Aesthetics vs Functionality: My rule for website design and development.
February 16, 2022
After two decades online, what have we learned about website design and development?
Web website design and development has come a long way in the past 20 years. Through trial-and-error, evaluation, experience and sophisticated research, experts have begun to get a grasp on what works. Website design and development need to be visually pleasing, engaging, and brand aware while instilling credibility.
While the appearance of a website is important, recent studies have concluded that 80% of users value function over aesthetics. The efficiency and flow of the site must engage a customer, pulling them along an organic journey with no speedbumps. The site also needs to be functional for your company as a brandingand marketing tool. What are your website goals? Do you want your site to help you acquire information, increase sales, or accumulate qualified leads? Let’s take a look at what we consider is the ideal mix of aesthetics and functionality for a successful website.
25%: Aesthetics—Easy on the eyes. Inviting to the brain. Effectively instilling brand confidence and recognition.
Let’s take a trip back in time to the dot-com boom; the early days of Yahoo! and eBay. Those were the days of cheesy clipart, textured backgrounds, ridiculously bright color schemes, and all the text. Oh, and let’s not forget the overuse of Comic Sans font. Maybe it was the simplicity of the structure of websites at the time, but the focus definitely seemed to be more on “cool” graphics than an engaging, welcoming, and pleasing user experience.
Here in the 21st century, we strive to ensure companies get a website that grabs the attention of users by communicating a compelling brand image. Using data-based marketing and branding, companies are able to target more specific audiences and appeal to them with a more personalized user experience. How a website looks
75%: Functionality—Navigation, Information Architecture, Graphic User Interface, and Marketing Objectives.
Internet users are somewhat picky when it comes to the navigation of websites. Most of the time, a user doesn’t want too much information on one page, but they also don’t want to have to do a lot of clicking to find what they are looking for. So, many companies struggle to organize their site in a way that allows customers to quickly locate the exact products or information they want, without overloading users with too many menus or too much text.
Insights taken from the data within your site, as well as the industry as a whole, can help to create a user experience that is easy and will keep them coming back. We can use SEO data to know how your customers are searching for and finding you, as well as how they interact with your site. Knowing what is important to potential customers not only allows you to set up pages efficiently, but can also provide some crucial information about your products and services from the customer perspective.
Conversions, Transactions, and Sales…Oh My!
A website is simply a hub for companies and customers to exchange resources. Your users come to your site in hopes of getting information, products, or services. You want to get the sale, an email address for future communication, or simply some data. A successful visit means everyone walks—err, clicks—away with something.
In the modern, digital age, a company can choose to track pretty much any kind of interaction to track in order to learn how their customers use a site and where they are possibly losing users. If a file download or form submission is faulty or even just inconvenient, that’s a common place for users to drop off and abandon one site in favor of something easier to use. If a cart checkout lags or appears to stall out, credibility comes into question. Once a user ends their session due to functional problems, both user and brand are left unsatisfied with the exchange.
Finding balance between design that is engaging while still being easy to use can seem like a daunting task. With a strong grasp on best practices and resources to create a winning strategy, we can help you rise to the top of the search results and the industry.
Website design and development.
Contact today to learn more about website design and development. 262-6573-3714..Ask for Steve!!!