At the beginning of 2023, UK SMEs reported a rebound in business activity, but after a drop to 50.9 in the Business Activity Index in June, they began losing momentum, leading to 29% of trading businesses to end the year reporting a sustained decrease in turnover. There are many reasons for this, of course. With costs going up with inflation, it has become harder for people in the UK to both start a business and run a business, having been hit by everything from interest rate rises, business rates, taxes, debt repayments, labour shortages, and consumer shortages.
When it comes to what businesses can do about this, the last point is the most important, because it’s one of the only challenges that is within a business’s control. While we can’t do anything to fix the overall financial landscape, there’s still a lot we can do to entice new customers and get them to engage.
One of the most significant resides in the online experience. According to a study undertaken last year, around 40% of web designers believe that an outdated website design is the number one reason visitors fail to engage with a business. Up-to-date website designs, in this way, should be at the top of business priorities, especially when it comes to increasing consumer shortages.
Despite this, nearly 30% of SMEs don’t even have an active website, and for the ones that do, 43% have said that they’re planning to invest in better design and performance. If they’re planning to invest in this, that means they haven’t already, and this fear of making spending mistakes could be a key factor in failing to draw in new customers.
According to another study, over 80% of the UK population predominantly make e-commerce purchases, which means the website is the first port of call that could make or break a transaction. In this way, it is crucial that businesses understand that over four in five UK consumers are digital buyers, so if their online experience isn’t good, it’s inevitably going to dictate their view on a business as a whole.
It’s important to understand, however, that a ‘contemporary’ website is not just discerned by the design. Yes, the design is important – 81% of consumers will think less of a business if the design is out-dated – but the overall experience includes a lot more than that. For instance:
A strong website UI is determined on both the look of the website and its optimisation. How easy is it for a consumer to get where they want to go? How can a business turn a passive click into a transactional click? A strong UI will influence how people interact with a product, functioning as the interaction point between the brand and the consumer.
Speaking of making it easy for the consumer, navigation is another important aspect to consider. Website navigation is the process of looking through resources, and being given an organised list of links to travel internal site pages. Once again, this is the difference between a passive viewer and an engaged buyer. If it’s not easy for a customer to get to the transactional page of a website, then the chances are they won’t.
Content is also essential for a website, especially when it comes to attaining a loyal customer who is actively engaged in the brand message. In the B2B world, for instance, around 62% of potential buyers read three to seven pieces of content before they talk to a salesperson.
In order to efficiently engage a customer, however, this content must be quality. If a customer is going to connect with a brand, they need clear, engaging and entertaining content that can familiarise them with the story, the message, and the ultimate end-goals of the company itself.
The prospect of building a contemporary website becomes a little harder when you consider that, for all of the aspects mentioned above, every website is judged by a consumer in around five to ten seconds. With most people engaged in around two to three media streams at a time, impatience has become a key problem for businesses to tackle. Because the amount of time companies are given to engage them and compose a clear value proposition has drastically shortened, it means the website must be optimised.
To achieve this, more and more companies are going to website builders – some of which are utilising the latest AI technology – who have the experience in design solutions, templates, accessibility, and powerful SEO tools. Throughout 2024, these website builders are likely to become even more popular, as more businesses understand the importance of contemporary websites that work as a bridge for their buyers.
