What Really Matters To Your Customers

After more than a decade of web design and development for small and mid-sized businesses that market to consumers, there are lessons learned. What consumers want from websites is at times different from what business owners deliver. The Internet is a commodity now, and above all else, it serves as a source of information and communication.

Two recent studies, one focused on student preferences in college web site design, and the other on the preferences of online consumers, reveal a common thread. Above all, both groups want fast-loading websites that enable them to access needed information in as few clicks as possible.

In student feedback solicited by Wesleyan University, "students made a plea to minimize the use of different technologies such as Flash and Javascript to help make pages load at maximum speed." —RETHINKING HOW COLLEGES PRESENT THEMSELVES ON THE WEB. This is the primary request of students nationwide according to a consulting firm that specializes in web development for colleges.

Online consumers have expressed a similar need. THE GOMEZ SURVEY, conducted in December of 2009, found that the vast majority of consumers expected web pages to load quickly regardless of what time of year the site was visited, and that goes for travel, retail and most any other type of "serious" site. If it's a business, and it's online, consumers expect near-instant page loads. Anything less, and the customer will "walk away."

The evidence makes it clear: Fast-loading web pages are the number one consumer concern. If your business web site is slow-loading due to needless graphics and slow-loading animations, you could lose customers of all ages as a result.

Effective web design is beautiful and fast-loading!

At NEWARK1.COM we have always emphasized the need to balance the quest for beautiful web design with the realities and demands of the online user. Consumers are coming to your website to answer a question or fill a need. Can they get the information they want quickly? Can you imagine walking into a store and having someone at the door insist on engaging you in 45 seconds or more of conversation that you don't want before you're allowed to see any merchandise? Would that annoy you, especially if it happened every time you entered the store? A slow-loading home page that forces you to view a media-rich spinning, blinking 'intro' has the same annoying effect!

The bottom line is this: Listen to your customers. Give customers what they came for. Make it easy to find, and pleasant to view. Make the sale.

Donald Peterson