We have long known that a strong website design supports your brand. But can you define and prove that there is a real-life, business case for good web design as it impacts business success?
Absolutely.
Investing in a well-designed website is no longer just about branding – it’s about survival. Winning in the marketplace is now directly correlated to how well your company can present itself online.
But don’t take my word for it – let’s look at the facts. There is quantitative evidence to support the claim.
The Bottom Line
The Design Value Index is a formula that compares design-led companies to other companies based on stock market performance. In other words, do businesses that put an emphasis on design fare any better on the bottom line?
In the past 10 years, design-driven companies outperformed the S&P 500 by 228%!
Companies that invested in metrics-drive design, better user experience, modern page and site structure, and eye-catching marketing campaigns saw a clear ROI.
The Trust Factor
Prospects today judge your brand by your website. It may not be fair, but it’s definitely the truth. If your site is disorganized, cluttered, or uses outdated colors and imagery, your first impression is tainted.
One study found that of all website elements affecting user trust, design was the highest influencing factor. Susan Weinschenk, founder of The Team W, put it this way:
“Design is the first filter — When participants in the study rejected a health website as not being trustworthy, 83% of their comments were related to design factors, such as an unfavorable first impression of the look and feel, poor navigation, color, text size and the name of the website.”
Your customers don’t just prefer a well-designed website, they demand it! Having a site that is user-friendly, contemporary and responsive are what most users consider to be standard.
How to Take Advantage
It’s clear that your site’s design is a big deal, and it plays a part in your company’s success. So how do you turn this to your favor?
Color Psychology
Color choice can have a massive impact on your audience’s potential for conversions. Take the time to invest in designers that leverage of color psychology when building your site.
By properly leveraging a modern color palette, you can subconsciously encourage positive customer behavior and move customers through your sales funnel by increasing urgency and highlighting the desired user flow.
User Experience (UX)
If your navigation has 30 subcategories and it’s impossible to find key information buried in your site, you can be sure that this is affecting your conversion rate.
Make sure the user flow is simple and instinctive. Feature prominent calls-to-action, and a clear unique value proposition within the first few seconds of landing on your website.
Don’t forget to measure the effectiveness of your user experience by continuously testing and optimizing your website. You’ll find your site will get higher conversion rates and decreased bounce rates with each phase of optimization.
Page Layout
Before you go downloading a one-size-fits-all WordPress template, take a moment to reflect on the following points:
- You have a unique selling proposition
- Your audience wants to feel like you are having a one on one dialog with them
- Your potential customer will be more engaged by a unique website experience
Your site should accentuate your content, not force your content to conform to a pre-established layout. A custom design will serves up content in a manner that is easy to digest, interesting, and informative. Your page layouts should improve the positioning of your content and highlight the problems your product or service can solve for the consumer.
Want to see an example of a design that had a major impact on business?