It’s hard to find a new customer, but it’s even more challenging to keep the existing one. However, statistics show that focused efforts retain more value.
For example, according to SmallBizGenius, 82% of companies agree that customer retention is cheaper than acquisition. Otherwise, 65% of a company’s revenue comes from existing clients, and increasing the retention investment by just 5% gives profits a 25% to 95% profit. Great, right?
So what should you do to achieve such results?
One component that influences brand-client relationships is website design. This article will give you three design tricks that will encourage your customers to come back to your site more and more.
1. Rethink Your Web Structure
It’s hard to imagine a website visitor who would spend more than five minutes (usually much less) trying to figure out the navigation system for your website. If you have a complex, loaded site structure, you will not retain a customer.
Take Craigslist, for example. Its navigation is not easy to use, not to mention that it took more than 30 seconds to load when the average acceptable load time should not exceed 1.7 seconds:
Here’s what the proper navigation of the website thinks:
- Subordination should not go deeper than three levels.
- A website should include a maximum of eight horizontal categories.
- The structure should be symmetrical.
- There should not be too many settings on the menu.
Since we mentioned Craigslist, let ‘s take a look at its competitor AdPost, which has a better website structure:
Instead of listing all product categories on the front page, like Craigslist, AdPost has added them to the search menu, making the design easier to use and the navigation clearer.
2. Make Your Site Multilingual
If visitors are coming to your website from all over the world, you should not assume that they know English. A survey conducted by Weglot on consumer attitudes to shopping on international websites found some interesting findings:
- 52% of websites are in English, but English only reaches 25% of global users.
- 56% of visitors say that website information in their language is more important than price.
- 73% of customers say they prefer to shop on sites in their own language.
So, by locating your website in different languages, there is no doubt that customer retention will increase, especially taking into account the final stat.
To understand the proper practices of making a website multilingual, take a look at the examples of the best language learning apps. For example, Preply has a drop-down menu where you can select various language options, including Polish, Ukrainian, German and many more:
Translating your website into different languages will help the visitor better understand the value of your product. However, before investing in localization, make sure you study the data on customer behaviors to understand the languages spoken by your audience.
3. Invest in Custom Illustrations
Some companies do not bother to design their websites, especially when it comes to custom elements, such as videos. However, research has shown that the focus on branding in website design increases customer commitment and e-loyalty, as a result.
Moreover, in the world of billions of websites, you need something that will help your business stand out. And custom diagrams are among those features that add to the uniqueness of your site.
Take a quick look at Emiozaki’s website. Includes personalized illustrations and tablet-created animations that replace the navigation menu:
This website reflects the tone and style of the brand, and adds animation to the feeling of UX. Apart from that, it is also a great example of structuring a website.
Or, if you want an example of a less burdensome design, check out this personal portfolio by Victoire Douy. It also includes animation that adds interactivity to the design. For example, you can play with the shadow of the girl’s hand:
So, if you want your website to attract more customers and encourage them to relax for a longer period of time, take the creative approach. Hiring an illustrator is expensive, of course, but it will help your site stand out.
Wrap Up
As you can see, you will have to do a lot of work to develop a website design that increases customer retention online. All you have to do is use our three best practices. Let’s take them back quickly:
- Rethink the structure of your website; it should facilitate shipping.
- Consider making your site multilingual; you will retain more international visitors.
- Invest in custom illustrations to help consumers differentiate your brand from your competitors.
