A business website or corporate website is not just an online brochure or profile, in fact it is a full-fledged marketing and communication channel which can generate quality leads and conversions. There are two general classifications of the businesses, one is B2B (business to business) model and the other is B2C (business to consumer) model. The B2B means a business sell its products and services to other businesses and B2C means a business sell its products and services to the individual consumers. Now a days it really doesn’t matter which model you worked at or even which industry sector you belonged to, having a great performing website is absolutely necessary for all businesses. The marketing and communication is the backbone of a business, no matter how cool your products or services are or how valuable your solutions are, unless and until you tell your audience about them you cannot sell them. Traditionally businesses setup their offices and branches in areas where their targeted audience can visit them. However, now a days, when the digital have completely dominated the traditional marketing, businesses also need to have a strong and reputed presence in the online ecosystem.
Businesses can depend on their digital strategy. I am not saying that the traditional marketing is dead, it is still important and relevant. But the digital has become extremely popular at a very rapid pace, so much so that most of the businesses have been left behind. Things are changing now, the year 2020 was a major trend shift for both the customers and the businesses. Businesses in Dubai and all across the UAE in fact in the entire world are actively seeking ways to improve their online strategy and to be more active in the digital domains. For any online or digital strategy the website is always a center point, whoever is reaching out to a business via online, either by paid advertisements or by organic means, they will eventually end up on your website. Several surveys and researches have shown that the customers who learned about a businesses from any conventional marketing channel still prefer to visit their website first before visiting them physically. Here in UAE almost 99% of the population have access to the internet either via smartphones or via computers/laptops. This have completely changed the entire market dynamics.
What is a customer centric web design?
The simplest definition of a customer centric web design is a website that is designed and developed to meet and exceed the needs, wants, desires and behavioral responses. According to statistical data almost 45% of the customers leave the website because the website is failed to deliver the right message or right content/information and almost 35% of the customers leave a website due to poor quality design and difficult navigation. If a business starts thinking from the customer’s point of view they will realize that most of the customers don’t care how fancier your office building is or assets or your equipment, all they need is a simple solution to their problem. A customer centric or user centric web design offers a solution to the customer’s problem. Usually businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE never think in this direction that is why I always say the customer centric web design is not just a technical superiority but it is a complete mindset.
Here is how a customer centric web design approach can improve the workflow and online conversion rates:
Customer Centric Web Design: Improve Work Flow
Marketing is not the only part of a businesses that got digitalized, in fact these days businesses have started offering services through digital mediums and online channels. Businesses are focusing on adding value to customer experience by offering them several services and perks of using digital channels such as websites. The rise of dedicated customer portals, online purchasing and digital communication have made the business websites more customer centric and feature oriented. A business website is not only used to build online brand identity or for online brand awareness, but the businesses are offering several features digitalized services via their websites to improve customer journey and customer happiness. Some even took it to one step further by offering certain services and features that are exclusively available on their websites and online channels only. To satisfy your customers with an online interaction it is extremely important that you offer them all what they need in a simple and user friendly fashion. That is when the web design comes in to play.
The latest web designing and development technologies makes it easier to integrate a lot many other enterprise tools and systems to achieve innovative functionalities that can facilitate various business processes and improve the workflow. For example businesses who offer services at premises or via their service centers/branches can integrate appointment booking module with their customer centric website, which enables customers to book an appointment or sign-up for a queue and it relays all the information to the concerned staff and aid in the workflow. The customer registration via website also help aiding with onboarding process. The websites these days allows customer to perform certain functionalities and avail services through the website which were earlier only possible at the service counter. Such features are very useful for the customers and also help the staff and minimize their workload by automating various business processes and by digitalizing various services or service delivery steps. That is how a customer centric website significantly improves the workflow and this also attract more customers. Offering innovative features that add value to user experience and increase their convenience also have very positive impact on sales and conversions.
Customer Centric Web Design: Aligns with Customer Persona
It is extremely important that a customer centric web design aligns with the customer persona. The customer persona is basically an imaginary representation of a customer based on certain situation, your knowledge about the customers, comprehensive research of the market and trends, and analysis of the data gathered about your customers through their previous interactions with your business. Usually businesses only consider the demographic data and their customer persona is mostly based on assumptions which is not always very accurate. Here are some questions that you should ask to yourself before planning the web design:
- What is your customer’s primary need?
- What problems they are facing or what problem do they want to resolve by interacting with your business?
- What information they are seeking and what information you can provide to solve their problem?
- Who is decision maker?
- What factors can influence their decision?
- What can motivate them to convert?
A business should answer these questions form the customer’s point of view. That is how you can align your web design with the customer persona. And if a web design is aligned with the customer persona, it will facilitate them and improve their experience on the website. Which results in higher online conversions.
Customer Centric Web Design:Aligns with Customer Goals
When a business is working on their web design the major and most common mistake they do is the lack of knowledge of the customer goals and their problems. Without understanding the customer goals, a business cannot build solutions in their web design. Usually what businesses do at this point is to make assumption and guesses, and that is not enough. Understanding the customers goals require some efforts and research. The best way is to ask directly to the customers via a customer survey or customer feedback collection program. Consulting with the sales staff and customer support staff can also provide you a better understanding of your customer’s goals and their desires. Here are some examples of customer goals for different businesses:
- For customer service center, a website visitor will be seeking the address, contact, working hours, and a link to book appointment.
- For a hospital, clinic or health facility, the website visitor might be looking to book an appointment or the location, timings, etc.
- For an e-commerce business a website visitor will be interested in purchasing so they would be looking for the buy or purchase button.
A customer centric web design solves customer’s problem and offers the most convenient solutions to facilitate the customers. When customers problem are solved, they get what they seek, the conversion rate is raised. It is crucial to think from the customer’s prospective and try to provide the solution of their most obvious problems to ensure higher conversion rate.
Customer Centric Web Design: Simplify Customer Journey
Once a customer reached to a business website, if they find all the requirement information and everything else they needed, the next step is to take them through the customer journey to convert. Obviously in order to simplify the customer journey businesses try to keep the steps at minimum, but this could sometime result in confusion for an ordinary user. So, it is better to think from a new user’s point of view who doesn’t know much about your website or user interface or anything else. Prepare the customer journey while thinking from the customer’s point of view. Assume your visitors would be confused or doesn’t have any clarity of the next step after consuming the content. So, clearly define what the next step would be and how they can move forward. Here are some examples of the next steps of the customer journey that will lead them to the conversion:
- Request a Quotation
- Book An Appointment
- Purchase/Buy Now
- Submit a Registration Form
- Subscribe for the Newsletter
- Download
A customer centric web design always simplifies the customer journey and keep it simple. Most of the time businesses failed to offer a simple user journey, despite the website visitors are convinced by the content they failed to convert due to the complexity or difficulty of the customer journey. That is why a simple and easy customer journey results in more conversions.
Customer Centric Web Design:Offers User Friendly Web Interface
The user interface plays an important role in the performance of any website. The studies have shown that a regular human brain only requires 50 milliseconds to establish a perception of the brand in subconscious. This is unbelievably quick. The eyes can absorb all the colors, patterns and design elements of the web page in less than a second. This makes it very crucial to have a great looking web design with a friendly user interface (UI). One of the major feature that a user friendly web design offers is ease of use. If a user can easily use the web site and navigate to various sections or parts without any trouble, it will not only provide you more chances to convince them with the content but it also keeps the user calm and happy. The customer centric user interface also enables the users to move through the customer journey easily and increase the chances of conversion.
The customer centric user interfaces also provide the users with all the relevant content in a proper flow and sequence so that the user don’t have to wander here and there to search for the required information. It keep the user engagement high and keep them focused on a single objective which increases the chances of conversions.
Customer Centric Web Design: Establish Trust and Increase Conversions
One of the major factor in the online conversions is the trust and reputation of the business. A customer centric website focus a lot on trust signals and features that add to the brand reputation and brand value. Adding customer reviews and customer rating is the most effective way to increase trust. The businesses can add credibility to their products and services with their customer centric website by adding important elements in the design at the appropriate places. Some businesses also add proof of work, their portfolio and the names or logos or details of their business partners in their website. Which is a great way to build trust. However, mostly businesses doesn’t put these things on appropriate places, instead they buried them deep in the inner pages. However a customer centric website puts trust signals at the appropriate touch points and whenever and wherever needed.
For example in case of an online purchase or payment page, the security badges and compatible payment formats are a key to establish trust. Such badges and icons can be added to the footer of the website as well. That is how the trust signals can encourage the website visitors to convert. Similarly all other trust signal such as client testimonials, reviews, sample work, business partners and such details influence user decision and encourage them to convert by building trust and adding credibility to the brand and its products and services.
Conclusion
Businesses are shifting towards customer centric methodologies to ensure a long term sustainable growth. The reason behind customer centric approach is to obtain maximum customer satisfaction. The customer satisfaction is critical for business growth. The happy and satisfied customers are tend to be more loyal with the brand and the loyal customers are also good brand promoters and most likely to stay with the brand for a long term. The customer retention is important to minimize the cost and to maximize the profitability. It is nine to twelve time more expensive to acquire a new customer comparing to the selling to an existing customer. This can have a huge impact on the profitability and growth. The customer centric websites offer features and functionalities that can facilitate the workflow and also help improving online conversions. The customer centric web designs improve customer experience, allow business to increase customer engagement, and with the help of user friendly user interface it encourages the visitors to convert. RSI Concepts is a leading web design Dubai agency, if you want to convert your ordinary website into a customer centric website or if you want to learn more on the subject, feel free to contact us though our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.
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