Are you losing customers because of your outdated Website?

What does your Web site really convey?

Great design is about great communication. Anything can be communicated and it has to be done with intention. Every color added has to emotionally connect with your customer. Every word added has to be meaningful. Every action has to be engaging.

Sometimes we’re too busy working on our business that we let things slide. We add new products but didn’t add events to show off the new additions. Perhaps we got a little too relaxed with our authority in our town that we’ve lost out on potential partnerships.

You do want to grow your business, right?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your Web site easy to scan?
• Does your information have a clear hierarchy?
• Do you have clever design elements appropriately leading the eye?
• Do you have one clear CTA?

Ultimately, you want your design to communicate and engage your customer in buying your product. Great design promotes credibility in your community and inspires leaders to partner with you.

How Well is Your Web Site Designed?

Are you encouraging your customers to become loyal?

The usability of your Web site is more than pretty pictures and adding the price of your new product. Usability is about creating a hierarchy of information that is well composed and readable for everyone on every device. If you know me, you know what a stickler I am for composition. The composition has to conform to a set of rules, rules that are created by a body of designers who understand how to communicate to everybody in every walk of life. I love crafting a composition of elements that form a relationship with each other and invite the viewer in to get absorbed into the story.

How does composition relate to usability?

1. When Web pages have distinct sections that include blocks of color, illustrations, and graphics, this helps a people with ADHD and cognitive disabilities focus more quickly.
2. Certain color combinations confuse people with color blindness. If you are aware of the levels of color blindness, then you can ensure that your CTA is well received.
3. Complex sentences are generally difficult to read and comprehend. Breaking long sentences into shorter sentences improves cognition.

These are just a few rules to make your Web site usable. Using these common sense rules promotes a rich experience that encourages returning customers. Returning customers are loyal customers.

You do want to loyal customers, right?

Ask yourself these questions:

• How well does your Web site perform on a mobile device?
• Can your customer find everything she needs on your Web site
• How long does it take for the pages to load?
• Is your navigation clear and expected?
• Do all links, forms and buttons work?
• Are your customers repeat buyers?

If you maintain usability as the foundation of your composition, your Web site should be a rewarding experience for your customers. Rewarded customers are loyal customers.

How Usable is Your Web Site?

Are you accessible to all of your customers?

Concerns about developing accessible Web sites isn’t just for governments, it’s for all of us.

Sometimes we’re so excited about creating a Web site that we forget that it’s not for us -it’s for our customers. Our customers come from all walks of life and have handicaps invisible to us. So, we need to ensure that when we build our Web site, we’re able to reach everyone who needs our services. When we adopt all of the tools that the W3C has developed over the many years, we empower our visitors to move through our Web site easily and this encourages them to stay longer.

You want to empower your clients with rewarding customer experience, right?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have extremely dense text without offering images to provide context?
• Can a sight challenged person hear the words when they choose text-to-speak?
• Is your Web site confusing and distracting your customer?
• Can a person with color blindness still take action on your instructions?

How Accessible is Your Web Site?

Are you giving your customers a great experience?

As you can see, design, usability, and functionality all have a big influence on whether your business grows on word of mouth. We also know that frustrated and confused customers don’t buy.

What you didn’t know, was:

• A larger portion of our customers are being dismissed and ignored due to poor cognitive design.
• Implementing meaningful interactions is critical to the success of your customer’s ability to gain services from your Web site.
• Much of the design standards developed for accessibility overlaps in mobile design as well.

When accessibility barriers are eliminated, it’s amazing how much we all enjoy the broader benefits of professionally planned design.

How Great is Your Web Site Experience?