If there’s one fact every business owner has learned the hard way, it’s that it’s far easier and more profitable to retain a customer than it is to win back an unhappy customer. This hard reality also applies to the importance of good website design.
Bad Design Costs More Than Good Design
Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover CEO, once said that anyone who thought good design was expensive should take a look at the cost of bad design. Design matters, whether you’re talking about a Land Rover or your website.
In a recent survey, almost half (48%) reported that website design is the number one factor they used to determine the credibility of the business. Why? Bad web design has the same affect on people as dirty, unappealing brick-and-mortar stores. Bad first impressions drive people away and cost you money. Unhappy customers and turned-off website visitors both have a negative opinion of your business that will be very difficult to turn around. Great web design builds trust.
Great Design Sells
A ten year UK study of companies trading on the Financial Times Stock Exchange discovered that an emphasis on good design really paid off. Those companies who prioritized design outperformed the FTSE index by 200%.
Great Design Builds Your Brand
Design is important in all parts of your website, both features the visitor sees and uses and behind-the-scene technical aspects. Satisfied visitors = increased leads and sales.
Michael Bierut, famous graphic designer and critic, summed up great design as “Simplicity, wit, and good typography.”
- Navigation must be easy and intuitive.
- The website must load quickly. Every extra second means more potential visitors hit the back button and click on your competitor’s site.
- Videos are important, but be selective. One well-designed professional-grade video is far more productive than multiple badly done videos.
- No one likes boring. Web design trends for 2019 include futuristic color palettes such as orange and purple (used in some Spotify ads), abstract designs, two-tone light and dark contrasts and hand-drawn illustrations.
- Bold fonts draw attention and are easy to read on mobile devices.
- Avoid fonts that are too small or hard to read.
- Get rid of website clutter. Clean up your layout.
- It’s been said countless times, but less is definitely more.
- Humor works. People watch and remember all the Geico Gecko commercials and their zany Hump-day camel. Check out the top 10 videos of 2018. Most were funny.
Great Design Helps You Maintain Brand Consistency
The Japanese understand brand consistency. The five oldest companies in the world are Japanese, with the oldest being a construction company established in 578 AD. An unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction and excellence ensured their survival through wars and countless disasters. Meeting and surpassing their customers’ expectations was – and is – always their top priority. Their brands have been consistent for centuries, long before “branding” was recognized.
Brand consistency is equally important for today’s businesses. Everyone recognizes the logos of Coca-Cola, AT&T and IBM. Businesses change direction over the years. New products are added while others are eliminated. Services change as needed. What should remain consistent to consumers is your brand.
Good design helps you maintain a consistent public image. You’ll find that using a style guide is invaluable in projecting a uniform image throughout your websites, social media platforms, printed materials and elsewhere. At BXP Creative, we focus heavily on branding services.
The Right Design Attracts the Right People
One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is not fine-tuning their design to appeal to their primary market. If the design doesn’t captivate your preferred demographic, the webpage will be abandoned, the content won’t be read, leads won’t be generated.
Great design communicates with the exact people you’re trying to reach. The strength of the design plays a significant factor in the success or failure of a sales campaign. Prospects must be captivated sufficiently to enter the sales funnel.
BXP Creative will supercharge your creative department. Our team can handle the project from start to finish or collaborate with your in-house people. Got a tight deadline? We thrive on achieving the impossible.
We offer a wide range of services to our clients, including design, marketing, production, lead generation and digital services. Check out our work samples and case studies.
How can we help you? Let’s connect today.
