect the values you set for yourself. Customers are pretty intuitive to things like that, so be careful.
If you value hospitality, make sure the customers feel welcome. If you love quality, talk about how you maintain it in your products.
Interactive Tools
Another website design element that you need to consider is interactive tools. With the internet, people are used to having easy access to all the information they need, and you need to ensure that. If information is too difficult to come by, people might turn away. That means for your website, and you have to make it as easy as possible.
One way you can do that is with interactive tools. As the name suggests, these tools work by allowing your users to access them and find the content they want.
They don’t even need to be overcomplicated AI or anything, something as simple as a drop-down menu can make a difference. A drop-down menu allows your users to pick and choose whatever articles they want to view.
Other tools can be picture views which can let you zoom in and rotate around a product. While a small innovation, it is something users appreciate as it allows them to feel as if they are really in a store.
Mobile Usability
When creating a website, you have to remember that your customer will be using them on more than one device, and your website design elements should reflect that. With smartphones becoming more common, people do more with their phones than before.
Almost 80% of smartphone owners are willing to use them to buy products, which is not a market you want to miss. So your website needs to function as well on a phone as it does on the computer.
That is why you see many websites have a mobile option. It allows them to run faster though displaying less content, making it easier for the customer to not worry about a bad experience.
However, it requires adjustments for your software to offer this mode.
Summary
In the end, a website is just the next step in making a sale. From talking to and explaining to your customer, you can now just lay everything you want to know, and you can give them all the information, whether factual or moral, in the best way possible.
There are plenty of ways to do this and many factors to consider when setting it up. While it might be difficult, the reward is undeniable, and it can even be better than talking to them in real life. However, more than just educating them, implementing good website design elements also provides them with an experience.
In the right hands, it can help build brand loyalty. You can show them what your business is all about in just a few minutes. If they like what they see, it can keep your customers coming back.
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