The foundation for any online business or content marketing campaign is website design. You need a great website that is easy to use, loads quickly and properly, functions optimally on all devices – from desktops to tablets to I-phone – and is ideally a web design that can be easily upgraded by your developer to function on, and with, whatever technology they cook up next.
So it’s all about cross-device functionality – or is it? Far from it! That is crucial, but it’s only one aspect of website design and of the customer experience that could make or break you. The following is by no means comprehensive – particularly in relation to complex platforms and large e-commerce sites, but it does cover a few of the most common and recurring mistakes.
Website customer experience mistakes online businesses keep making
- Not personalising content delivery when it is appropriate to do so – and would be expected. It shows you haven’t done your homework and you don’t really know who your customers are or what they want and need.
- Image heavy pages that load slowly, or sometimes not at all.
- Content sharing buttons your site visitors need to search for.
- Contact forms with no other alternative method of contact offered. This may be needed for very large or global online businesses, but if not – make yourself available. Show a human face.
- No way for site visitors to offer feedback on their user experience.
- Clumsy navigation and over-sensitive and overly complex drop-down menus. Technically, they might work perfectly, and you think they offer more, but if its hard work for the user, it might put them off browsing further through the site.
Some less common but still annoying customer experience No’s that still happen
- Allowing ads that get in the way of content and are hard to get rid of. It’s an instant turn off and makes your site look trashy. On mobile in particular, it’s an instant invitation to go elsewhere.
- Landing pages for Adwords that don’t deliver the right content straight up.
- Poor or repetitive content that has been SEO’d to the hilt to get traffic but only offers an approximation of what your targeted site visitors are looking for. Enjoy the click-through while it lasts…
Contact us today for more information on how we can help you design or redesign your website for optimal customer experience, effective SEO (search engine optimisation) and maximised content marketing.