Hang on, what do humans have to do with website development?
We’re glad you asked. In fact, humans have EVERYTHING to do with website development. After all, it’s not robots who are clicking on your links and buying your products and services. Here’s why humans are the most crucial part of website design.
The customer experience
When it comes down to your business model, what’s most important? If you’re doing things right, it should be the customer. Without customers, you have no business. Without happy customers, you don’t have repeat business and referrals. That means you have to work harder and harder for every new lead. So, if your website can cater perfectly to humans, you’re on a winner.
A short disclaimer though. While websites need to cater for humans, they also need to cater to other machines. Namely Google. SEO and other methods of getting your website noticed on Google searches are still important, but your content and customer journey needs to be targeted to people. Here’s a few reasons why.
Engagement and connection
People want to connect with businesses. Most of the time, it’s not just a simple transaction based on the cheapest price. We know that customers want to form valuable connections with brands. A reason to give you their business, if you like. So, during website development, consider how customers can connect. It might be with a chatbot, social media links, live chat or something else. But it needs to suit your target audience.
Ease of use in website development
Everybody likes a smooth-running website. Make your products and services easy to find. Provide relevant information about your services. Be transparent with pricing so that customers can make a decision for themselves. If price is a person’s biggest concern, what’s the point in wasting a phone call or email response if they’re never going to meet your rates. That’s if they even call at all. Let’s face it, people want information right now, they probably won’t even bother filling out a contact form just to ask for pricing.
What annoys humans most?
Humans are fickle creatures. We don’t like to admit it, but we are. So, things like slow page load speeds really get on our nerves. Checkout processes without clear shipping information. A lack of decent payment methods. Having to dig through multiple menus to find what we need. All of these are annoyances that turn humans away from websites.
Improved systems for your staff
Let’s not forget that your staff are humans too. So, your website development should make life easy for them. For example, using API integration you can get a lot of third-party services included in your website. You can have CRM functionality linked up too, providing methods of sales automation. Your website can actually remove a stack of mundane tasks that your humans normally do, and that means you can give them far more interesting and important work.
Website development is more than just technology
Ultimately, your website is a valuable and important piece of technology. But the main target audience is humans, so it needs to service their needs. Don’t forget about the human side of website development. Customers should be at the centre of everything you do, especially your website.