If I’ve said it once…….I’ve said it 100 times: “Your Virtual Storefront (Website) needs to an exact reflection of your actual storefront.”
If it’s not, you WILL lose customers/prospects.
Here are some statistics to prove that:
- 75% of people judge a business’s credibility based on its website design.
- 8 out of 10 people would stop engaging with a site if its content didn’t display well on mobile or the layout was unattractive.
- When asked what visual elements they value the most on a company website, 40% of respondents said images, 39% said color, and 21% said video.
For 2023, focus on how to meet your customer’s needs and keep them satisfied with your web design. With consistent delivery of excellent user experience, you can convert leads into sales!
This is the same as-if a customer walks into your physical store and the showroom is a mess or (even worse) no one greets them. They’re going to take a look around and leave within 30 seconds. And…….it’ll be even shorter if it’s your website.
5 Trending Website Designs in 2023
With modern users’ rising expectations, staying on top of trends is how you can satisfy their ever-changing needs and demands. This includes usability, aesthetics, and functionality, while also reaping the benefits for your business.
Below are the top website design trends you want to take note of:
1. Highly Accessible Web Design
The focus in 2023 will be more on tending to what users need and want, and a greater emphasis on accessibility.
This means you will have to optimize your website for non-keyword input, such as voice search, voice command, and virtual reality.
You want to make it as easy and convenient as possible for users to find the items they want and checkout. This is the definition of a delightful user experience – a simple and easy user interface design with your target customers in mind.
Here are some tips on how you can make your website more accessible for all users:
- Use headings to organize the structure of your content and allow users to navigate it with ease.
- Include proper alt text for images so those who are using screen readers can get an idea of what the picture is depicting. This is also important just in case it doesn’t load in time at least people know what the relevance of the photo is.
- Use descriptive anchor links to give users context on where the link will lead them to.
- Be mindful about using colors. People who are color blind or those with color deficiencies may have a hard time reading what’s on your site.
- Optimize your website for voice search and voice command.
2. Chatbots
According to the Harvard Business Review, 81% of customers attempt to solve issues with a product before reaching out to a live representative. 91% of people also said that they would use a knowledge base if it can satisfy their needs.
Modern consumers are digital savvy, and they seriously want to help themselves if given the right tools. This is why 90% of customers worldwide expect businesses to have an online self-service portal.
Aside from having a dedicated page for answering FAQs, it’s also useful to add chatbots to your website.
Chatbots aren’t only useful for providing fast customer service queries, you can also use them to generate leads, segregate cold leads from those who are ready to convert, and push leads further down the sales funnel.
Integrating them into your web design this 2023 can delight users and provide the speedy engagement and response they demand from businesses and organizations today.
3. Flat Design
Flat design is a minimalist design commonly used in both interface and user experience design. It uses flat icons and two-dimensional shapes to make websites and apps highly responsive and load fast across a variety of screen sizes.
The flat design emphasizes more on simplicity, functionality, and usability. Here’s how:
- It uses bright colors to send visual cues.
- Instead of realistic images, the flat design uses two-dimensional vector art to illustrate objects.
- The flat design aims to keep textures at a minimum and avoids complex textures like drop shadows or gradients.
- No flashy fonts in flat design. Only simple, sans-serif typography because they load fast and are super easy to read.
Aside from using simple shapes, flat design is also about using simple silhouettes, sparse elements, and visual tricks, like hidden navigation bars with minimal buttons.
In 2023, minimalism no longer means black and white. Designers will move towards a more experimental layout while keeping it organic and simple.
4. The Importance of Color Theory
Make your website design more appealing to the emotions of your visitors with colors and other visual elements.
You can use Color Theory to take control over the color layout of your website design theme. This is a great way of reinforcing your message and compelling visitors to take immediate action.
According to QuickSprout, people judge products within 90 seconds of seeing them – and 90% of that evaluation is based on color alone. Choosing the right colors for your website and brand impacts how your audience perceives the value of your business.
There are many ways you can use subtle hues to elicit different kinds of sentiments. For example, your website may use bright colors to evoke joy and excitement while at the same time compel visitors to convert.
The problem, however, is that there are more than 10 million colors to choose from. So, how can you determine the best color combination for your site?
Here are some colors that will be trending in 2023. You might want to consider building a palette around and incorporating the following into your site:
- Digital lavender
- Luscious red
- Sundial
- Tranquil blueVerdigris
Image from SBS Zipper.
It’s essential to understand Color Theory this 2023 when trying to develop the right color combinations for your site. It will help you tell a story and convey the right emotions. You can create different types of feelings depending on the message you want to communicate with your audience.
5. More Interactive Elements
To grab the attention of users and convince them to explore your site, it’s necessary to make your site engaging and visually interesting.
There are many ways you can make your site more interactive. But this 2023, micro-animations and smart videos are the trends.
You can use micro-animations to guide your visitors’ eyes to critical information or to take them to the next step. It’s also a great way to add some fun to your design.
One of the ways you can use micro-animation is dynamic scrolling. It allows you to tell a story as people scroll through your site. It can captivate users and get them deeply involved as you take them on a journey.
Video backgrounds, on the other hand, can bring your site to life. Although some experts say that adding videos is detrimental to your site, statistics show otherwise.
- 88% of users spend more time on pages with videos than those that don’t.
- Video can boost conversions by 86%.
- Websites with video have better Google Ranking.
Videos are a great way of telling people who you are, what you offer, and what people can expect from you the moment they land on your page.
However, animations and videos can be heavy in terms of bandwidth. So, you also wouldn’t want to sacrifice your site’s loading speed in favor of video or animated graphics.
Strike a balance between an aesthetically pleasing and engaging site and a functional, fast-loading one.