Can you put a price on good website design…
Today consumers have more choice than ever over where they shop online, and one great way to ensure that your website gets a bigger slice of the virtual pie is to make sure that it is designed well and provides a smooth user experience.
The benefits of good web design, or rather the perils of the lack of it, were illustrated in real terms this month by statistics from the West Country. According to the Bristol Post (http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Better-web-design-make-Bristol-shoppers-spend-259/story-20059548-detail/story.html), Bristol’s online economy could be boosted by as much as £259million by ‘websites that are easier to use’.
Citing research connected to the city’s World Usability Day event, which took place on 14th November, the newspaper says that 56% of online consumers won’t make a purchase from a website that has negative usability issues such as slow load times or navigation errors. The £259million figure appears to have been extrapolated from the total that Bristol is estimated to spend each year online – £462.7million according to the Post.
Good design, bad design
While the application of the statistics in this case might be a little tenuous, there can be little denying that usability can make or break a website. Web users have notoriously short attention spans and their patience can be easily exhausted – resulting in them departing your website in search of a smoother ride.
In addition to the actual frustrations and annoyance caused by bad web design and usability, poor web design also reflects negatively on your brand, and can mark your business out as amateurish or untrustworthy. People want to be able to use a website confidently before they make a purchase. This means that your website should be:
- Quick to load
- Easy to understand
- Intuitive to navigate
- Searchable
It should also be free from the following common issues:
- Links/ buttons that are difficult to click
- Pages with long unbroken passages of text
- Pop-ups, pop-unders and other annoyances
- Cluttered design
The thing to remember at all times is that if you want people to buy from you or investigate your services further, you should make it as easy as possible for them to use your website.
