10 Common Web Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

web design mistakes

Remarkably, 28% of small businesses still don’t have a website? A website is a great way for small businesses to distinguish themselves from their competitors as well as promote and sell their services and products.

While having any old website is better than not having one at all, there are a lot of web design mistakes that can be made that can drive customers to competitor sites.

When designing business websites, there are a number of things businesses will want to avoid to ensure that their prospective customers have a good user experience rather than a frustrating one.

Let’s take a look at 10 of the most common web design mistakes.

1. Not Having a Mobile-Friendly Website

These days, it isn’t enough for a website to work perfectly on a computer. Almost everyone these days uses their smartphone or device to access the Internet. This means that a website needs to be functional on any kind of device no matter what.

2. Not Having a Fast Loading Time

Most people won’t wait around for a website allowed for more than five seconds. If a business doesn’t have a fast loading time for their web pages, many of their prospective customers will bounce off their site and had over to their competitor’s sites.

Slow loading times are often the result of inexperienced designers and developers. Sometimes sites are overloaded with animations, videos, or pictures that cause the site to load slowly.

3. Having Too Much Going On

Sometimes people try to put way too much information on one page. This can create a confusing visual environment that leads their audience to wander away in search of a more straightforward site.

Users need to be able to understand what a business is and what they do in only a couple of seconds after they show up. If they can’t, the process can become frustrating and they will just leave.

Businesses also don’t want their website to have too much text, videos, and images that slow loading time and create a chaotic visual environment.

4. Having Too Little Going On

While it is important to not have too much going on on a site, it’s also important to not have the opposite problem. If there is so little information on a website that users don’t understand the product or service, this is going to hurt the business.

Minimalism is a trend in web design and for good reason. However, it is not a good idea to have a website that leaves customers guessing. If the website only had a couple of short sentences and simple, stock imagery, there is a good chance that visitors will bounce off and find a website that has more going on.

Hiring a web design agency is often the best way to avoid these mistakes. Here are 7 factors to consider when choosing a web design service.

5. Not Having a Solid Digital Marketing Strategy

A beautiful website is a wonderful thing, but if a brand doesn’t have a solid digital marketing strategy no one will ever know that it’s there. It can be a good idea to hook up with a professional digital marketing agency so that they can take care of their SEO and content marketing needs. This way, they can focus on driving traffic to a website while the business owner can focus on what they do best: running their business.

It’s also very important to prioritize creating high-quality content as a part of a business’s digital marketing strategy. Video marketing and content marketing are a major part of the digital marketing world, with many companies these days maintaining blogs.

It isn’t enough to just have a blog. The content a brand produces needs to be original, valuable, and useful to the reader. If it’s bland and regurgitated, or worse yet, filled with grammatical and spelling errors, it won’t give people confidence in the brand.

Content is a major part of the voice of a company. People are consciously or unconsciously deciding whether or not a brand is high-quality or obviously unprofessional from the content produced. This includes both the visual aesthetics of the blog as well as the tone of voice and quality of the writing.

As a side note, another common web design mistake is to design a website before having a fleshed-out brand identity. It’s important to have consistency in branding across a website, products, and physical storefront or office. If there isn’t, it can create a disconnect and sense of unease in the audience.

6. Neglecting to Include Contact Information

It’s hard to believe, but one common web design mistake is to neglect to include contact information. If there is nothing else on a website, it should always give the customer information about how to contact the company. This is particularly true if a business has an incredibly sparse website that leads customers with many questions they want to be answered.

There should always be a “contact us” page that is only one click away. It’s also a good idea to have the contact information listed at the bottom of every webpage on the site.

7. Having Broken Links

When launching a website, it is essential to make sure that there are no broken links. A website that has links that don’t work, there’s a high likelihood that the user immediately assumes that the business was at best unprofessional and at worst a total scam. This is the last thing that a brand wants is their potential customers to take away from their experience on the website.

8. Being Visually Unattractive

Web design is not a field where brands can simply throw things against the wall to see what sticks. There is a logic to web design that factors in aesthetics, tone, branding, and psychology.

When a website is filled with ugly or relevant images, has a poorly chosen color scheme, or has no rhyme or reason for the use of fonts, people will notice. It makes a company seem less legitimate and reputable and gives an unfortunate first impression of the brand.

It’s very important to pay attention to color and contrast when designing a website. It can be very offputting for a website to be overloaded with very bright colors, for example. It’s also essential that there is enough contrast between the background and tax that it can be easily read.

9. Lack of Organization

A website should be organized in a way that users can find the information they are looking for with hardly any effort. It’s important to understand how much information people have access to these days and therefore how impatient they are when it comes to searching for what they’re looking for.

It’s important to remember navigation when adding new pages. During the design and launch of the website, navigation is often planned carefully. However, one needs to consider navigation just as much if not more when they add more pages over time.

When producing content as a part of a marketing strategy, make sure that blog posts are filled with relevant visual data and images, broken up into subheaders, and utilize bullet points and lists.

Remember to keep plenty of white space around text to make information easy to digest. It can be tempting to try and use up all of the available real estate when designing business websites. However, people are easily overwhelmed by walls of text or not enough white space, so always lean towards leaving more negative space than one would think necessary.

Pages that don’t have enough white space tend to look unprofessional. People are usually scanning websites rather than reading every word.

10. Not Having a Call-to-Action

Lastly, it’s important to always have a call to action. This is going to be different for every website, but once a business has gotten a prospective customer on their site, they want to drive them to take further action. If they don’t, they will most likely leave without signing up for their email list, browsing their products, or reading about the services they offer.

Businesses Should Avoid These Web Design Mistakes At All Costs!

When it comes time to create a website, many people don’t realize just how difficult designing business websites are. There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of different aspects of a site that can drive away potential customers.

One way to avoid these web design mistakes is to hire a professional web design agency. They will have the experience and the knowledge to create a functional, fast, flexible, and stylish website for a small business.

Is it time to hire a web design agency? If so, contact Killerspots Agency today!

How On-Hold Messaging Can Benefit Your Business

on-hold messaging

Many American consumers may end up spending half their lives on hold. It’s estimated that Americans spent 900 million hours on hold in one year. That’s about 43 years out of their lives.

On-hold music usually makes the wait more bearable. Research showed that callers are more likely to stay on the line at least 30 seconds longer. Commercials are even more effective as they keep them on the line for at least three minutes. 

However, with the hectic pace of life and the growing demand for faster service, buyers may be more likely to hang up completely and try another company. Having callers on hold is sometimes inevitable, but this time provides an ideal opportunity for businesses to capture the attention of potential customers. 

Companies can strike a perfect balance with on-hold messaging. It can alleviate the irritation of being on hold while providing customers with relevant information. Here’s how.

What Is an On-Hold Message?

An on-hold message is a scripted recording a caller hears while they wait to speak with a representative after contacting a company. It’s a business marketing strategy that’s also known as audio marketing or on-hold messaging. It provides a way for businesses of all sizes to communicate to their customers while they’re being transferred or are waiting on hold.

On-hold messaging can enhance a customer’s overall experience while interacting with a company. This improves the reputation of the business and increases the likelihood that a potential customer will purchase the company’s product or service. It’s a branding strategy that can increase a company’s revenue.

Examples of On-Hold Messages

No one enjoys waiting after making a call. Especially when the information needed is simple. However, due to high call volumes, sometimes businesses cannot avoid this.

Some businesses also have products or services that may require more in-depth conversations about their use. This can also increase the length of time that other callers are waiting to speak to a representative.

Time is money for customers and businesses. Companies can use this time, to satisfy their customers, or promote their products to increase sales. Here are a few examples businesses can use for their on-hold messaging.

The message can:

  • Thank the customer for calling
  • Apologize to the customer for the wait time
  • Indicate how long the wait may be or the customer’s place in line
  • Provide information about the company, its products, services, and experience
  • Indicate the company’s location or give directions and hours of operation
  • Highlight the company’s website and social media presence
  • Give details about specific products or services or highlight new products or services
  • Inform customers about company policies such as returns or warranties
  • Provide testimonials or reviews of the company
  • Inform them about special promotions, offers, or sales

Businesses can use these examples individually or combine one or more of them. The key is to provide customers with the information they need and want. The aim is to ensure the message is interesting or relevant enough to keep them on the line.

Benefits of On-Hold Messaging

On-hold messaging is an essential business marketing tool that enhances the professionalism of any business. It provides the opportunity for a company to show customers that they value their time and loyalty. Any business that implements an on-hold messaging system can benefit in the following ways every time a caller is on hold.

Keep Customers on the Line

Anyone who calls a business represents an engaged prospect. This customer has chosen a specific company to call to either obtain information about or purchase a product or service. The business has already caught their attention and should keep it if they want a sale.

An on-hold message keeps potential customers engaged especially if it provides the information they may have been calling for. It often keeps customers from hanging up and trying another business. It’s the first step in building customer relationships so it should be a positive experience.

Increase Sales

A potential customer that has a positive experience with a company will be more willing to purchase from that business. A study conducted by Walker last year found that customer experience was a key brand differentiator, often more than product or price. 

On-hold messaging provides an opportunity for brands to make a good first impression. They can promote their products and services as well as provide information that may provide a solution to a potential customer’s problem. This can increase the chances of the customer purchasing the company’s product. The caller may even include additional products that they had no intention of buying before based on the information they heard while on hold.

Showcase Lower-Performing or Lesser-Known Products

Businesses can create attention for lesser-known or lower-performing products with a captive audience. On-hold message scripts can promote these products.

Even though these products may be unfamiliar to customers, they might also be useful. But customers won’t know that unless they are told.

Enhance the Customer Experience

On-hold messaging ensures a caller’s wait time is not in vain. The system it’s built on also facilitates getting customers to where they need to be faster. On-hold messaging is usually incorporated into an interactive voice response (IVR) system and auto attendants.

This allows a business to route calls based on what the customer is looking for. It gives callers various options that direct them to the appropriate agent or department for assistance. This usually results in shorter wait times and faster service delivery.

Promote Company Brand and Products

A company can reinforce the benefits of using their brand or promote their products to customers on hold. Businesses can even go as far as using a voice that becomes representative of their brand. The voice can be an extension of the business’ style and tone and reinforce company values.

As the voice becomes synonymous with the business, a company can use it to reinforce its brand to create brand loyalty, stand out from competitors and leave a positive impression.

Knowing what on-hold messaging can do for a business is important, but first, a company should know how to get started.

Building an On-Hold Messaging Strategy

Having an on-hold messaging strategy is essential for successful implementation. This will take time but should be well thought out to ensure proper execution. Here are the key steps businesses should follow to create an on-hold messaging strategy.

Identify the Main Message

A business should focus on the benefits of on-hold messaging and build on them to create its main messages. They should look at ways to use the message to promote their business. They can achieve this by reviewing some of the following:

  • Reasons customers contact their business
  • The information that would be beneficial to customers while on hold
  • The information customers ask for regularly (directions, hours of operations, location)
  • Channels available for customers to get additional information (website, social media, etc.)
  • The promotion of new products or services 
  • Special promotions that may interest callers
  • Lesser-known products and services that would be of interest to customers

The answers to some of these will indicate the best messaging for the company. It is a great place for any business to start formulating a strategy.

Write a Script

Businesses can use these main messages to start creating a script. If they don’t have the expertise in-house they can hire an experienced company that provides on-hold messaging services.

An on-hold messaging company will help them to create a script that is conversational and flows naturally. To ensure the message is effective, on-hold messaging experts will read the script aloud ensuring there is clarity in the messaging and its flow.

Ideally, each part should include one to two sentences so that callers hear the key messages before they decide to hang up. The aim should be to make each short and sweet.

Formulate a Production Plan

Production will include the recording and delivery of the message. A business should choose a voice that reflects the general culture of its company. If the company stresses its years of experience in all of its messaging, the voice chosen should project this for listeners.

The business must know the tools and hardware that it requires to incorporate the message into its current system. They should ensure they use a system that’s manageable and provides the option of in-house updates, if necessary.

It’s also wise for a company to designate someone to update the scripts.

If a company is uncertain, they can always defer to the experts who will let them know the equipment needed and the easiest way to update the system regularly.

Messaging That Sells

There’s a general obsession with saving time or using it wisely. Consumers are definitely not immune to it. They often demand service in the shortest possible time where possible. Businesses don’t like making their customers wait, but often this is inevitable. However, it doesn’t have to be to a business’ detriment.

On-hold messaging has become a great way for businesses to capture their customer’s attention. It makes the customer’s hold time more bearable and allows the company to provide relevant information that can benefit the customer.

However, an effective on-hold messaging strategy is necessary for a company to truly benefit from its implementation. The Killer Creative Blog assists companies in formulating an on-hold strategy that works. We provide customized messaging and music to keep customers engaged. Contact us for a quote today!