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Websites have become an important communication portal for all organisations and businesses. Poorly designed websites are often the reason for 'high visitor bounce rates' i.e. a visitor coming on to the home or entrance page without exploring other pages on the site.
According to a study, 94% of visitors on a page or site are lost due to poor website design. This makes 'design' a crucial element of any website, especially from a marketing point of view, as it has a role to play in influencing customer perceptions and behaviour.
A lot of research has focused on the factors that affect the success of a website, especially an e-commerce website, and good design has been identified as a key influencer in this respect. But design, very often, boils down to making a choice between a ready template or a bespoke (custom) design. Understanding what users want or expect from your website, could make a good starting point for this.
What does a good website design entail?
One of the first things that most of our clients think of when it comes to website design, is the 'beauty', the 'images', 'fonts', etc.
But surprisingly, a good website design is not all about beauty. In fact, good user experience and ease of navigation make up for more than 60% of a good website design.
Select the right design for your website based on the needs and requirements. Ask yourself the following questions, and the answers may lead you to the type of website design you must go ahead with:
1. How much am I willing to spend?
It’s important to comprehend the fact that your website may not be the right place for budget cuts. It’s the face of your business that’s going to be live 24*7.
Having said that, if you have a restricted budget, a ready website template might be your only choice.
However, the returns from a custom website could be well worth the higher investment, especially in terms of showcasing your products or services and increasing conversions.
2. How much time am I ready to invest?
Developing a custom website would need at least 3 to 4 months, depending upon the content and complexity. Are you willing to wait? If not, you’ll probably have to settle for a ready template website design or a temporary landing page and initiate work on a custom website once you are willing to invest in it.
3. Do I need a flexible and scalable features on my website?
Websites usually have tons of features that you may or may not need. While expanding the features of your template website, you may sometimes experience coding conflicts which may lead to a slower loading time. On the other hand, a custom website gives you the freedom to add as many features, with no inherent limitations and without sacrificing functionality.
4. Do I need a brand-specific website?
Brand identity is what makes your brand unique. Fonts, colours, designs and functionality that are specific to your brand may not be offered on a ready template. So, the question you would need to ask yourself is whether your brand identity can be compromised?
If the answer is no, a custom website design would be the way ahead for you, since it offers a blank slate to work on.
5. Do I want my website to stand out amongst competitors?
Your business ideas, products, services, ethics and customer base may all be exclusive to you. With a ready template website design, it may be difficult to differentiate between your website and any other random website on the internet. Custom websites help you create an online presence that is unique and limited to you and your products or services.
The decision between a custom or template website may be irrelevant or challenging at first. It is important for you to put into perspective and know which of the above questions matter to you. Keep in mind that your website could easily be the first time a customer sees your products or services and leaving a good first impression can often have your website stand out in a crowd, nurture your leads and may also trigger a conversion.
