12 Features of a Website To Boost Sales And Engagement
Designing and developing a website that makes it easy for users to find the information they need or complete the actions they want to take (or your business wants them to take) is the key to boosting sales and customer engagement.
As designers, a business owner is not in our mind when creating a website, their audience is! Therefore it is important that we have a blend of features tailored to serve your target audience that can make your website one of your most efficient and effective sales tools. Here, 15 members of Forbes Technology Council share design elements that companies ranging from product and service firms to e-commerce businesses can include on their websites to increase engagement and boost sales.
Members of Forbes Technology Council share features of a business website or app that can boost sales and engagement.
1. Product Videos
“What we have found very useful is to include short (30- to 60-second) videos describing specific product capabilities. These are useful for users who want to quickly understand what the product features look like.” - Ben Herzberg, Satori. We have found this to be true when selling our website templates online. Including a short video of how our products look in real life, has helped our audience visualise how their future website could look.
2. Interactive Elements
User experience is complete only when one can interact! “Adding interactive design elements to a website could lead to a better user and customer experience, thereby leading to increased sales and engagement.” - Arungalai Anbarasu, Waygate Technologies - a Baker Hughes Business.
As you can see on our homepage, we have features that encourage our audience to engage and interact with the content,
3. A Clear, Consistent Call To Action
As elementary as it may sound, a consistent, obvious call to action is essential!
“Consistency is key to the user experience. The smallest user hesitancy can begin to chip away at conversions. Your website may involve different funnels and target varying audiences, but when it comes time to take action, the next step should be evident almost without thought.” - Denver Hunter, PenServ Plan Services, Inc.
This is a really important feature to us when designing your websites! We always tell your audience the action we want them to take multiple times throughout the site to help them along their buyer’s journey.
4. A ‘Let’s Talk Now’ Button or Chat Box
“What’s better than a “Contact Us” button? A “Let’s Talk Now” button. When a user goes through the trouble of submitting a contact form, at that exact moment they have top-of-mind awareness of your business and are much more likely to buy from you. Instead of having a sales rep call them later, implement a feature that calls them right away and connects them with someone who can help.” - Adi Ekshtain, Amaryllis Payment Solutions
You may have noticed a “Chat Now” tab on our website. We pride ourselves on responding very quickly to potential clients and this has certainly helped us a lot!
5. Valuable Content
“We believe it is important to provide value to the people who come to our website. Creating appropriate content for leads is a great way to start sales conversations and increase engagement”. - Matt Pierce, Immediate
Creating a blog has certainly helped us and a lot of our clients to reach wider audiences and be discovered by new potential customers. Developing great content that helps our audience places us as an authority within the industry and encourages people to come back to learn more.
6. Faster Service For Past Visitors
“Make your website easy to figure out, and do as much for your audience as possible. The first time I purchase from a website, I expect to need to complete a few extra steps, but if I need to return, there are things you should know about me and steps I shouldn’t have to do.” - Laureen Knudsen, Broadcom
This is really important for both E-Commerce and Service based websites! People want things to be as simple and easy as possible so installing software that can provide them with an easier checkout process is a key factor for them returning again.
7. A Customer-Focused Story
“Instead of bragging about yourself, tell a story about your customers. Illustrate how your product can solve their problem. Use words and images that show how much better your visitors’ lives will be after using your product.” - Konstantin Klyagin, Redwerk
When working with us we will always ask you what your customer struggles most with or what your customer want to achieve when interacting with your business. This is because we want to make them the hero of the story and your product the tool they used to become that hero!
8. Tool Tips And User Guide Buttons
“Website design has improved in the areas of tool tips and user guide bubbles. Nowadays, many websites include a preview of new features, with bubbles and tool tips to guide the user. This helps improve sales conversions and engage customers in looking at new products and services. Tool tips and help options guide the user through a fruitful user journey”. - Bhagvan Kommadi, Quantica Computacao
9. Reputable Social Proof
“Reputable social proof is basically anything that validates your business or product and can build trust in visitors’ eyes. It can be an external reviews widget such as Trustpilot or Yotpo, testimonials from previous clients, a link to a press release, etc2 - Arturs Kruze, Magebit
Reviews are extremely important because they will make new potential customers more confident in your product and thus encouraging them to purchase it.
10. Multiple, Convenient Payment Options
For websites that sell directly to consumers, reducing the friction of the purchase will definitely widen the funnel. Many browsers allow users to store credit card info and also, use Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and other well-known payment apps. You can also reduce friction by letting people pay securely and using previously-stored payment and shipping info. - Luke Wallace, Bottle Rocket
We always encourage our clients to add multiple payment options to their websites as you don’t want to lose a sale simply because the person didn’t have their preferred payment option.
11. Speed
“The speed and performance of your website have a huge impact on bounce rates. If your site takes more than three seconds to load on mobile devices, you’re going to lose customers.” - Henri Isenberg, ReviewInc
When we design websites we always include an SEO service. Part of this service is checking the speed of your site and ensuring we have done everything we can to ensure that your website loads as quickly as possible so that you don’t lose customers.
12. Simplicity
“Adopting the principle that “less is more” is key to conversions, when a user is not bogged down by complex designs or text-heavy content, They can make decisions and see value immediately.” - Iman Bashir, Craftly.AI
This is the key to our designs and all of our re-designs! Removing unnecessary content, and allowing your audience to see exactly what you do/sell and how it will improve their lives, is at the forefront of all of our designs.
If you are looking for a website featuring all of the above, why not contact us to discuss all of your needs! We design and develop websites for small to medium-sized businesses specializing in the Creative and Wellness Industries.
