Have you ever taken a moment to think about how design has an impact on your credibility as a business? Sure, design/details/aesthetics may not be important to you or you decide it will cost you less to have someone build you a “cheap” website…but is it going to cost you customers and profits? The answer, my friends, is yes. In fact, numerous studies have been done on this very subject. What this research has shown us is that there are a number of design factors that influence how visitors will perceive your company or organization after they visit your website. Design details matter to your viewer, even if they aren’t as important to you as they should be. Outdated, amateur designs will say a lot to your potential customers/clients. Even if the level of service or the product you provide to clients is second-to-none, many of them won’t invest the time to find that out if what they see online is telling them a different story.
Frank Chimero said it best: “People ignore design that ignores people.”
Credibility is a significant factor in any organization’s bottom line because trust has to exist for a sale or a transaction to take place. If your design doesn’t inspire trust, if your website looks like you aren’t investing in your business or paying attention to the details, what opinion do you think consumers walk away with on the service or product you provide?
R&L Fleet Management
R&L Fleet Management is a great real-world example of a company whose level of service, products and industry experience was not being properly conveyed in their website. While they have a significant reputation and strong brand-loyalty in the field of fleet management and GPS tracking – those unfamiliar with them, who were only going by what they saw online, simply weren’t converting into potential clients. The website bounce rate was high and while they had a strong base of new business from client-referrals, no one was calling citing their website as the reason for the inquiry.
R&L Fleet Management is the perfect example of a website full of valuable information and fantastic consumer advice that wasn’t compelling enough for the viewer to stick around long enough to see it for themselves. It also wasn’t optimized for search engines, so it took some time for people to find it to begin with.
Old Design
Multiple sized and colored fonts, numerous graphics, colors competing for the user’s eye, and not a very navigable layout weren’t doing the company any favors. Again, there was so much informative content throughout the website, but viewers weren’t sticking around long enough to read any of it. We immediately got to work placing the website into a Content Management System (CMS) with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) supporting design. Mediaura worked closely with R&L Fleet Management to design a website that reinforced their desired branding and message but was in the more aesthetically pleasing and clean design seen below.
New Design
By simply de-cluttering the page and reorganizing content we were able to retain much of the messaging that had previously existed. Our design team worked to elevate the visuals and layout, with the main objective to make the website of R&L Fleet appear as modern as the technology they sold to their consumers. In other words, to reinforce that trust in branding.
Another problem the old website suffered from were elements that existed but offered no benefit to consumers. For example, visuals that were haphazardly placed throughout the design or images that seemed to be calls-to-action but weren’t. Many people (ourselves included) assumed that the images that appeared on the left were clickable when in fact they weren’t. If you’re a consumer and you’re under that impression, you may assume those links are broken or that the design is unfinished.
Old Design
So with the new design, we made sure that all banners and visuals serve a purpose, reinforcing the on-page messaging, leading consumers to more information, or both. Our design team worked to make sure that the visuals complemented the overall design and integrated into the page organically, rather than feeling like an afterthought.
New Design
The Mediaura team worked with R&L Fleet Management to help achieve their goals while leveraging our technology and design experience. We provided their organization with a website that carries their messages and imparts their expertise in a way that enhances the user experience. By taking existing content and materials that already existed at R&L and repurposing them into a stronger design, we were able to significantly reduce the required development time. It’s a bit like when you’re looking to have your living room remodeled and you pull up the carpet to discover beautiful wooden floors – they become an enhancement to the design and save development time, allowing you to allocate budget to other areas.
With Search Engine Optimization in mind, we also made sure that the new Mediaura design was built on a reactive template, thereby enhancing the quality score for SEO.
This is how the old website appeared on mobile:
When Mediaura initially began working with R&L Fleet Management we performed a thorough audit of their website to see what worked for them and what didn’t. One of the biggest impediments to their success online was the lack of a mobile-friendly website. Our reports showed that a large portion of their audience was coming to the website via mobile and quickly leaving due to the inaccessibility of the design.
This is how the website appears on mobile now:
How The Mediaura Digital Agency Team Can Help You
Let Mediaura utilize our award-winning knowledge to help take your marketing to the next level. Whether you’re looking for Website Development, mobile applications, custom software, Search Engine Optimization, Digital Marketing, Social Media Management, or any of the other wide variety of services we offer, Mediaura is here to help. Contact Us or call 502-554-9649 today to begin taking your company or organization to the future.
