Successful businesses know that their customers always come first. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a big corporation or a small shop, a business is only as good as its ability to keep the customers happy. The customer-centric philosophy applies to many aspects of business, including the digital ones.
For businesses that rely on their websites to drum up business, the digital aspect is the most important one. Giving customers at least some of the things they want to see in a website is a sure way to show them that they’re appreciated.
Mobile Responsiveness
Soon enough, we’ll look back at the times when there were still some business websites that couldn’t be properly displayed on mobile devices. To get there faster, it bears repeating that people want and need mobile responsiveness. People such as your customers.
Responsive design has come out as the most economical solution for ensuring a good user experience for mobile visitors. But that’s only one of the reasons why responsive design is essential. The rest of the list includes taking advantage of the increase in mobile usage, online shopping, and social media visits, as well as not having to manage two different websites, one for desktop and one for mobile, or two versions of the same website.
Privacy and Security
Americans are very interested in their privacy. Surveys show that they care very much about who collects information about them and what information is collected, but at the same time they don’t expect their information to stay private — only 3% of Americans are very confident that their email provider, for example, will keep their records private and secure. And it’s not just Americans who are concerned about their privacy and security — it’s a major global issue.
One of the things you can do to signal that you’re serious about privacy and security is to implement a website HTTPS conversion. HTTPS is the secure version of the hypertext transfer protocol, and everything you need to know about it is that it encrypts the communication between your website and the visitors’ browser. HTTPS effectively stops anyone from eavesdropping on your customers’ communication with your website, protecting their valuable data and privacy.
Intuitive Navigation
There’s nothing that can kill a website’s performance like poor navigation. Sure, there are other bad design features that will have a detrimental effect on your website. Still, there’s nothing as frustrating as coming to a website with a clear intention to do something and then getting lost in a maze of irrelevant pages.
Unless your whole website consists of a single page, you will need to give the visitors a way to navigate it. Websites usually have menus that help users get from the front page to the information they are seeking. Including a good search bar is also an option. Some websites can forgo the classic menu design for a more creative solution. All of the above is perfectly fine as long as it provides the visitors with a navigation method they can figure out within a couple of seconds after landing on the website.
Trust Signals
Everything comes down to trust. People don’t buy from businesses they don’t trust. Businesses don’t do business with businesses they don’t trust. Without trust, your website will not be considered a worthy source of information. It will not be a website that’s particularly worth visiting.
Luckily, if there’s one thing web design doesn’t lack, it’s different ways to signal trust. You can unleash the power of social proof and user reviews and testimonials to show that people just like your visitors, or experts whose opinions your visitors might respect, find your business useful. Contact information is a simple feature that shows that the business behind a business website is indeed a real business. You can also display digital certificate badges that attest to your website’s quality.
Bonus Tip — Timely Disclosure of Important Information
There’s unintentionally making it difficult to find information on a website, and then there’s intentionally placing it at a completely wrong place for dubious reasons. Owners of online shops probably know that this is especially pertinent to them, and the practice of withholding information about shipping costs till the last possible moment.
The results of hiding information can range from cart abandonment and bad reviews to being reported for fraudulent behavior. The former will probably happen more often, but it will damage your business nonetheless. The best practice is always to give visitors all the relevant information they need before they’ve made a decision, and not while they’re in the process of acting on it. It pays to be honest.