In the retail business it’s widely known that customers will make a first impression in a very short amount of time; as little as 7 seconds is what has been suggested. That’s why stores spend a fortune on fixtures, lighting and they train staff to greet customers immediately, to make sure that your first impression is a good one.
Take that same concept and move the business online and this now becomes even more critical. What do most people do before they ever enter a retail store or when they want to learn more about a business? They Google it and visit the website of the service provider or retail store. Now the website has the tough task of making a good first impression. Unfortunately you don’t have the opportunity to bring the “people element” into the equation with a personal friendly greeting (although video could do this?) so the website design, look, feel, ease of use is all that you have to work with when trying to make that very important first impression.
If the website has too much going on, it will look cluttered and chaotic. If there’s not enough images, people may get bored with nothing to grab their attention. If they can’t figure out how to move around your website or some elements don’t work, they may leave the website. If the colors are wrong and psychologically aren’t conveying what you want, a customer may be lost. That’s a lot too keep in mind before the customer ever walks into the store or contacts you about the products or services that your provide.
All that to say this; Don’t underestimate the look and feel of your website. Don’t just hire the cheapest website designer that you can find, who knows the technical side of the business but doesn’t understand the marketing. Work with someone that will build a website to resonate with the people that you want to work with or that you want to purchase your products and services.
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