Your website is a critical part of the customer experience. Every element of your site must serve a purpose. When customer experience isn’t a focus on web design, the brand’s ability to attract and retain customers is affected. And any brand design agency worth its salt will swear by that simple fact. In this article, you’ll discover why customer experience has to be a top focal point when designing a site.
What is Customer Experience?
Customer experience is the sum of all customer interactions. That includes engagement with various touchpoints (online and offline).
Your website’s purpose goes beyond aesthetics. It’s a crucial touchpoint that’s often the determining factor of customer satisfaction. And how people feel about a company is based on each person’s overall experience with that brand.
Thankfully, you can control or architect customer experience by paying attention to it.
Improving Customer Experience on Your Site
The website’s usability and the way you handle communications with your customers should be flawless. In other words, you should create a website that’s easy to navigate and maintains an impressive design. However, that’s easier noted than done. That is why you need a customer journey map.
What is a Customer Journey Map?
A customer journey map is an illustrative representation of the steps your ideal customers take when engaging your brand.
“As a brand design agency, we use customer journey maps to inform design decisions. It offers a clear picture of the kind of experience customers expect and should receive” – GreyBox Creative.
Consider going through the process of creating one for your website. It allows you and your team to do the following.
- Visualize the motivations and pain points of customers
- Uncover potential interaction snags and address each one
- Align the business goals with customer needs
- Improve each touchpoint on the website to increase conversions
Benefits of Improving Customer Experience
- Customer retention – According to a PWC study, 32 percent of consumers will walk away from a brand after one horrible experience. Therefore, improving customer experience should increase consumer retention.
- More word-of-mouth referrals – People generally talk about good experiences, so you can earn more positive recommendations when customer experience is spectacular.
- Increase customer loyalty – Consumers usually stick with brands that consistently provide excellent customer experiences. As a result, an investment in customer experience is a revenue-generating opportunity.
- Win more customers – Improving customer experience eliminates friction or potential bottlenecks in the sales process, making it easier to onboard new customers.
- Better consumer engagement – Good customer experience can create the right conditions, making consumers more willing to engage and share information with brands.
- Mitigate risks – Companies that provide great customer experiences earn more consumer trust. When people trust your brand, most will come to you first whenever there’s a problem or complaint. Therefore, you can better manage your brand’s reputation.
Wrapping Up
Your website is an integral consumer touchpoint, so customer experience should be among the top focus. Take a look at your site to see where you can improve things for the customer. Balance aesthetics, usability, and convenience for best results.