Creating and launching your startup website can be super exciting. But what to do if your brilliant business idea doesn't get any traction - and all that despite heavy content marketing and advertising days before the launch?
It could be that your startup is not disruptive enough, and looks just like many other similar businesses. And while this usually happens because of a bad UVP, the way you present your offer is just as important. The good news is, there are specific web design tactics which you can use to boost your chances of acquiring new customers.
Trend #1: It's All About Speed
Before we even start talking about the looks of the website itself, it's important to keep in mind that nowadays, more and more people visit sites using their mobile phones or tablets. Often, the connection is not as good as on a desktop PC, which may be significantly affecting the loading time. And it's a well-known fact that website speed can be detrimental to conversion. Especially if you are new and unknown. No one is going to wait for ages for your site to appear, and your credibility will dwindle!
But it's not just the size of the website that affects its loading time. If you use a lot of extra features like animations or videos, you need a reliable hosting that comes with dedicated resources so that others who host their sites on it don't affect you. Sadly, not all managed hosting packages come with a guarantee of exclusive access to resources.
A great (and affordable - unlike many managed VPS options) exception to that rule is a cloud package from Hostinger. By getting a managed hosting, you will be able to focus on your startup, without having to worry about the security or optimization of the server.
Trend #2: Your Website Will Have to Be Mobile-Friendly. Period.
The industry has been talking about the responsive design for quite a few years already. But mobile friendliness is more than making your website usable on a mobile phone. On top of making it responsive, you need to take care that it loads fast (as mentioned in the previous point), doesn't require too many resources (so you might have to get rid of some of its features or at least prevent them from loading on mobile), and is easy to navigate. A great way of improving the latter (is a so-called hamburger menu.
And how to check whether your existing startup website is mobile-friendly? It's best to go straight to Google itself and use their mobile website test - especially that your mobile optimization can affect your search engine rankings.
Trend #3 Website Visitors Need Answers to Their Questions 24/7
As a new business out there, you will need to fight for new customers all the time. And those are often impatient, lazy, and unless your offer is super unique, can access five different companies in a single Google search. This is why a website chat will become a must-have for any company site - not just those of start-ups.
But what if you can't afford to hire a customer support representative to have someone answer questions of your audience website 24/7? This is where Robochats can help you. While they can't fully substitute a real person (yet!), you can easily program them to answer the most common queries. And the best is, your customers won't have to wait in line for their turn.
Trend #4: Interactive Website Elements
The next interesting, and in my opinion very effective, addition to every website are interactive elements which can significantly boost user experience. By allowing the user to play with the website, you increase the time they spend on the site, grab their attention, and, potentially, make them more interested in the offer.
Naturally, it's best if the interactions are part of the sales process and lead to increasing the customers' understanding of your product and its benefits or guide them towards an opt-in (or any other micro-commitment). If you merely allow them to click a few elements with no purpose behind them, it's quite probable that they will click a few buttons, leave, and forget about your startup just as quickly as they appeared on your website.
Trend #5: Videos and Animations
Websites featuring videos aren't really that new, but thanks to better video file conversion possibilities and increasing connection speeds, adding a video to your site makes a lot more sense than it used to. Mainly that a well-planned clip can tell a lot more than written words.
Of course, if you want to include a background video on your website, you will need to follow a few important rules not to kill your conversion potential:
Make sure that your video is relevant to your startup, your brand, and your offer. Don't use one just for the sake of having something move on your site.
It's best if you restrict auto-play from mobile or turn it off altogether, giving your users the option to click a play button to turn it on.
Don't add any sound - unless it's a promotional video, in which case; it shouldn't be put in a background in the first place.
Don't make it too long (unless it's an explainer video - but that's an entirely different type of video) and make sure it evokes positive emotions.
Trend #6: Unique Graphics & Illustrations
Stock photos are dead. They are ugly, everyone has seen them at least once, and can hurt your branding more than anything. On top of that, they look unnatural and make it hard to establish a relationship with your audience - not to mention that they can hurt your credibility badly.
That's why investing in custom design can bring your business more benefits than ever before. Unique graphics not only make your startup stand out but make it easier for you to explain your UVP. Additionally, they make your site more memorable, which helps build a connection between your offer and your brand, and increases the probability that your site visitors will share your startup with their friends.
Of course, you don't necessarily have to invest in illustrations. If you prefer photos to images, there's nothing wrong with either of them. But if you're going to use pictures of people, it's best to feature your actual employees or customers in them.
Trend #7: You Need to Be Very Clear About Your Offer
It doesn't matter how many great-looking web design tweaks you use on your website if you fail to tell your audience what your startup is about. That's why more and more startups, on top of working with web developers and graphic designers, will employ professional copywriters to help them find the right message and emphasize their Unique Value Proposition.
Why being direct and understanding your audience increases the chance of conversion? It's simple. Just 2 out of 10 people who visit your site will read anything more than the headlines. People are busy, impatient and tired of over-complicated slogans and want to hear the benefit that they will get from you as soon as they enter your site.
Naturally, these are not the only trends that are worth keeping an eye on in the coming year. But a good offer is often no longer enough if you want to grab the attention of your audience and make a memorable first impression.
Your website visitors want to be surprised and entertained. That's why to make your startup competitive; its website will have to be unique, interactive, user-friendly and optimized for conversion. But you can truly achieve the latter only if you take care of the former three.
