How Your Website Impacts Customer Experience
Caylin White
We are human. As humans, we expect the best, the fastest and the easiest.
This includes visiting websites in research mode, surfing to buy and seeking out customer service. What quantifies the best, fastest and easiest way to reach our audience?
For starters, your website. The composition, design, font, functionality, and representation of your organization all matter when it comes to the impact on customer experience.
At VIPdesk Connect, we support several e-commerce brands and help them identify tactics to improve their online customer experience. We work with our clients to ensure access to customer service is streamlined, efficient and clear. Often, these efforts result in website design adjustments.
Here is how web design impacts customer experience and we added a few tips to help you amplify your site as well.
Composition and Design
You have exactly 15 seconds to impress someone who visits your website. If they stay on your site long enough to show them the value of what you do, you have even less time to impress them with customer service. Therefore, access to customer service needs to be visible from the front page and throughout the website.
Customers want to be pleased when they visit your website! Simplicity is key today where we often tend to overcomplicate things. When a person visits your website, they need to know what you do instantly, how you can help them and how easy it is to get it. Does your website design reflect this?
Your website should be customer centric! This means it should tailor to what the customer wants, not really what you want. Be creative, customer responsive and intellectual all rolled into one happy landing page.
Think in the mind of the customer. The theme may play a role in this. As you know there are many different themes, designs, and fonts to choose from, however, the right one should be defined by your audience. What do they like? What do they need? How are you reflecting this?
Using a friendly font is one way to please your visitor. Is it legible, happy and bold? One thing that helps visitors scroll past the 15-second rule is ease of reading. Pick a font that makes sense with your service! Pick colors that please the eye. Here is a great site to help “How to Pick the Perfect Font Style for Your Website”.
We use Open Sans Ubuntu font here at VIPdesk Connect, it is easy on the eyes, friendly to all browsers and happily adaptable across mobile. Be sure to consider these factors as you choose yours!
Photo imagery is the way to your viewer’s heart. A good measure is if you peruse your website and find that the images don’t make you feel something, you may want to evaluate your choices.
Imagery that evokes emotion will create a connection between you and (hopefully) your customer. Customer experience is based on the feeling that they receive from the service that you give. Make it count!
If you choose to use video, be sure it is easily playable, appropriately placed and NOT in auto-play mode! Give your visitors a choice.
This may mean that you are asking your viewers in surveys or polls about what they want to view on your site. 10 Ways to Make Videos Your Customers Can’t Resist by Marcia Johnston showcases the unique ways to draw your customers in.
Representing Company Culture
We are big on company culture here at VIPdesk Connect. It’s important to reflect this on your website.
The next step in your mission is to make the connection to your organization’s company culture.
Making a connection through font and imagery is just as important as representing the people on your team. This can be done in many different ways!
The “About Us” page can be fun and reveal stories of your team’s lives. The images of your team can be done in creative ways like cartooning, videos, GIFs and just plain old silly faces. Be sure to be true to your team and make them shine in the best way you can. Customers want to see that the team is happy which will, in turn, make them happy.
It doesn’t have to stop with the bios of your team. You can pepper in photos or videos of your team throughout the website by simple branding. Customer service should be showcased throughout the website simply by being unique.
Don’t forget to ask your customers what they want! Provide customer service feedback surveys and polls to ask them what they would like to see.
Put the Fun in Functionality
Getting back to time here, let’s not forget that people still want it fast and easy. Functionality is something that will make or break the click that could become a customer.
Tim Burchfield, our resident fun-maker and Operations Manager at VIPdesk Connect always finds time to make things interesting. You want your website to be like Tim.
Navigation of your site is crucial to flipping your potential visitor into a customer. Understand where they scroll, what they click and how it works for them. This is the key to understanding how they will need services for the best customer experience.
Don’t forget – put the “FUN” in functionality. Just because it is a regular button they click, doesn’t mean it has to be boring. Make it colorful, change it with the seasons or add a fun emoji. Humans like human behavior, and that sometimes can mean changing it up a bit from the ordinary. This again relates to customer experience because you are making them happy through creativity.
Speed and Security
This goes without saying but still should be addressed. If your website isn’t fast, you will lose your potential customer. If your site is not secure, you will definitely lose your potential customer! Be fast, be safe, that is the best motto.
A few ways to be fast are to optimize your images and partner with a company that helps to make your site speedy. Testing out different companies may be the best way, always check out the host and the plugins. WordPress seems to be a secure CSS to run your site, however, there are plenty of options.
Being safe and secure also resonates with your customer because they will then know that they can trust their choice to buy from you!
Security comes with understanding what you need on your site. If you are an e-commerce site, this could invite hackers. Be sure to know and understand all your landing pages and plugins that are used. Be sure to consult the proper sources before downloading anything that doesn’t make sense. Leave it to the professionals, they know best. Your customers will thank you.
Availability
Customer service is all about availability!
If you want to be there for your website visitors, you should be there for your customers as well. Having a ‘contact us’ page is now considered minimal for engagement. The optimal way to be available and create the ultimate customer experience is to provide live chat, email, phone, an inquiry form and also being available on social media channels. You need to be all things, everywhere, at once.
Omnichannel solutions are galore, however, customer experience could be swallowed whole if you don’t choose the right provider. Be sure to find the right solution that fits your audience and then be there for your customers!
Customer experience is about one thing – the experience! Don’t forget, your website impacts customer experience FIRST! Make it count by engaging them right from the very first impression on your website. Understand what they want and reflect it by what you share, who you are and what you represent. Good luck!
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Images:
https://unsplash.com/@halgatewood
https://unsplash.com/@aleksdorohovich
https://unsplash.com/@alex_andrews
https://unsplash.com/@emiljarfelt