The Following is a guest blog post by Erica Bell from Business.com
Designing a website may be as simple as registering for Wordpress or Blogger and setting up a site using a template. However, as consumers place themselves in the driver's seat more and more, businesses need to adapt their design strategies for this shift in consumer-business interaction. While businesses may have had more control in the past, customers now have a hold of the reins. A poor website design could cost your business more than you were banking on. Invest in a quality website designer or company that focuses on the human factor when designing. E-Commerce stores and businesses need to focus on the human factor when designing a website.
Boost Credibility
No one, web designer or consumer, wants to be faced with two pop-up ads and tons of ad space upon landing on a page. The human factor in web design means sitting down to determine how a human, not traffic, will experience the site. Ad space lowers your site and business credibility and almost no one is going to give their contact or credit card information to a site that looks "spammy". While calls to action and ads that point to other content on your website are okay, even too many of those can become damaging to the success of your site and business. People who visit your site want to find valuable content, products and services, not advertisements. By reducing the number of spam-looking content, you can boost your credibility.
Increase Usability
If a website isn't easy for a customer to use, it could end up being perceived negatively and driving the traffic you've worked hard to attract elsewhere. Not all visitors to your site will be tech savvy, so make sure your site will be easily usable by your audience. If it's a programming forum, that is a different story. But online stores and brick-and-mortar businesses with websites need to make sure their site usability isn't questionable. Test use on different browsers and mobile devices to make sure everything is running well from top to bottom and outsource to other departments within the company, friends, or family for input to make sure it's a manageable site. The usability of a site can and will impact the engagement and success your business sees online. Get feedback from other parts of your company and from customers to see how you can make things more user-friendly.
Maintain Continuity
Customers remember and value great website experiences. The companies that can deliver those experiences will be remembered and will reach and retain customers. Acquiring a new customer can cost up to 5 times more than retaining a current customer and a 2% increase in customer retention can have the same effect on profits as cutting costs by 10% (CMO Council). If you're running PPC or other paid campaigns, don't let your website be the downfall. Landing pages should serve as an extension of whatever channel brought the customer to your site so they don't end up confused and lost once they hit your page. Will the same person who clicked on an ad feel like they know where they are when they get to the next page? By taking into account the human factor, you can ensure greater continuity across your site and external channels.
Businesses have to understand the needs of their customers and why that customer is visiting their site. Focusing on the human factor with web design is taking into account the customer experience every time they land on your website. A website that focuses on the human factor will be a continuous experience that is user-friendly and boosts your business's credibility.
Author Bio: Erica Bell is a small business writer who focuses on topics such as customer experience and customer service call centers. She is a web content writer for Business.com.
A big thanks to Erica from the entire Blue Archer marketing team for contributing to our first guest post on our blog! If you are interested in guest blogging for us, please contact us today!
A big thanks to Erica from the entire Blue Archer marketing team for contributing to our first guest post on our blog! If you are interested in guest blogging for us, please contact us today!
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