In my last post, I discussed two features of website design that can help improve website sales – that is, the sales that are generated exclusively by your website. Your website has a distinct advantage over your sales staff, if only because it can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For routine purchases, your website might be your best sales agent, so it makes sense to outfit your website with the tools it needs to close as many website sales as possible. While this might seem threatening to your sales staff, it actually frees them up to spend more time with new prospects, and close more complicated (and potentially more
lucrative) deals.
Website sales: what else does your website need to succeed?
In the last post, I discussed the importance of crisp, clear navigation, and the importance of taking a uniform approach to your website fonts. Customers ultimately want to get to where they’re going, so the easier your site is to look at and navigate, the more likely you are to be rewarded with increased website sales.
Speed is another crucial design element that can boost website sales. When your website loads quickly, your customers are less likely to abandon the site. Avoid things that slow your site down, like Flash. Flash can do a lot of cool things, but from the customer’s perspective, it’s not worth waiting for. Image-intensive sites can also be slow, so be sure that any images you use strike the right balance between performance and quality.
Using a single style sheet and limiting your color palette for your website can also improve website performance. If you use your business to generate website sales, be sensitive to design features that can positively (or negatively) impact your visitors’ experience. When in doubt, err on the side of caution and choose those features that improve website performance.
Part of being sensitive to your customers is limiting the amount of scrolling they have to do. Put the most important things at or near the top of a web page. “Important things” include navigation buttons and links, search tools, social media buttons and other similar features. You can put information below the browser’s visible window; just make sure it’s not what the visitor is most likely to be looking for.
Plan to test and adjust any new website designs or features before you add them to the production website. Changes that aren’t well planned have a better chance of damaging website sales than they do of improving them, so it makes sense to know what the impact of a change will be. Use focus groups or website testers to get feedback on planned changes, and announce planned changes ahead of time, particularly if you run a secure website.
If you would like more information about how website design can support or sabotage your website sales, please contact our Creative Director, Dave Ramsell or give Dave a call at (330) 243-0651 to set up a consultation.
Photo Credit: Protect, via FreeImages.com
