According to Hubspot; 76% of consumers say the most important factor in a website’s design is “the website makes it easy for me to find what I want.” This is the most important reason for conducting usability studies but too often this important process is overlooked when updating branded websites.
I have coined a term when it comes to website design called “intuitive navigation”. I define this a navigation laid out the way consumers think based on a decision tree analysis. This could mean, for example, what is your product, how does it work, how much does it cost and what are the real benefits for me ?
Another thing that you need to think about is your overall website design. Too many marketers love eye candy but website design that rates highest are usually ones that have a clean easy to navigate layout without FLASH intro’s. You should not have any more than three calls to action and limit the size of your content with callouts to emphasize key points.
Finally it’s really important to review your website analytics to track the paths through your website and which pages are leading to conversion. Eliminate any pages such as “about us” that get minimal traffic and forget about pages like “A message from our CEO as consumers don’t have time for this type of propaganda.
Website analytics can show you how consumers are thinking about your brand and upstream and downstream click reports can tell you where people are going after they left your website and where they came from. Most likely, for example, you’re going to find that people go to your competitors website after leaving your site and may have come to your website from unexpected links on other sites.
Marketers today are adding people who can take web analytics and translate the data into actionable initiatives. These people also need a great working knowledge of your brand and your target market to bridge actions to ROI. And remember while you’re strategizing your competitors are doing it and passing you so implement quickly and test everything.
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Creative, passionate and highly qualified digital marketing professional with over 15 years of distinguished performance in consumer packaged goods and healthcare online marketing. Broad-based background encompasses exceptional business skills and a commitment to brand marketing objectives within highly competitive and rapidly changing marketplaces. Proactive manager, team builder, teacher and marketing strategist with the proven ability to win over key organizational influencers. Recognized for developing ground breaking customer focused marketing initiatives with the proven ability to face challenges head-on and execute sound marketing decisions.
Richard, Good points…Flash is also the enemy of SEO! All great functional websites should be guided by optimization features. The rest of the design then becomes straight forward.
Nice article; the observations are rightly put. One other important aspect that helps in product discovery is a recommendation engine. Much of customers love for Netflix is due to its robust recommendation engine. Online companies should seriously look at recommendation engines to boost the customer experience and provide a lift to sales.
Richard, how do you get downstream click reports? Please send me a message at mullenannfw@gmail.com. Thanks.–Annie