If you’re a small or medium-sized business owner helping on a client-facing side, or in the B2B space, maybe you have reservations about spending your hard-earned cash on making a beautiful website. Does it really matter what percentage of your brand colours show up on the home page? Do you actually need a team page? Do people even care where the “book a consultation” button goes on the page?
This isn’t old news – having a functional website that makes a lasting first impression has become necessary if you want to grow your business in 2022. But what is the difference between a website that is likely to convert and a website that makes customers shy away?
For most businesses, a website is essential for the business to collect payments, showcase their product suite, build credibility, become more visible, and so much more. Although the role of a well-designed website is actually much more than that.
There’s a big difference between a website that captures attention and captivates, compared to a website that just presents information. That difference plays a large role in consumers’ minds when they are first interacting with your brand and will help them bring your brand to the consideration stage when they are evaluating alternatives to solve their needs.
According to GE Capital Retail Bank Second Annual Major Purchase Shopper Study, 81% of users conduct online research before buying. So, being able to help answer your consumers’ questions about your product or service through an optimized website is crucial.
However, how can you use your website as a marketing tool to speak to your consumers, earn their trust, and make them fall in love with your product or service to fuel your business growth?
Keep reading for the best practices to look out for, with examples of how to implement them.
Focus on user experience
User experience refers to the feeling users experience when using a product, application, system, or service. It is a broad term that can cover anything from how well the user can navigate the product, how easy it is to use, how relevant the content displayed is, etc.
Even if there are service companies or product-based companies that believe their product or service is so good it could sell itself, the reality is that even if it is that good, all it takes is a bad user experience for them to lose a customer.
The reason why focusing on user experience is so important when constructing your website is because it sets the tone for what the interactions will be like with your brand. Especially if your website has a “book a consultation” or “buy now” button – it then becomes the first and last point of interaction before a sale.
It’s not uncommon that business owners try in-house marketing, or pour money into advertising only to question why their leads aren’t converting or they aren’t making sales.
It is more likely than not that the user experience of their site is only sub-par. Poor user experience drives almost 50% of users to go with competitors instead, according to Zendesk Customer Experience Trends 2020, which further proves that your website is one of your greatest marketing tools.
Here’s how we improved the user experience for a past client, ESG Competent Boards, the original and premier creator of online environment, social, governance (ESG) and Climate education programs for board directors and senior business professionals:
- Creating negative space to achieve a more modern feel by structuring a layout that helps the user’s eye follow the page better
- Narrowing down what messaging to use on the website so that the user does not get overwhelmed or wrongly navigated and fall off the page
- Organization of the site with a hamburger menu instead of a navigation menu creating more space and a more inviting option to scroll down the main landing page
- A site search bar and site map to easily navigate between the numerous pages on the site
- Testimonials embedded throughout the site to build trust and credibility, instead of on just one page
- Creation of an “All Programs” sub-menu to be able to easily navigate through which helps the user when they are in the comparison stage of the buyer’s journey
- A cleaner login page to make the process more streamlined
- Creation of a speakers page with a search function to induce more course sign-ups
- Migration to WordPress to ensure easier maintenance and uploading of new learning material internally
Be sure of your messaging
While you can see that small changes lead to big changes in the world of user experience, what seems like small differences also make a big impact in the world of branding and messaging.
A website, (alongside any other means of communication, such as social media, an email newsletter, and paid ads) becomes the perfect place to showcase your brand’s personality through brand messaging and design.
Brand messaging is an element of branding that helps change the way users perceive your brand. It allows you to position your brand in the minds of your target audience which helps them choose your product or service over your competitors.
The reason why your website is the ideal place to perfect your brand messaging is because people come to your site in the discovery or decision-making stage, and more often than not, they visit your site multiple times at both stages. If you have convincing website copy, you’re already persuading them that your brand can solve their needs. If this happens when they are just finding out about your brand, or when they are comparing your brand to your competitors it gives your brand a lot of leverage. If the copy is aligned with what your brand stands for and persuading enough, you can’t get inside the users’ heads to win them over to go with your brand.
To harness the power of brand messaging on your website, it’s best to develop an overall brand identity and implement its assets through a brand strategy. This will ensure that your branding is consistent throughout all of your marketing efforts, therefore making your user experience shine beyond your website.
Here’s how we changed the messaging on the website for ESG Competent Boards:
Don’t follow a cookie-cutter model, let your brand be itself
While focusing on your overall user experience and brand identity are key elements in making a website that captures attention and converts, there is no quick hack or one universal tip to guarantee that your website will attract qualified leads and convert them into paying customers.
Taking a holistic approach to optimizing your website takes time and a well-thought-out strategy. While some businesses may perform better with a simple website design and let their case studies shine, other businesses may yield better results with a modern design and good user experience providing a depth of information users can happily get buried in.
The trick to knowing how to optimize your website for business growth is knowing that all elements of your content marketing strategy, brand development strategy, paid and social media strategy, email marketing strategy, etc. are aligned with your core messaging you have on your website. Think of it as the digital home for your brand – your users must feel comfortable, heard and seen, and have great dialogue with your brand (i.e. get their questions answered).
Check out how we optimized the user experience, improved brand messaging and aligned the website with the current marketing strategy in this case study
