1. Mobile-Friendly Experience
According to statistics, more than 79% of users visit websites and make purchases from mobile devices rather than from the desktop. However, 84% have trouble making purchases on mobile, and 40% go to a competitor’s site after a negative user experience.
It is very unpleasant when a visitor opens a mobile site, and it looks and works poorly. The user is unlikely to bother with the difficulties, repeatedly clicking on buttons or wandering around in an unintuitive interface – it’s easier to switch to another site.
57% of web users say they would not recommend a brand with an unsightly or inconvenient mobile website to their friends.
Your customers are statistically more likely to interact with you from a tablet or smartphone rather than a desktop computer. Mobile visitors are choosy, and they won’t hesitate to leave for a competitor if your website causes them even the slightest headache.
2. Fast Load Times
According to SOASTA’s Mobile Load Time and User Abandonment survey, 53% of mobile users will close a website before it has fully loaded if it lasts more than 3 seconds. In addition, 83% of respondents said that slow websites give them a negative impression of the brand or company. And 28% go to a competitor if a website takes too long to load.
An acceptable speed is one of the website’s must-haves. Optimize videos and images, so they load fast enough, even on devices with mobile internet.
47% of users expect the average website to take a maximum of 2 seconds to load.
And don’t overuse ads: as the SOASTA report indicates, most of the sites studied had nearly half of their load time taken up by rendering banners. Users don’t like ads as much as they don’t like long waits.
3. Clear Calls to Action
A big clickable button, free of charge, is a good thing.
You open Dropbox or Evernote – and immediately click the “Download” button. You go to Instagram – and click “Sign up.” You don’t have to search for anything or think about it for a long time. Why? Because this successful website effectively calls to action with its CTA elements.
A Call to Action (CTA) is an element that encourages the user to use your services. For example, there are buttons like “Subscribe,” “Download,” “Order,” or “Buy.”
If you’ve created a cool online service — let it be possible to register on it with one click immediately after loading the site. If you provide locksmith services — make the “Call a Master” button right in front of the user’s eyes. There is no need to hide CTA elements at the bottom of the page because not all visitors are patient enough to scroll all the way to the end.
4. Easy-to-Navigate Menu
A company must have an easy-to-navigate website.
Tabs with headings at the top, search and account login buttons on the right. It won’t get confusing.
How to make a great website? Access to information, services, and purchases should be easy. Ideally, the user shouldn’t have to wonder how to find anything on your site at all.
Surely you notice that the vast majority of sites are designed in a similar pattern. For example, the search, registration, and account login buttons are always on the top right. You can switch between the main information pages with tabs at the top. And social media buttons and company details are placed at the bottom. Do not invent new principles because if users don’t find your site intuitive, they will leave. If the website has local sections for each state in the United States, it makes sense to use an interactive US map with clickable states as the navigation menu.
Place no more than five tabs at the top of your navigation menu. They should be clearly organized and clearly named. Add a site search to the top right corner of the screen so users can quickly find what they’re looking for.
5. Keep the website up to date
An up-to-date website inspires confidence purely psychologically. Will you use a service or app that was last updated in 2016, or will you look for something newer? If your last update is from last year, it makes you think that you closed down a long time ago. And secondly, irrelevant information misleads the customer. And again, it undermines the credibility of the business.
So update your website content regularly in order to be highly successful. The appearance of new content encourages users to visit it again and again. Fix broken links – this is essential for better conversion of site visitors. Make sure users only see relevant information (news, discounts, product prices, contacts) — otherwise, they will get the impression that you are either careless or trying to deceive them.
6. Cohesive Branding
A style guide is a collection of modules and rules that helps to design a website in the same style and simplify the work of designers and developers. Unity of style works to create a cohesive image of the company or product and its intended purpose. This is how it should ideally be.
But does a style guide always maintain a unified style and reflect the company’s mission? When is it the key to harmony, and when is it a limiting set of rules and patterns?
In web design, unity of style creates the understanding that we are within the same site and indicates what information should be on a website. It’s not just a tribute to aesthetics but a functional necessity. Unity of style helps users better understand the information on the site. Harmonious unity and consistency inspire user confidence in the products like bruno-simon.com, movavi.com, and rhiannonnavin.com.
Unity of style should work for the purpose of the site, not itself. Creative-driven designers sometimes forget this. Unity of form and content is the foundation on which style should be developed. You can’t take your favorite set of modules and templates and apply them everywhere.
To summarize
To make a complete website, you should look at the project as a whole. When creating the terms of reference, remember that first and foremost, it is a system that works for the image of the company or product. The design language should address the target audience and reflect the tone of voice of the brand. A unified style is born out of the unity of an idea and its execution. This is the outer, semantic shell of style unity. Internal style unity is based on the laws and principles of composition. Composition techniques help structure the site, balance the design and make it coherent and harmonious.
