Last time we looked at how your website’s design elements can have an impact on your visitors, and the changes that can be made to increase a site’s traffic and encourage more sales – whether that’s through maintaining brand consistency and knowing how to present your content, or embracing responsive mobile design and targeting a specific audience.
Let’s take a look at five more actions you could take to refine your site’s design and increase your traffic – and increase your sales too!
Did you miss part 1? Don’t worry check out the other 5 tips here.
6. Browsing experience
Less is more. Designing and providing a perfect online shopping experience is crucial to the interests of your customers, and giving your customer the option of a quick checkout process can increase your sales significantly. Your customers enjoy filling out long unnecessary forms just as much as you do – when all you or they really want is to get the product or service as quickly as possible. Having your website load faster also creates a great first impression and encourages more traffic and sales, which is a joint effort between good design and fast web hosting behind the scenes.
When designing for ecommerce, stay away from loading bars and unnecessary motion effects which could take up load time. As much as they might make your website look interesting, some visitors may not have the time to wait around for a cool loading bar or motion graphics to finish moving around the screen before they can use your site to find the information, products or services they came for.
7. Say no to stock images
The era of stock images is over. Customers have seen enough cheesy stock photography of business people and board meetings to last them a lifetime, and it’s often enough to turn them off a website from the start. Using bespoke, eye-catching photography of your own products, models or team members is much more effective in establishing trust through your content and increasing your sales. It’s more authentic, there’s more heart in it, and it’s a highly effective way to make your company and your brand more human and relatable to your audience.
8. Detailed product information and trust markers
A well-designed product page gives your customers all the information they need about your product or service to move the sale forward. If you sell products then you’ll want to use high-quality photos of your product range, as well as 360° rotating images – and don’t forget about the importance of clearly displayed customer testimonials to help make the case for what you sell.
You’ll also want to use high-quality trust markers on your site, which give your customers the confidence to trust you with their important financial information when they buy from you at the checkout. Trust markers include Feefo’s gold Trusted Merchant badge, the Google Certified Shop badge and any seals which demonstrate that you’re a certified retailer of your product or service.
9. Apply the sales process in every element of your design
Your customers buy from you when your conviction outweighs their uncertainty. Above all, they become sold on you when you make your expertise clear to see, because you understand the problem they face and you have the solution. Every visual element of your website needs to convey the idea that your brand knows what it’s about, and that it exists to help people solve their problems. It isn’t enough to state explicitly in your written content that you can solve someone’s problem – not if that message is drowning in so much poor design that your customer doesn’t read it. Every element of your website needs to be designed to point towards that one end goal: attracting your customer, and solving their problem.
10. Keep your design up to date
Underestimating the importance of updating and redesigning your website over time is one of the biggest hurdles for online businesses, which can seriously hinder sales. These days people are likely to look up your online presence before they visit your shop or even consider buying your products or services online. If their first impression is one of an outdated website then they’re highly likely to click away to find your competition instead – and with years or even an entire lifetime of experience online, customers can decide very quickly whether a website is up to date.
The best way to keep your website up to date is to treat the task almost like an ongoing insurance policy, which is designed to guarantee you sales. Web design trends change constantly, so it could be worth investing in a monthly development plan, like the plans we offer at Nublue, to give you several hours of expert development time each month. This approach keeps your site’s design and functionality consistently up to date with changing trends, delivering fresh design and development regularly to increase your sales online.
Check out Nublue’s blog for more expert advice on web design, development and hosting for your business – or click here to find out what they do for brands including The Jewel Hut, Lowe Alpine, Glendale and Soak & Sleep.
