Why website design matters for your business

You can’t judge a book by its cover, right?

Wrong.

This might sound harsh, but everyone judges books by their covers all the time. It’s the reason why so many people love to browse bookstores and libraries and pull whatever catches their eye off the shelf. Sure, it may not pay off, but it’s the first impression that gets their foot in the door.

The exact same can be said for many other things with a visual appeal, including websites.

Did you know that it only takes a website visitor 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about a website? That’s according to 99Firms.

Sure, content matters, but nobody reads that fast. Here, we’re talking about design and why it matters for your business.

Stats prove users care about website design

Other stats from Hubspot only drive home the point that users care about design even further:

• Half of all users from a 2021 survey believed website design is crucial to a business’s overall brand.
• From that same survey, 42 percent of people will leave a website if it functions poorly.
• 38 percent percent of users will look at a web page’s layout or navigation – and leave if either is too confusing.

Think about those three simple stats for a moment. Anywhere from just under 40 percent to 50 percent of users have very strong feelings about website design.

Now, imagine for a second that those users who had a negative experience with your website’s navigation or were turned off by poor functionality were lost customers. That’s actually a perfectly realistic scenario if your website suffers from poor design.

You could literally be losing customers over a web design that’s sorely in need of an overhaul or update.

Web design is an all-encompassing term for many elements

What are we talking about when we use the term, “web design”? Honestly, a lot.

Web design is a broad term that covers everything from brand images like logos, photos, fonts, colors and the layout of each webpage. But it also includes more of the user experience and functionality side, such as links, navigation, menus, how content is presented and broken up throughout the page. Even things as small as page scroll speed and load times are all part of web design.

And truth be told, your business’s website needs to excel in all of these areas to be the best experience possible for new visitors looking at your website for the first time and also for repeat customers who come back again and again.

A business’s website should convey a strong brand image

Every visitor should have a nearly immediate sense of what type of brand image you are trying to convey as soon as they visit your website. Remember that stat from before – about how it only takes web visitors 0.05 seconds to form an opinion about a website.

That’s not a lot of time, right?

How you present your brand image is going to go a long way – or as long as you can in that short span of time – in trying to have a positive influence on those website visitors.

Today, a business’s website should be reflective of what your brand stands for – your mission, vision, goals and purpose. Visually, that’s implied through colors, fonts, images, logos and everything else that builds an identity for your brand.

When evaluating a current web design or planning a new, updated look, you want all of these elements to carry consistent themes. If they don’t, you risk turning off potential customers.

After all, according to Zippia, 85 percent of customers check out and research a business online before making a purchase. Even 76 percent of those potential customers who would rather visit your physical store will look up your website first.

Social media isn’t what it used to be

Let’s be honest for a moment. The world of social media is changing at an incredibly rapid pace – and not always for the better.

How often can you think of an experience on a major social media network that made you close the website or app? For many of us, the response is, “Um, which experience would you like to hear about?”

Like it or not, social media isn’t as reliable as it was back in the good old days. Social platforms simply aren’t home to as many of the positive experiences that excited us and that we came to expect from them. On top of that, the platforms’ algorithms and priorities change, meaning your business has to shift its social strategies along with them.

We’re not arguing against having a presence on social media. That’s a must-have for any business.

However, the difference is that you can control, own, invest and scale your website, whereas your ability to do any of those things on a social media platform is zero or close to it at times.

Good web design builds trust

When you can own your website and deliver a consistent presentation of your brand, you start to build trust among your audience.

This is where navigation and the messaging in your content comes into play. If you can suggest to your audience in your copy that you have a product or service that is the solution to one or multiple pain points – and then clearly show them where they need to go on your website to learn more or buy – then you’re golden.

Over time, you’re going to build an audience that trusts you and will likely come back for more.

Good website design can do so much more for your business

We have only just scratched the surface of what a well-designed website can accomplish for a business.

In conclusion, your business’s website delivers a first impression that aligns with your brand identity in a manner that you can control and have complete ownership over.

All the elements that go into creating that design? That’s what we do here at Emagine.

Our team of expert designers and marketers can help you get your foot in the door with potential customers and drive real results through your website.

All you have to do is reach out for a free consultation. We can’t wait to hear from you.