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Build A Bond With Customers Through Digital

Does your brand create an instant user experience that benchmarks the initial bonding stage between consumer and your brand? It is key that the brand creates chemistry with its target customers, by attracting and exciting them, making them stick around for more.

When it comes to designing websites, an ‘exceptional digital experience’ should be №1 on your strategy list. Getting your brand engaging and memorable, has everything to do with amplifying the user journey online, and focussing on human behaviour as the brand goal towards delivering a compelling brand-consumer relationship.

Here are five superior impactful touch points that will impact customers to bond with your brand the first-time round, a guaranteed game changer;

# 1: Know what they want: Intuitive design is real and knowing what your audience wants before they do is not a skill, it’s a design strategy — and it could save your bottom line. Intuitive design is quite simply, a matter of meeting your online customer’s needs seamlessly, without an interrupted experience. The idea of answering all your customer’s questions before they ask is gold. Ask yourself: what is the task, and can my customer complete it effectively?

# 2: Don’t make them work for it: If you’re running a ‘bookings’ business, for example, and your objective is to sell as many tickets online in a short space of time, make it easy. Simple = Satisfaction. You’ll want to tell your user what to buy, what it looks like, why to buy it and how to buy it in a few easy taps. Airline and accommodation brands like travelstart.co.za and Airbnb.com respectively have improved their digital brand experiences for now, with an easy-flow experience that makes browsing pleasurable, the price-compare experience simple and ensures the user feels secure and at ease from check in to check out.

#3: Don’t talk “responsive” on the first, second or third engagement. Sadly, the term ‘responsive websites’ in business, has become misunderstood. “Responsive websites” means cross-screen compatibility — NOT necessarily cross-screen user-journey. The proverbial ‘cookie cut’ desktop approach is a fail in web design.

Just because your site is ‘responsive’ across mobile or tablet devices doesn’t mean it meets the needs of the user. The truth is, you can’t have a responsive website without a memorable user journey. They need to exist together. If you want your customer to land on your website and stay, then your aim should be to have a ‘mobile first’ strategy in mind from the get-go, to support your ‘responsive website.’

Consider this: if there are 3.7 billion unique users online globally (as at Jan 2018) and 49.7% are attributed to webpage viewing then you cannot, cannot, cannot purely rely on desktop stacking your website design. Design your website with compelling mobile user experience in mind, FIRST — a design strategy that mirrors the same intuitive experience across all devices.

# 4: Spice it up: The digital design strategy is key for brand engagement effectiveness. How to keep your user from straying? A. Your overall web design should be simple, balanced and aligned to your brand CI. B. Choosing a typeface that is easy on the eye and has a clear weight hierarchy is also must. C. To increase your brand’s chances, make sure to include visual imagery and video too. D. Whatever you do, DO NOT include User Interface Animation (U.I) just because you think it looks or sounds cool. Nobody likes an “over-tryer”! Make sure U.I is only created for the purpose of enhancing the user experience, and not just for art’s sake.

# 5: You have 3 seconds. Go.: Quality, appeal and good conversation pretty much sums up the Richter scale of brand relationship “wants”. Your brand must present the same — and it only has 3 seconds online to determine whether your customer stays or strays. Your landing page should load and lure in your user within a 3-second speed span — telling them promptly that they’ve landed in the right place. Too much guesswork on this one and you’ll risk losing them to Joe Soap in the adjacent tab. With an average of 200 ads being served to a user per day, disruption is the new digital disease and makes for a highly competitive landscape to play in. I recommend keeping your 3-second game plan strong.

Don’t let your plans of www domination stop at design. All things considered, the user journey should be high on the objectives list when it comes to strategising in the online space. Get your user to cuddle up to your brand by reacting to form, functionality and your intuitive digital strategy. Your business just can’t afford the shortcomings of a negative user experience.