What 76% of Consumers Want from Your Website
One of the points SkyHawk Studios tries to bring home to our clients when we are hired to build their website, is the factor of consumer usability. The most important consideration when building a website is not the beauty of the design, nor the incorporating of a bunch of bells and whistles, flashing photos and such, but whether or not a potential customer can find the information they are seeking, quickly and easily. The main focus should be on your product and services.
What you want to ensure is that your website is attractive, clean, professional, and easy to navigate. We recognize that animation and flashy graphics are only valuable if they help your customers and clients find the information they want so that they can make a purchasing decision. Otherwise they can be a distraction. Here are some examples of sites we’ve created that are well designed, user friendly and attractive as well.
We subscribe to a great marketing blog called Hub Spot and just received this article which we thought we’d share with you. It parallels this factor of consumer usability.
“What Do 76% of Consumers Want From Your Website (new data)
I’m in the process of doing some research for the upcoming Science of Website Redesign webinar, and I just found one piece of data that was so interesting, I decided to blog about it right now.
76% of consumers say the most important factor in a website’s design is “the website makes it easy for me to find what I want.”
What does this mean for marketers?
- Don’t obsess over the visual design of your website
- Do obsess over the usability by your customers and prospects
- Don’t worry if you or the CEO think your website design does not look pretty
- Do worry about the conversion rate of your website (Are people finding what they need and completing their tasks?)
- Don’t use flash, heavy graphics, or tons of video
- Do use these things if it helps your customers get what they want from your website
- Don’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to design and layout
- Do use a basic layout that will be familiar to your customers
- Don’t differentiate with the design/functionality of your website
- Do differentiate your company by making it really easy for your customers to find what they want on your website
- Test, test, test! The only thing that matters is what your customers do on your website. Sit down with a potential customer, and watch them use your website. See if they can figure out how to get what they want; see if they can easily do the tasks you want your consumers to do. (e.g. “Show me how you would register for our free demo.”)“
