When it comes to web design, it’s easy to see the value in prioritizing experiences. Considering that lead generation and sales are major objectives, evaluating how users feel when navigating a website is definitely significant. Thus, designing for user experience will naturally benefit the site’s performance.
However, the value that experiences bring to the brand itself is often overlooked. Aiming for enhanced user experience in digital channels is undoubtedly essential. But to be truly impactful, brands should consider how providing consistency can benefit the customer experience across all touch points.
Brand Consistency
Achieving superior experiences inevitably comes back to the idea of consistency. If consumers are interacting with your brand in multiple ways, it follows then that all channels should be considered. When experiences are inconsistent, your consumers are likely to get confused, thereby diminishing your brand reputation.
Just as consistency within the interface allows for a better user experience, consistency within the context of the brand also enhances the overall consumer experience. Purposeful branding can tell a coherent story that eases the customer journey. Therefore by adhering to an established identity and a specific set of standards, it becomes inherently obvious what consumers can expect from the brand.
Although it may seem obvious, consumers should be able to immediately recognize the brand’s identity when interacting with the brand. It could be recognized through a combination of the name and logo, color schemes, font choices, or tagline. Through a familiar presentation, the brand can eliminate confusion and streamline the consumer experience.
Additionally, consumers should intuitively understand how to interact with the particular communication medium. In a website, they should be able to ascertain how to navigate and take action without active thought. This requires the brand to be thoughtful about its presentation in each channel to ensure the message is clear.
Consistency Through Familiarity
Familiarity is a good thing. It gives consumers the confidence to interact with the brand, allowing them to move through their journey without having to think too hard.
Emerging brands may not be “established” yet, so consumers may not have any sense of familiarity. That being said, it is incredibly important to set a solid foundation for the brand’s style and tonality. The look and feel, the language style, and the functionalities within each medium should remain consistent with one another. If, instead, the brand varies between different mediums (or even within the same medium) consumers are likely to feel confused.
For more recognizable brands, maintaining consistency is absolutely vital. Your consumers already have a set idea of what they can expect, so brands should ensure that its presentation reflects those expectations in some way. That is not to say the brand can’t be innovative and surprising, but consumers should still be able to identify the brand and understand the calls to action.
How To Achieve
Before anything else, a brand needs to solidify its identity. Whether your brand has been around for decades or is just getting started, it needs to establish a consistent style and personality. It needs to have the foundation to effectively demonstrate their vision and purpose regardless of the communication medium.
For example, the brand should establish its color palette, typographies, and graphic and pattern sets that can be utilized in both print and digital forms. That way, design teams can make informed decisions more quickly throughout the creation process.To that effect, it is useful to organize a branding and style guide that employees can follow.
With respect to its website and other digital channels, consistency also matters within the UI itself. In order to create a frictionless user experience, elements should function in the same way across the interface. Additionally, the look and feel as well as the language style should remain unified from page to page.
Maintaining consistency is essential for brands. With an improved sense of clarity, consumers can feel confident engaging with the brand through any channel. Ergo, the brand can communicate more effectively and see greater business results.