If you expect to be successful in
business, you need to embrace great design. Great design instantly conveys
first impressions about your services and / or products. Many buying decisions
are made in less than 30 seconds and most people are highly influenced by the
user experience which is rooted in design.
Since the time frame for a
conversion is so tight, clean, fast designs seem to work well in getting the person
to act. A good example is the Google search page – it is very simple with no
pop-up boxes about a cookie policy. Avoid distractions and quickly convey the
essence of your value proposition. This usually requires answering the “W”
questions quickly: Who are you, What do you do, Why should
I buy your products or services and Where do you service customers.
The goal is to generate interest
and get to a conversion event; such as clicking on best-selling products or
complete this form for an initial free consultation. Include a CTA – Call to
Action at the bottom of every page. You want the person to do something, not
just click away. You need to be extremely user-centric in how you think with a
heavy focus on solving the person’s problem.
“Design is a plan for arranging
elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.” - Charles
Eames
Great design gives the person a
clear and easy path to act. It helps if the user can interact with the design;
i.e. view the product in different ways or watch a video on how the product
works.
Two major components of design are
UX – User Experience and UI – User Interface. If you are a startup company, you
should consider having a good UX / UI Designer on your team. One way to
understand UX / UI Design is through Peter Morville’s honeycomb:
Credible – Are you
communicating trust in what you are selling? Can you back up your value
proposition with testimonials, customer ratings, independent certifications, or
other proof points other than your own marketing pitch?
Useful – Does the product
and / or service solve the problem in a better way compared to the competition?
Have you conveyed this to the end user so they can clearly grasp your
competitive advantage?
Findable – It should be
easy for the end user to sign up or purchase the product or service. Content
should be highly organized to facilitate both browsing and searching. If
necessary, provide an index page or catalog for increased conversions. Have you
leveraged multiple sales channels so people can find your products or services?
Valuable – Does the product
or service provide a lot of value for the price or money paid? The end user
must conclude that the benefit received is higher than the price paid.
Usable – Is the product or
service easy to consume and use? Will it frustrate the end-user? Have you
designed everything in such a way to minimize pain points from the time I open
the package to the time I have to return the product? Everything must be easy for
the end user from cradle to grave!
Desirable – Can the end
user “enjoy” using the product or service? Does it have a nice feel and
appearance? Visual design and layout should be highly appealing to the end
user.
Accessible – Is it easy to
find and navigate quickly? If the end user runs into issues, can they quickly
get to an answer or read an error message to correct the issue? Does the
packaging make it hard to use the product? Do you have a compliant or
suggestion form or box to capture feedback?
“Thinking about design is hard,
but not thinking about it can be disastrous” – Ralph Caplan
Once again, keep it simple with
minimal noise or distractions to reduce bounce rates. Listed below are three
examples of good online design:
1.
Rover is a dog sitting aggregation type website
that gets to the point quickly > https://www.rover.com/
2.
ShadeMaster makes it easy to understand on how to
solve the problem in multiple ways and it’s easy to move to the next step in
the conversion process > https://www.shademaster.com.au/
3.
Droga5 is a global branding company that conveys
its value proposition quickly in a compelling way > https://droga5.com/
“There are three responses to a
piece of design – yes, no and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.” - Milton Glaser
In conclusion, you should incorporate
design in everything you build and deliver to your customers. If done right, great
design makes a big difference in capturing customers and making a statement to
the world that you are serious about what you do. Design sets the tone on how
you touch everyone – it cuts to the essence of your existence and it should not
be an after-thought.
“The dumbest mistake is viewing design as something you
do at the end of the process to ‘tidy up’ the mess, as opposed to understanding
it’s a ‘day one’ issue and part of everything.” - Tom Peterson
Watch video on UX Design for
Beginners > https://youtu.be/I0-vBdh4sZ8?si=iQcjy6z4em1eDnDT
