Creating a website that appeals to your audience is one of the most essential steps toward ensuring all your hard work pays off.
Research shows that good web design positively impacts people's purchase intent (and reduces their perceived risk of shopping with a business). Unsurprisingly, consumers are more likely to trust brands whose websites are of high quality.
If you want to boost conversions on your site, investing in high-quality design is crucial. But no matter how aesthetically appealing your online presence is, it won't get you far unless it appeals to your target audience.
So, without further ado, here are the top tips on how to design your brand's website with your ideal customer in mind.
The first step toward designing a website that appeals to your target audience is always research (that should go without saying). Still, many brands get the preparatory phase of the web design process wrong.
Ultimately, creating a website that appeals to your future customers requires you to understand those customers in the first place. In addition to defining the basic demographic characteristics of the people you wish to reach, you must also understand their pain points, values, and desires.
So, if you wish to create a site that works in your brand's favor, don't skip the preparatory phase. Learn as much as possible about your audience through market research and using the audience info cards on your social media profiles. Don't shy away from taking a peek at your main competitors' targeting strategies. They may reveal customer characteristics or (even better) uncover potential opportunities to reach an even larger base of consumers.
Once they land on your site, people form first impressions at lightning speed. Research shows that it only takes about 50 milliseconds for consumers to decide whether they like a brand or whether that brand has the solution to their pain points.
So, to ensure that your audience instantly comprehends the value your business offers (as well as recognising your organisation's competence to deliver the expected results), use web design in a way that will immediately address your audience's frustrations, doubts, wants, and pain points.
For example, if you check out the ATH homepage, you'll notice that the site's hero section poses a question that the brand's potential customers struggle with. By asking visitors whether they're getting enough protein, ATH addresses its target audience's fear that they're not consuming enough of the macronutrient. More importantly, it's also offering an instant solution in the form of a quiz that can help people calculate their protein intake needs (and presents them with advice on adjusting their nutrition to meet those needs).
Source: athsport.co
Or, if you don't feel like addressing frustrations and fears aligns with your brand's identity, you can do what Lanteria does on its homepage. By presenting web visitors with an aspirational outcome - that of developing "a culture of high performance" - this business instantly shows that it knows what its potential clients want to achieve and effectively communicates it has the solution that could help them reach their goals.
Source: lanteria.com
Visuals are highly powerful tools for effective communication. And, if you know how to use them, they can play a key role in helping boost your site's conversion rates.
The right visuals (including photos, illustrations and videos) are extremely successful at conveying even the most complex messages. Plus, you can also use them to present your brand in a specific light or appeal to your target audience's emotions.
One excellent way to employ visuals in your website design is to do so in a way that underlines the value of your solutions. For instance, if you check out the 'Our Mission' section of the Quince homepage, you'll see that it features an image of children playing in a soft and elaborate fort made of bedding, supporting the brand's statement that it delivers sustainable luxury products anyone can enjoy.
Source: quince.com
Or, if you want to take your website visuals to the next level, consider investing in video content (especially explainers that present your solutions to awareness-stage consumers).
If you check out the Heap website, you'll notice that it includes a "What is Heap'' explainer video. The video points out the importance (and difficulty) of creating an excellent digital experience for businesses. Then, it shows how the brand's solution helps users achieve the desired result, presenting them a problem and a solution right away.
Source: heap.io
One of the best pieces of web design advice you can adopt when trying to reach, engage, and convert your ideal customers is to not focus on your products' features but describe their benefits instead.
Ultimately, buyers (especially B2C ones) don't care about tech specs. They only care about features in the sense of how they can help eliminate pain points. That's why it's a good idea to explore ways to describe your solutions by describing their main user benefits.
To see an example of how you can achieve this effect, check out the customisation section on the Ultimate Meal Plans homepage.
You'll see that the design clearly distinguishes between the various advantages of signing up for the brand's service. Moreover, to ease understanding, each feature section includes an informative illustration. And, of course, the copy emphasises several times that the main advantage of signing up for the subscription is that users can outsource the tedious task of meal planning to the service, giving them extra time to focus on more important things in life.
Source: ultimatemealplans.com
The one thing you must understand about today's buyers before you design your website is that they have very specific preferences and requirements they want brands to meet.
For example, research shows that 80% of consumers would be willing to pay a 5% premium for sustainable items. Similarly, brand trust plays a colossal role in winning over consumers, with 57% of buyers stating that trust is the main factor impacting their purchasing decisions. And, of course, there's the increasing call for transparency.
Knowing how impactful consumer priorities can be in determining your ability to convert new customers, it's a good idea to use web design strategies that will call web visitors' attention to the fact that your brand can satisfy audience needs.
For instance, something as simple as a social proof element positioned in a highly visible spot on your site — like the customer logos in the first screenful of the ETA Insider homepage — can be a great way to emphasise your brand's trustworthiness.
Source: etainsider.com
Or, if you know that your specific target audience has other priorities, you can use web design strategies to address those. For instance, Mannequin Mall understands that its customers care about a solid return policy. So, it uses text formatting to underline its No-Questions-Asked returns policy as well as its lowest price guarantee.
Source: mannequinmall.com
Lastly, if you wish to design a website that will appeal to your ideal customers, don't forget that UX design choices contribute to the impression you will leave just as much as aesthetic ones. After all, a highly usable website that predicts and meets visitors' needs will be far more effective at driving conversions than a site that's clunky, difficult to navigate, or doesn't perform at a high level.
Site speed and responsiveness play an important role in impressing first-time visitors (and encouraging them to browse your offer). However, if you want next-level results, you will need to invest in next-level UX design features.
For example, knowing that many consumers treat brand websites as search engines, it's a good idea to include an easy-to-access search bar in your design. Especially if it can play a role in helping your prospects discover solutions and products they want. For instance, a quick look at the Key One Realty Group homepage reveals an advanced search bar that allows web visitors to look for properties, making it that much easier for them to identify real estate listings that match their needs.
Source: keyonerealtygroup.com
Or, if you know that your audience wants to invest in solutions that come with high-quality customer service, you can do something similar to LiveChat. This brand includes a live chat feature in the bottom right corner of the page and several support links at the very top of the website.
Source: livechat.com
Finally, it's also worth researching the type of customer and shopping experience your clients expect. For example, checkout features like a subscription option or one-click payment can encourage web visitors to choose your brand over other options. See if you can add these to your website, especially knowing that they could be the key to winning over your ideal customers.
Designing a website with your ideal customer in mind hugely depends on your initial audience research. However, if you want to guarantee that your hard work delivers results, be prepared to do more than just the basics.
In addition to implementing the strategies outlined in this guide, do your best to continually monitor site performance. That way, you'll have the opportunity to identify tactics that work. More importantly, you'll uncover potential opportunities for improvement, allowing you to nup conversion killers in the bud and enjoy the results of your hard work.
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