You never get a second chance to make a first impression, especially with your business’ website. If someone has a bad experience with your website, it could drive them away permanently.
A recent consumer survey reveals the 3 website features people find most useful are:
- Easy, intuitive navigation
- Visuals and descriptions of products
- Updated, attractive design
With these features, businesses can set themselves apart in a crowded field.
1. Easy, Intuitive Navigation Tools
No one likes a website that feels like a maze. In fact, almost everyone who visits 5 or more websites a day agrees that easy navigation is a useful website feature.
Confusing toolbars and dysfunctional search features can lead website users to the wrong content and make it harder for them to return to the homepage. Bad navigation makes for frustrated visitors, and frustrated visitors are more likely to search for content they need somewhere else
Quality navigation features are even more important on mobile. Almost half of people browse primarily on a mobile device, usually with a specific search intent. Smaller screens mean limited space for website users to find what they’re looking for.
If you think your navigation features could use an upgrade, run some quality assurance tests to determine which elements need to be fixed.
Once you identify the problem, you can begin working with your web designers to start improving the navigation.
Start improving your navigation by segmenting your website into category pages that are marked with clear language to describe each page. Then, you can make the elements clickable and responsive on both desktop and mobile.
Easy navigation means easy access to content for your visitors. Updating your clunky toolbars and search fields is a smart way to show people you care about their experience on your site.
2. Product Descriptions and Visuals
People value product descriptions and visuals equally. These components satisfy a desire for eye-catching pictures or graphics given context by a few lines of text. You should include both on your website, but keep layout and design in mind.
If you’re adding new elements to your product pages, stick to established web design conventions so your website users aren’t surprised or confused.
Amazon sets a good example for businesses looking to include product descriptions and visuals on their website.
Amazon presents visuals and descriptions side by side, using white space to separate them.
Using white space – the empty space between elements on a website – is an effective way to break up a large volume of content and make it easier for readers to digest.
This web design trick works for more than e-commerce businesses. Clever web design can increase engagement on your platform or blog and enable you to add content without overwhelming your audience.
3. Updated, Attractive Design
If your website looks dated, it’ll alienate visitors. Over 80% of people think a beautiful and updated appearance is valuable on a website. An out-of-date design can appear unprofessional to people visiting for the first time.
Be careful, however, not to make your website too trendy. Going all in on the latest design trends, such as minimalism and flat design, means you may have to update your website again when the trends change.
Research and vet top web designers to build an attractive website that enhances content users want. Instead of designing a page around blank placeholders, show your designers the content you plan to include and ask how best to present that to the user. This will help you to create an attractive, engaging website without distracting users from what’s important – the content on the page.
A beautiful and updated appearance should also be mobile-responsive. An attractive web design won’t engage or convert users if it’s not functional on the devices they use the most. Work with designers and developers to make sure your new, beautiful web design is also fast and reliable on the mobile web.
Looking for web design ideas? Check out HubSpot’s 2018 list of best website designs to get inspired.
Conclusion
Easy navigation, descriptions and visuals of products, and an attractive, updated design can all help to improve users’ experience and increase engagement on your website. There is one more feature your website visitors want, fast loading times. If your website takes 3 or more seconds to load, the majority of visitors will just leave your site and move on. So it is crucial to make sure that your site is optimized for performance. This WordPress speed up guide from Kinsta covers everything you need to know.
These website features help enhance your content and offering, making them a worthy investment in any web design project. An investment in your web design is an investment in your first impression on website users worldwide.
