Seth Godin speaks about how he used design to generate interest in his book and inspire people to make a purchase.
All posts by Craig
9 Benefits of Taking Design Seriously
Taking design seriously can help your small business stand out and be memorable when the competition for your customers attention is ever increasing.
“Business people need to develop a better understanding of design, form partnerships between themselves and creativity, and apply strategy to design thinking, in order to compete effectively today.” -Fast Company
9 Benefits of Quality Design
- Create a good first impression
- Quickly illustrate the quality of your company, products and/or services
- Gain instant credibility
- Establish a level of trust between your company and customers
- Simplify communication
- Increase usability
- Increase customer engagement
- Differentiate your company from your competition
- Increase readability, scan-ability and legibility
Having a well designed branding materials, such as your website and logo tell your customers a lot about your company, your products or your services. A good designer can make a tremendous difference to your company’s image as well as your overall business.
How do you view design?
User Interface Research
I came across this interesting class project for the Advanced Interface Design Class at the Art Institute of Atlanta.
The ten question survey collects your answers and then shows the cumulative results for over 30,000 other users who have also went through and answered these questions. The stated goal of studying design elements is to help “build better websites.” The data is interesting but personally, I’m not sure of the value.
The Diluted Thanksgiving Experience
Thanksgiving has come and gone and I wonder if anyone really noticed?
Halloween generates a fair amount of buzz as does Christmas but sandwiched in between those two is a holiday that anymore seems to be just a pass-through day to the “real” holiday, Black Friday. Thanksgiving, the day before Black Friday, Black Friday Eve.
The most recent sales figures seem to emphasize this thought:
- Online spending was up 29% ($272 million) Thanksgiving Day and up 22% ($531 million) on Black Friday
- comScore expects Cyber Monday sales be even stronger than Black Friday’s and to exceed $700 million
- ShopperTrak RCT Corp., stated total sales rose 8.3% to about $10.3 billion on Friday
Headlines in the media are all about Black Friday:
- Midnight shopping lures Black Friday hordes CNN
- Stores Lure Shoppers Before Black Friday Forbes
- Black Friday carries retailers’ hopes for profitable holidays San Fransisco Chronicle
What happened to the experience of gathering together on Thanksgiving, eating turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie, watching football and giving thanks for what is truly meaningful?
7 Ways Besides SEO to Gain Website Traffic
Today, having a website for your business is an important (maybe the most important) piece of your marketing plan, both online and off. Over ninety percent of large businesses and forty percent of small businesses have a site. However, just having a site doesn’t guarantee success.
7 Ways to Gain Website Traffic
- Your Employees:Your website has to be on the top of everyone’s mind throughout your organization. Directing everyday inquiries to the website is the first step in gaining more usage to your website.
- Voice Mail: Use your “on hold” message to direct people to your website. This is extremely important when a user calls after hours or on weekends when you are running with a slimmed down, or no, staff. Ask all your employees to mention the website in their personal message also.
- Press Releases: Send out a traditional press release after your site is launched and then periodically throughout the year on new site features and/or services to continue generating awareness.
- Magazines and/or Newspapers: Submit articles to your local magazines and newspapers to get the word out about your website.
- Advertisements in Trade Publications: If the audience you are trying to reach is more business to business run ads in market specific trade publications
- Email Communications: Requesting all employees list the website address in their email signature will help keep the word out about the website as well as develop a stronger brand.
- Awards: Submit your website for various awards. There are numerous sites that make it easy for you to submit your website. With a little luck winning an award will enable you to generate more press opportunities.
If your website is going unused and unnoticed the amount of effort you’ve spent on determining the site goals, designing the site, planning the navigation and usability, etc. is going to be wasted.
Contact Small Farm Design to help develop a website promotion plan.
Why Design is Important for Small Business
Simply put, design is a means for your business to communicate its value in a way that stands out and grabs peoples’ attention.
“I believe that in a crowded marketplace, design is the most potent tool for differentiating one’s products or services.†Tom Peters, Management Consultant
Your company is not alone. You have competitors, we all do. Design will help you deliver a message that differentiates your products or services from your competitors.
Perception is ultimately reality and you must show your value immediately to your customers. The effort placed into creating the design of your website, logo, business cards, etc. will be seen as soon as your customer interacts with anyone of these. This initial impression with your company will begin to formulate your customers perceived value of your company, products and/or services.
The primary purpose of design is to deliver a message. Whether you message is buy more widgets, or call to schedule an appointment, design puts organization and order into that message so that it is delivered to your customers in a way that makes sense, and is appealing to them.
Design plays a critical role in making information easy to understand and use. Anything from a website that makes ordering a pair of shoes easy to a business card that clearly indicates who you are and how best to contact you, good design streamline this process.
So, you can see design is important for your business. Design is how customers see your company. Perception is reality.
Does My Small Business Need a Website
Why does my business really need a website? My customers are all local I don’t see the value in a website. How can it possibly help me?
This is a common question that comes up time and time again for many small business owners who have only local customers. Instead of asking if you need a website ask yourself “Would my business benefit from exposure 24-hours 7 days a week, 365 days a year?” The answer should now be a little clearer. No other medium allows you to expose all the benefits of your small business to your target market at their convenience and provide a source of direct communications from them to you?
Any business that is currently in the yellow pages should also be online. And any business that isn’t currently in the yellow pages should consider going online first before the yellow pages. The internet is where your customers expect to find you. The internet is where your customers are.
Having a website allows your potential customers to gather the information they need from their own computer monitors. Are there questions your potential customers ask daily? Are there typical items that help sell your products or services, a list of features, or a bulleted list of services? This is the information that needs to be available 24/7 on your site.
Customers prefer to gather information anonymously. They simply like to gather information before they put themselves in a position where they’ll likely be asked to answer questions. The majority of your customers prefer to know what they’re coming to buy before they walk in your door and will appreciate an informative site that functions as an expert salesperson during all those hours you’re not open for business.
Think about how many times you have used a search engine within the past week to research a product or service that you were considering purchasing. The benefits of a website are innumerable.
Professionally Designed Websites Matter
Have you ever found yourself searching for something online and came across a site that just didn’t leave you with a good impression? You know the kind, hard navigate, not very visually pleasing, maybe be a bit shady looking. If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation did you stay on the site or leave only to continue your search?
More than likely you left and kept searching. A 2002 Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility study shows that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone.
Having a website is a reflection on your company. If your site looks horrible this will reflect onto your products and/or services, in turn visitors will assume that your products and/or services are horrible.
As the old adage goes, “You may never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” This is even more important with your website. The impression made on your visitors will greatly determine whether or not that visitor becomes a customer. Having a professionally designed website might mean the difference between just another visitor and a qualified lead.
Any designer can design a website. Finding a designer that understands how to align your business goals with usability best practices and design theory is where the true talent comes in.
Having a professionally designed website really does matter and is well worth the investment.
A Gift, an E-commerce Site and Bad Navigation
A recent online experience got me thinking more about how e-commerce sites really should focus in on what a usable site consists of.
A quick story.
Our middle son is having a birthday in a couple of weeks and my wife went online to order a gift he wanted (The Mystery Rock – an archeologist’s excavation kit). She knew what he wanted since he marked the item in the catalog. She had a couple of questions about whether he really wants, and if he’ll enjoy it, etc. so called me to get my opinion.
View larger imageI proceed to go to the website and try to find the gift in question. Here is where it falls apart.
Upon arriving at the homepage I begin my hunt for a link that will take me to where I think I need to go. But in looking at the options I pause and begin to wonder where to go.
I’m presented with “Gifts by Age,” pretty straightforward but I skipped right over these, I had an idea what I was looking for. Instead, I went to “Toys by Category.”
Now, my mind begins running through the scenarios listed below:
- Science Activities – archeology is science, but maybe this toy requires some more cognitive thought
- Cognitive Play – hmm, pounding a rock, OK probably not here
- Creative Activities – it definitely is a creative idea, but how much creativity is involved finding bones?
- Outdoor Activities – I guess it could be messy, kids + dirt = mess
View larger imageMeanwhile, as I try to figure out what to click, my wife, who has already read me the entire description from the catalog is wondering what the heck I’m doing and wants an answer.
I decided to just search for the product number, which got me there quickly and I was able to answer my wife’s question (I believe she had already made the decision while I was having navigation woes).
Needless to say the navigation failed me. Had we not had the catalog the site may have failed me, in turn the site would have lost a sale.
As I’ve mentioned in another post e-commerce sites need to focus on usability.
Zappos Understands Experience Matters
I came across this postI Heart Zappos (via 37 Signals) that stood out as a company that gets user experience.
A customer ordered a few pairs of shoes for her mother from Zappos and for one reason or another needed to return them. Various issues cropped up, lost packaging slip, illness, out of town, caused the shoes to sit around an not be returned within the 15 day window. In the meantime, sadly, the customer’s mother passes away.
Zappos emailed the customer to inquire about the shoes since they had not yet been returned (customer service plus #1). The customer replied and informed Zappos that her mother has just died that the shoes would be sent back as soon as possible. Zappos then emailed back to say they have arranged for a UPS pick up of the shoes so the customer wouldn’t have to take the time to do it herself (customer service plus #2).
A few days later the customer receives a large bouquet of flowers with a card that read from Zappos (customer service plus #3).
Not only did Zappos ignore company policy by excepting the shoes after the return window expired, they made a personal connection with a customer. Zappos understands why experience matters.