1: Review your website design

Getting this right is vital to online success. It does not matter what you are selling, your customers come to your website because they want to buy something. You have done the hard work by getting them there, now provide them with a pleasant shopping experience and you increase the chances of them making a purchase.

• Make sure the website is designed to appeal to the types of customers you expect, the website is for them, not for you. Their experience on your site will either entice them to stay and go through the buying process or go to the competition. Why not get independent users to test your website, their feedback can be invaluable for improving the site design.
• Use appropriate colours and images that make the user feel they are in the right place when they get to your site. A good designer understands how colours connect with emotions and if they have taken the time to understand your customers, the colour should appeal to your target market. Remember the site is not for you, so using your favourite colour may not be the right choice for your target market.
• Use quality, clear images and make sure they are not distorted when resized by the website. This is particularly important if you are selling items like clothing, cars, jewellery etc. What you are trying to create with an image is an emotional connection to the product and if your image is distorted, unclear and low quality, the customer will have the same opinion about your product and your business.
• Think about the additional information customers may need in order to move forward in the buying process and provide this information as a demonstration, an image or a description. For example; if you are selling car bulbs the reality is most customers don’t know the model number of the bulbs in their car, all they may know is which bulb is out. Just listing the bulbs on a website may cause confusion or uncertainty and prevent conversion. However, if you provide all the relevant information for the client in a manner that is meaningful to them, you will increase conversion and get more sales. Visit Auto Bulbs Direct and search for a car bulb to see for yourself how this works in reality.
• Every industry is different but most sectors will have a combination of regular customers vs. new customers. You will also have customers that are at the start of the buying process verses customers who know exactly what they need and just want to make the purchase. The design of the website has to appeal to each of these customers, make sure you tell your designer the most common questions you get asked by all types of customers. This will help them in the design process and should result in a better customer experience. Customers are individuals just like you with personal preferences when making a purchase, if you follow these guidelines, you will increase sales.

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