A client of mine has an ecommerce website which works incredibly well and makes a ton of sales throughout the year. It’s in my portfolio, and I am very proud of the design. The problem is that when potential clients visit my portfolio, they see the design, tell me it’s not to their taste, and think negatively about my design abilities. ‘But if 100 clients tell you it’s not to their liking, then perhaps you need to listen to them!’ I hear a voice in the wilderness cry out. But I know something they don’t… the design works for THAT market, which is the key to it’s success. Business owners are NOT that website’s target audience! So how should designers and businesses alike approach the issue of design so that at the end of the day, the website wins?
Don’t design for the owner, design for the customer.
There is nothing more detrimental to business, in my opinion, than for a designer to build a website for the owner as an automaton, rather than using some insight and designing with the customers in mind. Sure, the website owner may get exactly what they want, but if that site doesn’t appeal to their market, the site is doomed and you will now have a client who is angry at you for designing a website that doesn’t work!
In a perfect world, the business owner knows their market inside out. They know what will appeal to their customers, they know how to sell to them, they know how to close. But this is not a perfect world and many business owners have little understanding of what makes their market tick. So, should a web designer make the call? Not at all… but a good designer should do their research and find out more about the market so as to guide the business owner in matters of design. A good designer knows, in broad terms, what will and won’t work on any given website. A successful business owner knows, in broad terms, what will work for them. It’s just a matter of the two parties working together to nail their market without being distracted by the ‘designs I like’ scenario. It is very rare that a business owner will be the same demographic as their customers.
Stick to what you know will work.
If there is a particular element in a design that you know works, use it! As an example, many business owners are scared of using elements such as a strong call to action (’Call Us Today! Buy Now! Save Money Today!’) but hey, it works well, so why be afraid to use it? We don’t suggest that our clients SCREAM it out from a rooftop… that would be as annoying as those clearance sale ads where the voiceover shouts out the message over and over again. What we suggest is to NOT be afraid to try the methods that have proven successful time and time again.
Industry leaders know what you don’t.
The leaders of any industry have already done their homework. They know what will work and what won’t. They have probably invested a lot of time and money into these methods, possibly through experienced marketing people, more often than not through trial and error. Why not save yourself the effort (and dollars) and duplicate what they are doing? This doesn’t mean you copy them to the letter. You simply take their concept, and improve upon it. That’s evolution for you. It’s how the world turns, learns and grows. Then when YOU become the industry leader, you can be the poor sucker who has to invest money into discovering how to stay ahead of the pack! Lucky you!
Is coding that important?
Look, as a developer, I can say coding is important, but what really matters is what your customers see. Don’t get bogged down by W3C Standards, Accessibility issues, css vs tables, and so forth. Design for your customers and the code will follow. Shock Horror I hear other developers say! No, not really, coding is something for the developer to worry about, not the business owner. Developers - just do your job and let designers and business owners focus on the overall design!
So how do I find out what my target audience wants?
The answer is obvious… ask them! Ask your customers what they want, what they would like to see, what things interest them, what sites they visit. Look at competitor websites and see what they are doing. Market test some designs on your audience and get their feedback.
At the end of the day, the business owner pays the designer, let’s not forget that. But it is my hope that business owners will not see their designers are mindless robots, simply there to push buttons and make a website happen. A good designer is successful because the websites they build produce results. I think there is something in that for everyone!