The purpose of a website is to reach new customers and keep existing ones engaged. Therefore, customer first should be at the top of your list for design considerations. After all, without your clients, your business will not grow or succeed.
Customer first has been a buzzword for a few years now. In short, it is easy to imagine what customer first design means. Consumer needs come before anything else. However, the concept is not so simple in practice. Many nuances go into the equation.
What does web design mean to having your first customer? What must they have in order to reach users at their own level and keep their attention for the long term?
Embracing quality customer experiences has fueled driver loyalty for as long as anyone can remember. However, we now live in a time of uncertainty, and when people leave companies if they are dissatisfied with any aspect at least. So you need to hit the high notes on every song – your website is your purest online persona and it needs to engage and entertain users.
Whether you embrace causes that are important to your customers and share information about them or change your design to meet accessibility guidelines, many factors come into play with customer-centered design.
In a recent report, researchers found that about 88% of company leaders feel that customer engagement impacts revenue. You can’t control every variable, but you can make sure that your website hits all the strong points of web design for the first customer that grabs them and keeps them on your page.
Here are our top tips for creating a customer-first approach. You may already be doing some of these things. Pick and choose what makes the most sense for your business model. Even small changes can have a big impact.
1. Know Your Customers
Before creating a website focused on the needs of your customers, you need to know who they are. What are the demographics of your typical clients? Survey them and find out what their needs and expectations are. How best to help them?
You might want to survey them about your website. What is missing that could help them? Is there anything they love? What do they hate? The more you know, the better your design can match their expectations. Create buyer personas based on their preferences.
At the same time, sometimes buyers will say one thing but feel another way. No one is quite sure why people do this when taking a survey. One way around that question is to do some A/B testing to see how they feel about different changes. Do they respond as you thought? What other adjustments need to be made?
2. Find the Right Color Palette
Different industries trend towards different colors. For example, businesses in the banking industry tend towards blues and sometimes reds. Blue gains trust from users and has a calming effect. On the other hand, the fashion industry could benefit from brighter colors, such as lime green. Think about the colors that people in your industry expect, and then find your color palette.
Each color has an emotional impact. For example, red is a power color and can evoke excitement in the audience. Choose your shades accordingly to get the most emotional punch possible.
3. Accept Feedback
One of the best ways to improve your site over time to meet the needs and preferences of your audience is by allowing feedback. Add reviews, add a feedback form in your footer, and even send feedback requests to your mailing list.
It is also a good idea to find a mentor who has run a successful business. Ask them to look at your site and give you advice. You can also seek help from a marketing professional.
4. Stick With The Familiar
Have you heard of Jacob’s Law? The general rule of thumb is that people prefer familiar design patterns that they are familiar with. So when they see a familiar pattern, such as the layout of the navigation bar, it boosts their mood and improves their memory of the site.
When making changes, do not make any significant changes. Instead, implement minor adjustments over time to give your followers a chance to adjust to the change.
5. Cut the Clutter
If you want users to feel and engage with your page, you have to limit their options. Introduce too many options, and they may not know where to go first.
Start by choosing a purpose for the page. Cut anything that doesn’t point the user towards the target. Ideally, you would have some information, an image and a call to action (CTA) button. However, this can vary depending on where your buyer is in the sales funnel and how much information they need to make a decision to go from browser to customer.
6. Select Mobile Friendly
Recent reports suggest that around 90% of people sometimes use mobile devices to go online. As phones get more capable and 5G brings faster speeds to communities, expect people to use their mobile devices more often for internet browsing.
Making sure your site translates well on smaller screens will make sense for your company and your customers. Be sure to test everything. Click through each link. Fill in forms. Make sure images and text automatically fit to the correct size, so people don’t have to scroll endlessly.
7. Make Multiple Landing Pages
Like most businesses, you likely have many buyer personas when segmenting your audience. Don’t just create a home page and expect it to serve every reader’s purpose. Instead, create unique pages for each persona to best meet their needs.
Make sure each landing page speaks in natural language patterns to your specific audience. Consider the unique needs of each group. How do their pain points differ? How can you best meet their needs?
8. Keep Important Information Above the Fold
People are busy. They work, they have families, and they can visit your site on their 15 minute break in the evening. Most consumers want the information they need to make a decision and don’t want to deal with other things.
Place the headlines and essential information they want above the fold, so they see it first. Make it as readable as possible by using headings and sub-headings. Enter a few bullet points. People also absorb information more easily in a video format, so add a video that highlights the key benefits of your product or service.
You should also place a CTA button above the fold if it makes sense for your overall design. Keep in mind that people may have already visited and read some of the information. Some users return just to register and want to find the CTA quickly.
Step Into Your Customers’ Shoes
See your site through the eyes of your audience. What works well? What needs to be adjusted? Over time, you’ll develop a customer-first web design that speaks to those most likely to buy from you. Then, keep making changes and tweaking your site until it finds the perfect balance for your customers.
Image featured via Freepik.
