Retailer Web Services Digital Advisor Fall 2017 | Page 7

ON DESIGN
TIPS FROM
THE FIELD
Best Practices in
Web Design
E
Winning designs by Tom
Swain, RWS designer
very month at Retailer Web
Services (RWS), web designers
submit the designs they’re most
proud of. All employees then
vote to crown one new RWS customer’s
website as the best overall Design of the
Month. The winning designer gets lunch
on the company as well as bragging
rights, of course. designed site can achieve this goal of
personalizing the customer experience
by using various methods based on a
retailer’s target customer. Strategically
placed calls-to-action, a simple and
thorough navigation structure, and
brand consistency all work together to
create an effective balance of form and
function.
Designer Tom Swain has been on
a streak lately, winning six out of
seven consecutive months, m ost
recently for his custom designs of
comfortzonesleepgallery.com and
ambiancefurniturestore.com. With a decade of web design experience
and having watched trends come and go,
Swain offers a few best practices that
are considered pragmatic approaches to
increasing conversions and decreasing
bounce rates (the rates at which users
leave sites after viewing just one page):
Swain’s design talent has also been
recognized by our clients. According
to William King of Ambiance Furniture
in Arlington Heights, Illinois, “Tom was
awesome in capturing my vision. He was
able to work outside of templates and
achieve the look that I was going for.”
It’s no wonder Swain’s favorite challenge
when designing sites for retailers is to
create a unique look and style that sets
them apart from their competitors. “In
this space, competition is fierce and a
well-designed website can offer a small
business a serious competitive edge,”
said Swain, who thinks design is far
more than just a visual aesthetic. At its
core, Swain believes, design is problem
solving.
According to Swain, for retailers that
sell online, the No. 1 priority of a website
is conversion. That is, turning a visitor
into a buyer or at least a prospect
through de-anonymization. A well-
1. Mobile first. A “mobile first” approach
to user interface design means that a
designer gives consideration first to
the small screen and then builds out.
This ensures that a website’s content
is delivered effectively across the
large spectrum of screen sizes and
resolutions in today’s digital world.
2. Minimalism. This trend has become
increasingly popular because it works. A
distraction-free environment is the most
effective way to put focus on the content
and facilitate the online shopping
process.
3. Micro-interactions. When users’
actions are met with reactions, their
sense of engagement helps keep them
on your site. Hover effects, transitions,
and parallax scrolling—which can all
have a 3-D aesthetic as elements
move at different speeds—are useful
techniques that, when used strategically,
are highly effective navigation aids.
Swain also provides a few tips on how to
work with designers so they understand
your vision and bring it to virtual life:
1. Know your competition. Seek out
and provide examples of competitors’
sites that you know create an effective
online presence. Competition breeds
innovation. An experienced designer will
pinpoint a competitor’s “it factor” and
figure out a way to do it better.
2. Know your market. This sounds like
Business 101 but the more retailers can
tell a designer about their customers,
their customers’ buying habits, and
any external influences specific to their
geographic region, the better a designer
can utilize that information to design
accordingly.
3. Trust your designer. Retailers are the
subject matter experts when it comes
to their products and services. To
Swain, this is as important to him as
his expertise is to retailers. Designers
are the professionals when it comes to
digital marketing and effective design.
Any good web designer should possess
the ability to provide clear and concise
reasoning behind each design decision.
When the retailer and the designer trust
and respect each other, they can focus
on the site’s primary objective, ROI.
As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is a
funny word. Some people think design
means how it looks. But of course, if you
dig deeper, it’s really how it works.”
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