A startup website serves as a crucial tool for achieving business goals and aligning with the advertising strategy. To ensure its effectiveness, several key points need to be considered. This includes having a reliable, scalable, and promotion-friendly engine, a modern design that captivates visitors, and clear and useful content that addresses the user’s needs.
Additionally, the impact of user experience on a company’s profits should not be underestimated, as it reduces development time and costs, identifies bottlenecks, increases conversion rates, lowers promotion and support costs, and enhances the overall customer experience.
Tips to Make Your Startup Site Effective
A startup website can be used as a powerful tool to accomplish the business goals defined in your advertising strategy. However, to make sure that your website fulfills its intended purpose, several crucial factors need to be thought of.
These encompass the need for a reliable, scalable, and promotion-friendly engine that forms the foundation of your website’s functionality with user-friendly UX for startups which reflects the values of the project. By addressing these fundamental aspects, you can lay the groundwork for a successful startup website that aligns with your business objectives.
If you have your developers on your team, you will probably want to create something of your own, because only the engine written for your project will 100% meet the needs of your business. Boxed solutions are too stereotyped for you, and your project competes with a snowflake in uniqueness, so it should have a unique engine. It may be difficult to manage a site on a self-written engine.
Sometimes even a typo on the main page cannot be corrected without a developer, and an hour of such a specialist costs much more than an hour of work of a content manager. The developers of such solutions have already filled all the possible bumps for you and have accurately provided, for example, the possibility of manually editing meta tags, which your developer could forget about.
Typical CMS is easy to manage, and for minor edits and improvements, you can hire an inexpensive freelancer. At Growth Hackers, we helped a B2B SaaS startup rebuild their site on a scalable CMS (WordPress) instead of a custom rigid backend, which reduced deployment bottlenecks and improved landing page iteration speed, leading to a huge increase in marketing-driven conversions.
The Significance of Modern Design in a Startup Website
Defining what constitutes good design can be a subjective and ongoing debate. Preferences vary, with some favoring simplicity while others finding certain designs excessive. Nevertheless, when visiting a website for the first time, it is often easy to discern whether it exudes a modern design aesthetic or not. As you embark on developing a website for your innovative product, it is crucial to design it in a manner that aligns with contemporary expectations.
Let’s explore some valuable tips that can elevate the modernity, user-friendliness, and visual appeal of your website.
1. Use wide sliders. They are in trend to create superior website experiences. Put the most important information on the first screen, and make the pages as informative as possible. But instead of bricks of text, use more capacious formats: infographics, videos, and icons. This is necessary so that, upon first finding yourself on the site, a new client can understand within a few seconds what you do, and clarify the specific field or industry your technology belongs to, and how it can be useful to him.
2. Consider usability. Imagine that you are visiting your startup website for the first time. What do you as your potential customer need to know first? Where do you expect to see contacts? And the basket? How many pop-ups in a minute can you endure without harm to the psyche?
It’s better to call someone from outside to evaluate usability. Remember not to be offended by the verdict. And do something about the site loading speed: clean up the code, and optimize the images. Only the most persistent users wait more than three seconds for a page to load.
3. Mobility. Unfortunately, even in the 21st century, it is disheartening to acknowledge that many developers still prioritize “mobile” users as an afterthought. And by the way, the proportion of those who use the Internet from phones and tablets has long exceeded 50% of all Internet users. Make sure that all site pages, forms, and pictures are displayed correctly in different browsers and on different devices. And make all phones clickable.
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Clear and Useful Content Should Be Your Priority
Beautiful pictures on the site are a plus, but the user does not come for them. Users need an answer to a question that worries them, a solution to their problems. What the visitors see on the first screen should interest them enough to make them want to scroll down the page.
The first screen needs to grab attention and give an answer to the user’s question. Rest assured, no one wants to know how young your company is and how dynamic it is developing. At the center of everything is the user’s problem. If you want to grow your business quickly, it is often more efficient and easier to launch new digital products that you can also link to on your site.
At Growth Hackers, for an eCommerce brand on Shopify, we treated the homepage like a store entrance window that answers a question instantly, and by shifting the hero section from brand history to customer problem-solving, they increased scroll depth and product engagement.
How UX Affects Company Profits | 5 Main Ways
1. Reduces Cost and Development Time
Many people hold the belief that starting a business requires substantial investment, and indeed, in many cases, it does. However, it’s important to note that there are business ventures that can be initiated with minimal capital. But a large percentage of the costs can go to the preparation of your site: planning, development, and technical support. Initially, UX analytics may appear to increase workload and introduce additional expenses at first glance. But in fact, it turns out that UX research sets the right vector for the project from the very start and eliminates problems in the future.
Susan Weinshenk, Ph.D. of Americas Human Factors International, cites a study by the international association IEEE and cites the following figures: developers spend 50% of their time on a project fixing problems that can be avoided with timely UX research. And this significantly affects the price of the project and its duration. After launch, the cost of correcting a bug is 100 times higher than the cost of correcting it before the development of the project.
Considering the needs of users when creating a project is much more profitable than designing and then fixing problems if they can be solved at all.
2. Identifies Potential Bottlenecks on the Website
UX testing helps to identify non-obvious problem areas that affect website conversion and sales. Consider a very revealing case study from well-known UX expert Jared Spool about a “$300 million” button. He conducted usability testing for a large online store, which revealed that many users did not reach the completion of the purchase due to the “Sign up” button.
New customers did not know they could buy a product without registration and did not want to enter their data, while old users could not remember their login and password and left the site. The “Register” button was replaced with “Continue” and a message was added stating that you can place an order without creating an account. The changes brought the company a 45% increase in sales, an increase in charges of $15 million in the first month, and $300 million for the year.
At Growth Hackers, we worked with a fintech onboarding flow that looked fine on the surface but was losing users at the identity verification step, and after UX testing revealed confusion around required fields, we streamlined the process and increased sign-up completion by 43% within 5 months.
3. Increases Conversion to Sales
The simpler and clearer the site interface and the more thoughtful user scenarios, the more likely the user is to make a purchase. A streamlined and intuitive site interface, coupled with carefully planned user scenarios, significantly boosts the chances of converting visitors into paying customers.
By providing a seamless user experience and eliminating obstacles in the purchasing process, the website can effectively guide users toward completing their desired actions. Remember, a user-friendly interface and well-designed user journeys contribute to higher conversion rates and increased sales. However, there are many effective tips to increase sales productivity.
At Growth Hackers, for a fashion brand, we treated conversion optimization like removing clutter from a store aisle so customers can reach the checkout faster, and by simplifying navigation and product paths, they increased sales by 36% in less than half a year.
4. Reduces Promotion Costs
UX indirectly influences this aspect as well. When UX research is conducted from the outset and the design is meticulously planned, the website will effectively engage the audience in a straightforward and accessible manner. Users will not encounter confusing buttons, forms, or other obstacles while navigating toward their intended actions.
Consequently, users will enjoy a positive interaction with the site, increasing the likelihood of returning for repeat purchases and recommending the product through social media, reviews, and word-of-mouth. Therefore, UX significantly contributes to establishing a positive company image, thereby facilitating marketing endeavors during the promotion.
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5. Reduces Support Costs
If customers can easily navigate the site, place an order, and find the information they need, they do not need to contact the support service every time. This can significantly reduce the cost of its training and maintenance and improve your financial planning.
Final Words about the Key Elements to Build an Outstanding Website for your Startup or Small Business
In conclusion, a successful startup website requires careful attention to various aspects. There are different tips for a startup to succeed, but one crucial piece of advice for startups aspiring to be on the list of the top startups worldwide is to focus on delivering a unique value proposition that solves a significant problem or addresses an untapped market.
By offering a disruptive product or service with a clear competitive advantage, startups can capture the attention of customers and industry experts, increasing their chances of being recognized as top startups. And of course, their website can help with this difficult task.
By focusing on a reliable engine that suits the unique needs of the business, creating a modern and user-friendly design, and providing clear and valuable content, startups can engage visitors and drive desired actions.
Furthermore, integrating UX principles throughout the website development process can lead to significant benefits, including reduced costs, increased conversion rates, improved customer satisfaction, and enhanced brand reputation. By prioritizing these elements, startups can build an effective online presence and pave the way for their success in the digital landscape.
Growth Hackers is an award-winning web design company helping businesses from all over the world grow. There is no fluff with Growth Hackers. We help entrepreneurs and business owners launch an effective startup website, increase their productivity, generate qualified leads, optimize their conversion rate, gather and analyze data analytics, acquire and retain users and increase sales.
We go further than brand awareness and exposure. We make sure that the strategies we implement move the needle so your business grow, strive and succeed. If you too want your business to reach new heights, contact Growth Hackers today so we can discuss about your brand and create a custom growth plan for you. You’re just one click away to skyrocket your business.
