A message has just pinged through on my WhatsApp.. “have you seen this”. It’s from a friend and he knows what boils me. It’s a link to a website, a redesigned new website. It’s awful. He knows it’s awful and if the owners don’t then something is a foot.
Off course I’m not going to say what’s wrong or which company it is, that’s not right for me to do. But it is a dog’s dinner, but how does a newly designed website in 2023 look poor.
Let’s use the website as inspiration to understand how and where new website design goes wrong:
Too many stakeholders.
Ok, so your boss is your boss, and their boss and so on and so forth. We are compelled to do what they want us to do, they pay our wages, it’s their business, right? WRONG! If a website is designed to appease stakeholders then who is thinking of the customer. The website in question is crammed at the top, it’s like a hit list of we “must have this and this and this and…”
Stop, take a minute to think it through, do you really need all this “stuff”? Does any of it actually make any sense to a customer. It’s a B2C website and frankly I’m confused as to where they want me to go as I’m hit with not one, not two but three menus. Three!! Errr… Are you selling me your brand, your products, your ethics, your USP’s or can I just get to where I want to go asap please. I think it’s clear stakeholders high up have tried to cram it all in and as marketers we have to be brave, we have to speak up for UX else the site is… Well redundant.
No customer journey
Away from stakeholders who do we actually make websites for? Customer or clients or end users and what do they want? The information they need asap, do they want five clicks to get to their product? Do they want three menus to dischipher to get where they need? We know the answer is no.
Before any website is put into code the customer or end user MUST be put into place and frankly how this isn’t happening in 2023 shocks me. Live your marketing through the eyes of your customers it makes your marketing better, trust us!
Audience definition
Not all business sells to everyone, some can claim to, maybe a Tesco but even in supermarkets their are budget and high end brands. Different horses for different course and your website, brand or product is no different.
So who are you trying to sell to? What’s your target audience? How do they get their information? What do they want to see from your brand? How tech savvy are they? Put your eyes on your audience before putting your website into code and make it an experience for them to use your website or simply lose them.
Language
There is nothing more inaccessible on a website than language which can alienate an audience. Just that sentence alone could alienate some of my audience. The rule of Einstein is if you can’t explain it to a 6 year old then you don’t understand it yourself, maybe go with a 10 year old with content writing, in the main, stick to that.
Simplifying language makes the website easier for everyone to access, for example price low to high, rather than ascending and descending. It stops a, customer feeling stupid for not knowing and b, less clicks. We all want less clicks, so keep the language accessible… It’s not a spreadsheet!
That’s what I can pick up from this particular website. I hope it’s insightful, I hope I’ve caught you before a website launch and you can adjust. If anything here needs explaining or you want to see how we go through a website redesign, just email us at tired@fatherof4.co.uk and we’ll be happy to chat.
