What if we told you there was one little tweak to your website that could significantly improve your conversion rates? Well there is, and it’s called microcopy.

What is microcopy?

Microcopy are the small bits of text that help to guide and alleviate the concerns of the user. An example of this can be seen in the image below from MailChimp’s sign up page which lets users know how to pick a username correctly.

Without it, users could become frustrated if they didn’t know they could use their email or if they used other symbols in their username which isn’t allowed.

Other examples of microcopy can include

• Form fields
• Buttons
• Error messages
• Reassurance (no spam promises)

It may seem small and almost insignificant, but these kind of touches can have a huge impact on how people use your site.

Why is microcopy important?

There are several reasons why microcopy is important to the success of your site.

It adds info for users

Microcopy should add additional information that a user might need to complete a conversion. When it is used it should eliminate any confusion that good arise and point users in the right direction as in the example above.

It creates a level of trust

You are asking your customers to trust you when they sign up to your product or service. Microcopy can be used to alleviate the kind of trust issues that a user might have by making promises on what you will do (or won’t do) with their data.

It makes your site human

Think of microcopy like a note you might leave on the fridge for your partner. It is a nice touch which adds information or reassurance that they might need. In using microcopy, you create a human element for your brand and make it seem as if you are talking to customers at every point in their journey.

It helps to increase conversions

As you can see, adding these microcopy touches can build trust and connection that make users more likely to convert. The more you reassure them, the more likely they are to convert. For such a small addition, it can make a huge difference.

How you can write microcopy today

If you think your website needs microcopy, it is easy to get started. The first thing to do is to use your website like a first time user. Try to get lost and see if you can make your way through the conversion process. Play ignorant and make a note of any place where you may think you need extra advice or reassurance to continue signing up. Next get someone outside of your business to do the same and compare notes.

Now you have all the areas where you need to add extra touches, you can set about writing them. Remember to keep it simple and offer clear and concise advice.

If you need help adding microcopy to your website, get in touch with our team. We’re on-hand to help you improve the design and conversion rate of your site.

Chatbots are a booming business sector in the online ecommerce world. In 2016, the US market for chatbots was worth an estimated $703 million with a CAGR of 35.2% from 2016 until 2002. Chatbots offer a huge amount of benefits to business owners and ecommerce stores so it is no wonder the market is growing so fast. If you’re wondering about the benefits of chatbots, here are five reasons you should add one to your site today.

Customers can get the support they need quickly

As your business grows, it gets harder and harder to respond to customers by phone or by email in a timely manner. But a chatbot can help with that A chatbot offers away to respond to users in seconds, particularly if it is an AI-based chatbot that can respond with accurate and relevant information. Even the most basic chatbots offer the users the opportunity to leave their question and email address quickly from the homepage of the site rather than searching for a phone number of email address for support.

Chatbots offers personalization

When buying online, people miss the human-to-human contact that used to come with shopping face to face. Personalization is a huge selling point that chatbots can deliver when interacting with customers. Chatbots also offer a level of warmth that is often missing from sites that have cold demands like “Register here” or “sign up now”. Your site’s chatbot could become your online store’s version of a retail salesperson who helps customers with their purchase. Think how much a good salesperson does for your store’s bottom line. A chatbot could be the same online.

Chatbots increase user engagement

Your website needs to engage users like never before if you want to be successful online. If your site can engage potential customers better than your rivals, you’ll get the business, not them. A chatbot is a great way to boost user engagement and keep the customer engaged throughout their time on the site. If they need to speak to someone, the chatbot is there for them.

Chatbots deliver real user insight

AI-based chatbots offer businesses the chance to collect incredibly useful data about their customers which owners can learn a lot from. Leave the chatbot on your site for a good length of time and let it interact with a large number of customers and you’ll quickly gather data that can be used to improve your products and service.

Payments become easier with a chatbot

No one wants to lose customers at the last hurdle and a chatbot can help reduce cart abandonment rates. You can now get chatbots that integrate into the payment process to offer help and assistance to customers when they need it.

If you’re thinking about installing a chatbot, our team of web designers can help you choose the right one for your business and integrate it into your site. Soon you’ll be reaping all of the benefits discussed above.

The internal search feature of your site can be hugely important—it’s actually crucial if you are an ecommerce store. But so many internal search systems suck.

The truth is that no one wants to waste their time searching through your site looking for something in particular when they can just enter a few words into a search bar and find it that way. In your brick and mortar store you wouldn’t have your sales people tell customers to find the products themselves, would you? If they were asked a question, you’d want them to take customers to the exact location of a product.

Your site should work in exactly the same way. If it doesn’t here are some strategies to fix it.

Make your search bar prominent

This may seem obvious if you want users to be able to navigate around your site, but it is amazing how many websites we see where the search bar is hidden. Don’t hide the bar away towards the bottom of your page, in your sidebar or even in your footer. Make sure that it is front and center in the navigation bar. It should be one of the first things that users see. Spell it out, too. Don’t just use a magnifying glass icon that opens out into a search bar. Make sure that the bar is long and has the word search in it.

Use an autocomplete function

If your customers are looking for something, you’re going to want to make it as easy as possible for them to find it. Including autocomplete functionality into your search bar is a great way to do this. As soon as a user starts typing in, your search bar will offer relevant suggestions using the first few letters as a guide. It works great in Google and it will work great on your website to.

Allow for errors

Everyone makes mistakes. You do and your customers do. So your site search should allow for spelling mistakes by offering up similar or closely named products that match the search even if they don’t completely match it. There’s nothing worse than searching for a phrase, misspelling by a single letter and getting no results come up. Your site should be much more forgiving than this.

Use synonyms

In a similar vein as the point above, make sure that your site search is smart enough to include synonyms. Sometimes people won’t use the same term for a product that you do. Headphones and Earbuds is a common example, for instance. If your site search is to be really great, you need to cover for all eventualities.

Make sure you tag posts correctly

If you’re allowing customers to search through your blog posts, it’s imperative that you tag them correctly when posting. All relevant information should be tagged to make it as easy as possible for users to find. But don’t get carried away with it, otherwise users will be left with hundreds of pages to sort through.

To implement site search properly on your website, speak to a member of our team today.

Using a website builder for your next design project can be a very tempting prospect. Website builders appear to offer a lot of benefits. On the face of it they are cheaper than hiring a web designer and easier than coding it yourself.

But there are some huge drawbacks that most won’t tell you about. Why would they? It’s in their interest for you to use their product to make your website. But we’re going to reveal all in today’s blog post. You’ll learn why you should shun website builders and use a proper web designer instead.

It can take a long time to create a site using a website builder

If you think using a website builder will be easy because you don’t have to code, you are mistaken. These products are often far from intuitive and it can take hours for you to get used to using the builder. These are wasted hours that you could otherwise be spending on running your business and making money. If your time is worth anything at all, it probably won’t be worth spending it on using a website builder to make your next site.

You’ll actually spend more than you realise

One big draw of website builders is the cost savings they offer. The prospect of spending just a couple of bucks a month on a brand new website sounds great. That’s until you get building and realize that the basic version of the package doesn’t give you everything you need or want to create your website. To get all the bells and whistles will usually mean upgrading to the most expensive plan which can run to $50 a month. And this cost is ongoing which means you’ll be paying $50 a month for every month you use it. That’s $600 a year.

It could look like everyone else’s website

Almost all website builders rely on templates to create the layouts and pages. So even if you add your own images to the templates, the underlying design and look of the website will be the same of hundreds or even thousands of other website. This isn’t great for a business trying to look professional.

You probably won’t be able to transfer it

So you’ve got fed up with your website builder and decide you want to transfer it away and host your site yourself. Tough. Most website builders won’t let you keep your site if you transfer it away from them. In some cases, the website will actually belong to them, not you. Even if you can transfer it, you probably won’t be able to take the content or the designs with you. It’s not a sustainable option.

Your SEO won’t be great

Being found on Google is hugely important for small businesses. Unfortunately, website builders don’t give you the best tools for this job. Often, the templated nature of them means they aren’t well optimized for search engines and will struggle to rank. Even an expert SEO company may not be able to help you rank a site built with a website builder.

If you want a proper solution for your new website, our designers can help. Get in touch today.

A good website is where visitors will stay. And that is a fact most of us know too clearly. This, then, affects the searchability and visibility of our website. Both of which are vital for your business and website to function.

So if you find that your website is not gaining many visits and is ranking lower than expected, then maybe it is lacking a lot of things. But there is no need to fret if you have no idea what to do. Because in this article, we will tell you the seven key features that your website shouldn’t be without.

Attention-Grabbing Typography

Most people overlook the value of typography when it comes to improving websites. But contrary to that, it actually does a lot more. An attention-grabbing typography helps your customers to immediately identify not only your content but also your brand from the rest of the competitors. A good example that you can learn from is Facebook. Once you see even just that one letter, you definitely know it is them.

A Good Background Video

Nothing is more attention grabbing and informative than moving pictures. By putting up a good background video on your website, you are not only doing yourself a favor but your customers also. When a video automatically plays in the background, it can significantly convey the purpose of your website in just a span of a minute or so. This will boost brand-recognition as well as dwell time.

A Responsive Web Design

We have reached the age where it is possible to access the Internet anytime and anywhere with the help of mobile phones and tablets. Now, people don’t need to reach for their laptops just to look up the web.

Therefore, what your website needs is a good responsive web design that will make your page adaptable to any screen size and devices. Optimize it well so that people can clearly navigate through your website and not leave before they even got the chance to read your name.

Your Business Information

If your website operates in business, then you should never forget to put your business information clearly for everyone to see. This may sound like obvious advice but it is one of the biggest failures people commit. As a result, visitors may tend to just visit and never navigate and react to the website. So keep in mind that your mission statement is clear and the business purpose is evident.

Your Contact Information

In line with the above, never ever miss putting down your contact information. This is one of your ultimate goals and you should not miss it. Place all the necessary information such as contact numbers, email addresses, location, map, etc.

Social Media Platforms

Incorporating your social media platforms on your website helps boost the visibility of your business. It is good and free advertising. So make sure that when people visit your website and they find your content worth sharing, then provide them the tools to do that.

Calls to Action

Finally, to complete the visitor’s journey, you need to provide them with something to do. And that is by placing Calls to Action. If you want them to buy, then make sure that you have the button that will direct them to do that.