Are you curious about other ways to boost your business that go beyond the usual marketing techniques like SEO, PPC, e-marketing, and telesales?
Well, have you considered improving your website’s user experience (UX) and user interface (UI)? By enhancing these aspects, you can not only increase your conversion rates but also make your brand more attractive and distinctive compared to your competitors. It’s important to remember that brand messaging is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to building successful customer relationships. Your website’s visual identity is also crucial for engaging with your potential and existing customers online. Believe it or not, your UI and UX could even make or break your customer acquisition efforts – they could be the deciding factor between a lost lead and a loyal, high-value customer.
Having a great User Interface (UI) on your website can increase conversion rates by a whopping 200% And that’s not all! A powerful User Experience (UX) design can increase conversions even further, up to 400%. If you haven’t invested much in UX/UI in the past, there are significant gains to be had when you do.
So, if you want to make the most out of your online presence, it’s essential to ensure that your website’s UI and UX complement your brand strategy. In this post, we’ll give you some tips on how to achieve that.
Ever wondered what’s the difference between User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI)?
These two concepts are essential for creating a website that your users will love, but they are often confused with each other. Simply put, UI is about designing an intuitive and user-friendly interface with menus and buttons, while UX is about the overall user experience, which includes things like loading times, images, and messaging tone. In our view, video, imagery, and messaging tone are a vital part of the overall UX, as they can make a significant emotional impression on your users.
Here’s the thing: A poorly executed UI design can ruin the UX, while a great UI design coupled with strong UX principles can make for an unforgettable online experience. That’s why it’s crucial to get both UI and UX right if you want to have a successful website.
To help you understand the differences between the two, here’s a quick breakdown: UX covers how things work, interaction design, wireframes, and prototyping, as well as structure and layout. UI, on the other hand, covers how things look, visual design, branding, colours, and fonts.
Why should UX & UI mirror your brand strategy?
As a marketer, you’ll know that design is crucial to building a strong and memorable brand identity. Think of your logo, colours, fonts, and patterns – all of these recognisable elements help people associate your brand with a certain look and feel. But in today’s digital age, having an online presence is more important than ever. That’s where creative user interface and user experience designs come into play for web and mobile app design. Whether you’re selling consulting services or e-commerce products, standing out from the competition is key.
Branding and website design go hand in hand and that’s important to understand. Branding is all about creating an emotional attachment to your product, service, or business. It’s about making sure you stand out from your competition, not just visually but across all touchpoints, including your online user experience. To truly complement your brand strategy through UI/UX design, it’s important to understand brand inside and out.
Users associate the UI & UX of your site with your brand
Your website is the digital storefront for your brand. When users view your website, it will help form an impression. If the UI and UX are well-designed and optimised, users will have a positive impression of your brand.
First impressions mean everything! Your website has just 50 milliseconds to make an impact—enough time for users to form a lasting opinion.
With a well-designed UI and UX, users will instantly be engaged and as a result, have a positive emotional attachment to your brand’s identity. A great user experience will keep customers engaged and show them that they can trust you.
On the flip side, a poorly designed UI and UX with slow loading times and complicated menus may drive customers away, damaging your brand’s reputation.
To ensure a positive impression of your brand, ensure that your UI and UX match your overall strategy!
The UI design involves aesthetics that users will associate with your brand identity
Menus, clickables, and design should all contribute to creating a seamless user experience. Carefully craft a UI that looks good and is consistent with your wider brand identity.
Poorly designed aesthetics could be disorienting and make users think negatively of your brand.
Your brand identity is essential to maintaining a successful strategy. Users may not be able to recognise your brand’s unique characteristics, so ensure that all aspects of your brand—from visuals and logos to messaging and tone—are properly represented.
Say you use a professional tone and visuals in your advertisements that draw users who appreciate this style to your website. To ensure they stay, the UI must be consistent with your brand’s message and values—anything jarring or out of place could leave a wrong impression.
Careful consideration should be given to ensure that the UI supports your brand identity and creates an overall cohesive experience.
A Good UI & UX Design Helps Convert Leads By Boosting Your Brand’s Credibility
When someone visits your site, they come with a purpose—to buy something or obtain information that will result in a lead conversion.
With an excellent UI design and user experience, you can set your visitors up for success and help them reach their goals! A successful lead conversion not only means they’ll leave a glowing review but also spread the word and tell their friends and family about your business.
Say a customer visits your electronics website to look for iPhones. They will need to locate the iPhone category from the home page to make the purchase. If the menus are easy to navigate, they can locate the iPhone they are interested in.
In that case, they will likely buy it from you instead of from an e-commerce website that’s hard to navigate—giving you a competitive edge that results in more conversions.
A great UI can show transparency to users
Customers are drawn to brands that are authentic, honest, and transparent. This creates a feeling of empowerment, which builds to trust, loyalty, and, ultimately, more business. Provide customers with a clean interface on your website that highlights all the necessary information about purchases and sales.
This transparency will give customers a better understanding of what they are getting into, enhancing their confidence and trust in your brand and driving future business.
For example; when delivery charges or tax are applied when users buy something from your website, your UI should highlight that information from the outset and have a clear option to add these charges to the displayed price and get a total to avoid any surprises at checkout that may lead to disappointment.
This kind of transparency builds trust and encourages customers to return, which can be a crucial factor in a successful brand strategy. It may sound obvious, but paying attention to these little details all plays a part in building brand loyalty and trust.
UI contains colours & design elements that need brand consistency
Colours, lines, and buttons may seem like small details, but they significantly impact the overall UI design. They create a cohesive experience that aligns with your brand’s message and goals.
All website UI elements should align with your brand’s tone, creating a unified user experience. This will ensure that customers recognise and remember your brand, which is essential for success. For instance, a boutique tailor shop dealing with bespoke cut suits may choose a classy design approach with their UI, which may have monotone or pastel colours with macro photography showing the craftsmanship and quality of the products you can buy.
If the menu buttons were bright and fonts funky, this would be an unexpected look and damage the brand. Unless the suits are contemporary off-the-wall designs of course. Consistent brand identity greatly benefits any business, boosting customer trust and retention. You must do everything you can to retain your brand’s consistency, which will be a significant target of your strategy. Ensure all these small elements complement your strategy.
Why choose Herd when designing a new website
A website is not just a digital storefront—it’s an extension of your brand that can reach people worldwide. It has huge potential. To make the most of your website, you must focus on every small detail, from the smallest design element to the overall user experience. That’s where Herd can add true value. By leveraging our expertise in brand across your digital assets means we have the power to unlock your brand’s true potential online.
UX and UI are the building blocks that can transform your website into a work of art that speaks to your customers and resonates with them on a truly deep level. It can build trust, instil confidence, and help you connect with customers in ways you never thought possible. Your website is a window into your brand’s soul; ensure it reflects the beauty and strength of all you stand for.
