Pt. 1 – “Of course, most non-retail businesses don’t have shop windows.”
Well, actually, yes they do!
Think about it for a minute, your website home page is your shop window. Now think one stage further, if you translate your website design into a shop window – what would it look like? Sleek, modern, your best products on show? A perfect advert that would entice your customers into the shop? Or is it showing signs of age, too busy, lacking cohesion and failing to convert browsers and pull them in through the e-door? Sadly, most websites are lacking in at least one or more of these respects and like a good window display, your website needs to reflect your business and products/services as they are now, not as they were 3 or 4 years ago before the recession, when online competition was not quite so high and when some website design strategies required were not so well understood.
On this series of blogs I am going to discuss the purpose of a retail shop window, how that relates to your online display and what similarities between a good shop window and a good website still apply. It may come as a surprise as to how much there is in it! Remember that the art, science and psychology behind visual marketing on the high street has been studied for decades. Quality website design whilst a much newer phenomenon shares a great deal in common.
Purpose
What does having a shop window need to achieve?
Emotional Evocation
What feelings should you be stimulating to those browsers that are passing by?
Experience
A quality browsing experience conveys a big message.
Content
What should you be displaying in your window?
Conversion
What should you be doing to ensure your customers walk in the door?
Being there and being seen
What good is the best shop window if hidden down a back alley?
Summary & Conclusion
Everything we have discusses rolled into one.
The above headings should have you looking at your website with a fresh eye. Sign up on the right to be sure you don’t miss the next instalment when we will start to examine these subjects in more detail. If there is anything I can do to help you with design ideas and improving your call to action, feel free to give me a call. 0844 870 9597