Are potential customers slipping through your fingers?
Consumers searching the Internet for product information will frequently spend only a couple of minutes looking at a particular website before moving on to another.
A solid website design, built to provide answers, will keep the customer around long enough to plant the hook and reel them in. A good website design starts with the basics: good web standards, a sensible structure, and scannability.
Standards.
One of the most common mistakes with web design is using web standards that confuse customers and therefore, decrease their overall satisfaction with your site.
For example, customers expect links to be blue and underlined, or at the very least, change colors when moused over. If they come across a word that is blue and underlined, but is not a link, they will be confused and, perhaps, frustrated. They are more likely to leave your website for one that works smoothly for them.
A few common web standards include:
1. Place company logo in the upper left corner of the page.
2. Change the color of visited links to help with navigation.
3. Place the account login and help information in the upper right corner of the page.
Structure.
The structure of the site needs to be catered to the customers' needs, and not to how the company organizes itself on the back end. For example, let's say you sell bubble gum. It may be logical for you to organize your gum in a certain color order for inventory, but on your site, your customers may be expecting the gum to be organized alphabetically by the name of the flavor, or from the lowest price to the highest.
Scannability.
Face it. In the end, customers just want the answers. They want to learn about a product, or know the easiest route to purchase a product they seek. They don't want to waste a lot of time reading every word, so they will quickly scan until they find the information they need.
Website creators need to recognize that if visitors cannot easily find the information they seek, they will just as quickly try another website.
There are many ways to make a Web page easier to scan:
First, use a font type and size that is easy to read. Many websites make the mistake of choosing a smaller font because the overall design is appealing. This may look nice, but when it comes to readability, it's a huge turnoff for even customers with perfect vision. Reading on a computer screen is just not as easy as in print, so allowances need to be made for this issue.
Second, break up the text. Longer paragraphs may be acceptable in print publications, but they make scanning on a computer screen difficult. Use short paragraphs, bold key words, and incorporate a tasteful use of bullet points that help customers get to the point fast.
Today's consumer, your potential customers, can choose from a seemingly limitless number of businesses competing online today. Make the choice easy for them with clear, concise web pages that quickly and obviously meet their needs and answer their questions.
