Whether you're promoting a new business or taking your established company into the era of Internet marketing, building a website has to be high on your list of priorities. Case in point, an IT and software development company, Riverbed, recently published the results of its Retail Digital Trends Survey 2019, which gathered insights from 3,000 consumers around the world. The results were enlightening for business owners:

• Eighty-nine percent (89%) of respondents said a positive digital shopping experience promotes brand loyalty just as effectively as prices.

• Seventy-nine percent (79%) said brick-and-mortar retailers only have three years to provide a satisfying online experience; otherwise, buyers will start taking their business elsewhere.

So, how can you create a positive and satisfying online experience for your customers? The obvious answer is to build a website. It expands your marketing reach exponentially and opens a cost-effective, convenient, and accessible channel for more customers to buy from you. Before you start counting your conversions and charting sales revenues, however, you must first create the online experience that will turn your website visitors into paying customers.‍

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What Makes a Positive Online Experience? 

We at Design Epicenter believe that it takes two things to produce an effective website that drives sales: aesthetics and usability. These two must be present to create the "experience" that encourages visitors to answer calls-to-action and patronize your business. This method applies to websites for e-commerce businesses, corporations, retailers, franchisers, service providers, and so forth. 

For your website to be truly useful to your business, it must have the look and feel of your brand and satisfy your customers with regards to speed, navigation, and user-friendliness. These are the reasons we customize designs, don't sell templates, and prioritize usability when designing business websites.

Allow us to go further into the importance of having both attractive visual elements and functionality on your website.

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Website Aesthetics Enhance User Experience

There are two kinds of people who may visit your website: those who know of your business or the products and services you offer, and those who happened to visit by chance. The former will likely put in more effort in exploring your website in the hopes that they'll find what they're looking for. The latter, on the other hand, will leave once they realize that there’s nothing keeping them there—and that could happen quickly, for innumerous reasons.

Both groups will be inclined to stay longer, however, if they have an excellent first impression of your website. This alone makes website aesthetics important—a fact supported by several early studies on consumer behavior:

• Aesthetic stimuli can evoke cognitive, affective, and conative (the inclination to act or impulse) outcomes in online consumers.

• Price sensitivity among buyers decreases the more unique and prestigious-looking a product is. Similarly, visual aesthetics can create value and make something "more special."

• Target customer-oriented aesthetic, functional, and symbolic designs can drive word-of-mouth, provoke a willingness to buy, and drive sales.

Developing a web design that attracts your target market and is true to your brand is therefore necessary. There is a catch, though: if you focus too much on the aesthetics of your website to the point of sacrificing page loading speed or usability, you'd be setting yourself up for failure. A pretty website will be of little use if it fails to generate sales for your business.

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Usability is Crucial for Conversion

Let's revisit the two groups we used as examples earlier. Marketing best practices would dictate that you focus on the first group, the visitors who are already familiar with your brand or need something that you can provide. They are the ones more likely to convert and add to your bottom line. It, therefore, makes sense to ensure your website caters to this group's needs:

• Fast page load time – Google recommends a five-second page loading time (or less) at a 3G connection. Moreover, survey results indicate that website visitors leave if a web page takes long to load.

• A sensible website structure – All relevant pages (e.g., Contact Us page, a product list, product pages) must be easy to find.

• Relevant content – Pages intended for a specific stage in the buyer's journey should provide the appropriate and necessary information, whether through text, image, or video.

• Smooth and functional e-commerce applications – It should take only a few clicks to cart an item, check out, and pay using secure online payment channels.

The best part about fulfilling these needs is you're also paving the road for casual visitors to start their own buyer's journey. 

These outcomes — satisfying the target market and drawing in new audiences — can boost your online leads generation and ultimately increase your revenue.

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There's No Separating Aesthetics and Usability in Web Design

Based on the information above, we can conclude that aesthetics and usability generate online leads and drive sales.

Let this be your guide when choosing web design and development specialists. Savvy web designers do not treat aesthetics and usability separately. As things are at Design Epicenter, the key is to design your website for your customers. Striking the right balance between aesthetics and usability would follow naturally.

Design Epicenter can help you align your website with your business goals. Get in touch, and let's talk more about improving or building your website.

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