Web Design Must Haves for Customer Loyalty

What can you do to build better customer loyalty through your website design?

Loyal customers are the golden goose of web commerce and gaining customer loyalty is crucial to online success. Get someone new clicking through to your website and you have maybe a 10% chance that that person will make a purchase (if you are lucky). Get a repeat customer coming back to your site and your chances that they will buy from you increase astronomically. This is where the key components of building customer loyalty come in.

So how do you drive customer loyalty? Obviously you need a great product or service, and awesome, outstanding and superior customer service. But there are also plenty of things you can do with your website alone to increase customer loyalty, to make customers thrilled with their experience with you, and to get customers to recommend you to their friends.

#1. Have a responsive web design

Once upon a time, people browsed the web on bulky things called “desktops” that had large screens where it was possible to view many elements at once. Most web design templates still give these technological dinosaurs pride of place. But that’s not how actual users search the internet anymore. Now, people are browsing more and more from mobile devices and the responsive web design is an absolute must. A site that accommodates a mobile screen by taking the desktop view and making it microscopic is a site that no one is going to waste two seconds on.

Nor does anyone want a mobile site that only has half the functionality of the desktop site. Users want to be able to do everything on their phones that they can on their computers, and they want it to be easy to see and intuitive to work with.

You can have the best product in the world, but if your website can’t be navigated on a mobile phone you are throwing away a ton of potentially loyal customers. Incorporate a responsive web design so that users can easily access your website on whatever screen they happen to have in their hands. Make it so that they can do everything on their phones that they can do on their desktops. Make it convenient.

Front Street Media of El Dorado Hills can help you with this. We specialize in responsive web design and everything about responsive web design that will increase your conversion rates and decrease your bounce rates. When you build your website through us, you can count on your site looking fantastic and performing perfectly, no matter how small a screen your customers are using.

#2. Fish for referrals

The best source of loyal customers is from existing customers. People are far more likely to believe their friends than some ad that pops up in their sidebar. So promote referrals. Give your customers special bonuses for every friend that they refer to you.

Most importantly, make it easy for customers to refer their friends to you. Encourage sharing by having social media buttons easily accessible on each page. At Front Street Media of El Dorado Hills, we can easily incorporate social media functionality on every page of your website so your customers can send their friends over at a moment’s notice.

#3. Get your web site on social media.

Your customers are probably on social media. If you’re not there, you’re missing a huge opportunity.

Social media lets people interact with you, your business and your brand. It lets your customers see you as a real person, not just as a business. You need to be posting on Facebook, Tweeting, Pinning, Tumblr’ing and Google + Posting, thus giving your customers a chance to know you.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should be crass or foolish about your social media habits. Social media gaffes can go viral and destroy a company’s credibility in the blink of an eye. Keep your posts positive and professional, so your customers have something to like and your detractors don’t have fodder for smearing you. On your website itself, you need social media buttons on all your posts and all your pages. Your fans will want to share your words of wisdom or your awesome offers. Make it easy!

Making it easy to share your posts and pages on social networking websites is KEY to engaging an additional market that you initially would have never reached.

#4. Give value for free in your web design

Customers come to you because they need or want something. Give them meaningful value that helps to meet their need, and they will see you as a valuable source for what they are looking for. They will be more likely to pay for your full service if they can see the quality and value you offer up front.

This can come in many forms. Offer a free e-book download, a free webinar, free email course or absolutely amazing content (in this case here). The cost to you to put the material up is minimal, and the benefit to you is immense. If you can gain a reputation for being a legitimate and reliable source of good information or a great product, your customers will keep coming back for more and will change from lookers to buyers.

Value can be found in many areas online. If you are looking for good ideas on offering great value in your companies web design, just Google “Your Industry” and another market, like “New York” or “Miami”. From here you will be able to find similar websites that may or may not be offering value. Trust us, you will learn a thing or two by performing these searches. By doing this, you may also get to know the psychology of how your competitors think in other local markets.

#5. Get your web design personal!

Customers want to talk to people when they have questions or problems. Make this easy.

A prominently posted phone number or email address is a great way to inspire confidence. Customers know they can get a hold of you if they need to.

A comment form is another great way to let customers get in touch with you. If you have the capability of having someone available for live chat, a live chat button is even better. The more ways customers can get in touch with you, the better.

Above all, respond to customer interactions promptly. On your contact information, post that you will get back with them within 24 hours, and then do it. A prompt, reliable response goes a long way to ensuring that your customers are happy and will come back.

Here at Front Street Media in El Dorado Hills, we specialize in building websites that will generate customer loyalty. Contact us today for a free estimate!