Websites have served as almost online business cards or destinations where their prospects and customers could find more information about their products and services. These websites were designed to serve the basic needs of customers and didn’t do much else except mention the brand in the logo or the About Us page.
Fast forward to today. More companies are starting to realize that they are missing out on a big opportunity by not engaging their web visitors. Websites can do much more from sparking a conversation, telling an interesting story, to creating a positive brand perception. This is where purposeful web design comes in.
Purposeful web design is all about engaging web visitors right off the bat and drawing them into the conversation you want to start or the story you want to tell about your brand. Rather than trying to make that kind of impact on the homepage or on a single company page, it is implemented site wide. The result is that the web visitor walks away with a positive experience which leads to repeat visits, referrals, and a leap in the customer sales cycle.
Conveying your company’s brand promise is done through the visual presentation as well as the user experience. For example, using the right combination of images, font and color will help depict an image of your brand while also inducing emotions you want associated with your brand. User experience is important because it allows the visitor to browse your website intuitively so that you can actually tell the story or message of your brand in an effective manner.
Your company’s philosophy and company culture will also be reflected in the site’s design. While it may be completely unrelated, web visitors will judge your company based on your website. If the web design is clumsy and unorganized, they’ll form the opinion that your company is the same way. Perception is important when you are putting yourself on the web, so again, delivering a great user experience is a vital part of the design.
So if your website serves more as a business card than a medium for the visitor to experience your brand, it may be time to think about a redesign project. This doesn’t mean that you have to eliminate all the elements of your website and do a total revamp. It just means that it will be beneficial to change the angle of approach while keeping the fundamentals in place.