The design of your website could make or break your business. The fact that you have only eight seconds at the most to capture and maintain your audience’s attention may seem daunting. But, it’s actually easier than you think when you remember that the customer WANTS to find what they need on your website. They clicked on you because you offer something they are looking for. So, there is really no reason why you should lose them, provided you avoid the following five common web design mistakes:
1. Visual Overload
You may be tempted to choose a lot of different images and fonts, and perhaps overdo the multimedia a bit. All this does is create a lot of distraction and confusion. The customer wants to find what they need within seconds and hopefully make a purchase. A visually busy website does not make this easy for them. Simplify your look and keep it clean and understated, with the emphasis on customer experience.
2. Complicated Navigation
Once again, you always need to keep things simple. Your navigation must be obvious and intuitive if you want to retain customers. Keep your navigation bar visible and accessible, and enable clickthrough between all of your pages. Difficult navigation will annoy the customer and not only lose you a sale, but may also even earn your website a reputation of being hard to use, which will keep customers away in droves.
3. Slow Load Time
In the age of high-speed wireless connection, there should be no reason for a client to sit and wait for a site to load. If your site takes too long, people are not going to forgive you for it. Reduce your loading time by cutting down on the number of elements on your pages, especially where multimedia is concerned.
4. No Call to Action
You’re not just offering information, you want to make sales. In order to do this, you need to make sure that you always put out a call to action – somewhere the customer can click to know more or get more, or place an order right away. Also, never forget to include comprehensive and easily accessible contact options so people can make further enquiries.
5. Inconsistent Interface
This is a mistake that often comes from being too concerned with the look of a site or a simple lack of experience in the world of web design. Don’t let this happen. Instead of focusing on being creative, concentrate on building a simple and powerful customer experience.
WSI OMS is a well-established expert in web design. Contact us for help to create a killer, customer experience-focused website.