The web has really changed how we do a lot of things today. In fact, it seems as though you might not survive in the business world if you don’t have a website. Assuming you wanted to buy a refrigerator, what would be your first step in the purchase process? You may perhaps want to do some online research. Do you actually know that more than 80% of buyers research online before purchasing?
Such statistics should mean the world to any businessperson. Since the e-commerce sector has become extremely competitive, you need to devise ways to ensure your website is efficient. You can begin by checking out the best VPS hosting providers, who might help you with things like speed and security. Read on to discover more insights.
The popularity of websites
Perhaps the weight of this matter has yet to dawn upon you, but these statistics will help you. Firstly, more than two-thirds of small businesses own a website. That means that if you have to compete with such businesses, you cannot ignore the power of online platforms. To add on that, Business Dasher reports that small enterprises that implement websites grow by two times more than those that don’t.
And by the way, do you actually know that nearly half of the users use website design as their number one factor to measure a business’s credibility? What about if you don’t have a website in the first place? You may lose a significant opportunity to connect with customers in ways that were not possible in the early years of e-commerce.
For growing businesses that use websites, revenue growth anywhere between 15% and 50% is possible. Actually, about 97% of shoppers claim to be influenced by websites to make purchases. And as you may know, you cannot ignore current trends if you want to remain relevant. But since many businesses are turning to online platforms, how do you ensure your growing websites outperform competitors?
Improve your web speed
We rarely have any patience with websites that take ages to load. Instant gratification has become part of our culture – and this is not something any businessperson should ignore. And if statistics mean anything, Shopify estimates that about 40% of customers will leave a website if it takes more than just three seconds to load.
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That is without mentioning the 83% who expect online platforms not to load more than three seconds. There is nothing as bad as frustrating the expectations of potential buyers. As the adage goes, ‘first impression lasts,’ you don’t want to frustrate prospective buyers just because your platform took too long to load. If that happens, you might discourage about 45% from buying and 37% from returning.
In fact, sites that load in just one second see conversion rates 2.5 times more than those that load in five seconds. Realizing this, search engines like Google use speed as one of their ranking metrics. Studies have shown that most sites on Google’s first page load in 1.65 seconds.
You may want to consider the following to improve website speed:
- Minimize HTTP requests
- Compress images
- Allow caching
- A CDN can help make your website resources more accessible to users
- Remove unused Javascript and CSS line items
Optimize your web design
Are you aware that about 94% of all first impressions are driven by web design? And as if that is not enough, some studies claim that about 38% of customers will abandon a platform if it has poor design and content. It is actually part of the reason why about 90% of websites today implement responsive designs.
Remember, most buyers will access your services via their smartphones. This is unlike in the past, when most of them used laptops and desktops. Therefore, if you want to be more competitive, you may have to optimize your website for this growing preference. Good enough, studies show that mobile optimization is a top priority among more than 60% of top-ranking websites.
And, of course, we can never fail to mention the power of multimedia content. Actually, about 40% of users rank images as a critical element on websites. Following closely are fitting colors, which influence about 39% of visitors. As a result, experts believe that websites with images and videos can increase user interaction by up to 80%.
Custom CTAs are also good, as they can increase conversion by up to 42%. You do not just want to have generic CTAs – at least personalize them to enhance customer connection. And nothing is as good as finding the CTAs that perfectly align with your target audience.
Final words
Thanks to the internet, you can now comfortably research the products you want to buy online without necessarily visiting a physical location. And now that more buyers are doing exactly that, businesses can take advantage of this opportunity to connect with customers in ways that were not possible before.
For example, websites can help you discover new audiences as they do their searches online. And it actually seems as though businesses that don’t have such platforms might not survive the current wave of competition in the e-commerce world. But it is not just about having a website – it’s about ensuring users have seamless experiences as they interact with your brand to ensure better business performance.
