Do You Need To Give Your Web Designer Good Feedback?

After reading that title, if your answer wasn’t an immediate “yes”, then you either haven’t had a web designer create your website or you are severely unhappy with it. You might be thinking to yourself, “aren’t web designers supposed to be experts who I’m paying to do all the work?”. Basically, yes, but they can build the most highly optimized, visually appealing, easy to navigate website that anyone has ever used, and it won’t matter if you, the website’s owner, don’t like it. In brief, it all comes down to what you like, and need for your own specific purposes.

Think of it this way: let’s say you’re having your house renovated and you’ve hired a team to do the work for you, the same team your neighbor hired for his home renovation, that he absolutely loved. For this purpose, let’s say you don’t give them any instruction and when the house is finished, its interior design, colors, lighting, etc. are all something you know your neighbor would love, but it doesn’t suit you in any way. Just because some things work well for others, doesn’t mean they’ll work well for you. This is especially true when it comes to web design because (most likely) the main purpose of your website is to generate revenue in one way or another. If the design doesn’t meet your standards, it’s likely not going to convert many customers or garner much traffic.

So, what are some areas that you need to make sure you’re collaborating on, with your web designer? Generally, the most important aspects you need to focus on will be the look of the design, the user experience, and its functionality.

The Web Design’s Visual Features

Given that we, as humans, are attracted to things of beauty, it should come as no surprise that “38% of consumers will stop engaging with content that is unattractive”, as WebsiteContent101 states. It’s a little surprising that number isn’t higher, but nevertheless, that is a lot of potential customers you just lost because you didn’t specify to your web designer what you liked and disliked, thus creating an unattractive website.

When thinking about visual features to consider, TechnoGoober makes it clear that you should pay special attention to how the colors  mesh with the design as well as your branding, how images fit into the design, and whether the aesthetic matches the image you want your business to portray.

Functionality

Depending on what your site is meant to accomplish, the features and the functionality will differ. For example, you may need a responsive design, credit card input forms, contact info forms, navigation bars that move with you as you scroll down, and a variety of other features. Web designers, as experts, will know some features you’ll need for certain businesses (a blog site most likely won’t ask for credit card info), but they will also need to know what exactly, and specifically, your website’s main functions are supposed to be.

For more information about possible functions and features your website may need, check out MarTech.zone’s list here.

User Experience

So you’ve got a beautiful layout, stunning colors and images, functionality that even tech illiterate people can easily use, but you’re still not converting customers or still have high bounce rates. In this case it could mean that you and your web designer did not collaborate on how to create the best user experience.

Both visuals and functionality should be combined to create the best user experience. This means using both to enhance and complement certain elements to create an experience the user will be attracted to, and remember in the future. Additionally, both should be combined to create a narrative. For example, if your site is meant to sell something, the features and visual designs should create a story that entices users to learn about the product and eventually decide to buy it. But, if you don’t combine your business and marketing knowledge with your designer’s expertise, the user experience will become an afterthought, resulting in no conversions.

If you’re looking for a Montreal web design company to create or optimize your website, know that your web designer wants your feedback so they can rightfully say they’ve pleased yet another customer.