Bad Websites Can Seriously Damage Your Brand.

Websites are a key part of many modern businesses. A good website will allow people to read an article or buy a product from wherever they are, whenever they want to. But a bad website will not just frustrate users. It will damage your entire brand.

‘Good websites’ are good for a reason. They have content that users value, and make access to this content quick and easy. But when a website has poor content or a bad interface the customer experience is affected. People become frustrated if they cannot find something they want on the site, make a purchase, or even read an article without being distracted by intrusive adverts.

This poor customer experience is not just a problem for the website. The effects can carry through to damage your entire brand.

Your brand is vitally important to your organization - it is how people see you and what you do. It will have been carefully cultivated, to give ‘the right message’. People will arrive at a website with ideas defined by previous exposure to a brand. But when they leave the website they will take with them ideas about the brand based on their experiences there.

Customer experience of a brand can be disproportionately affected by the worst experience they have, and unfortunately, websites are often the worst touch point that customers have with organizations. Moreover, since people frequently tell others about what they find online, these experiences are typically shared.

Easy to use interfaces developed in conjunction with real users are the only sure-fire way to develop websites that enhance the overall customer experience and the brand. By choosing instead to sideline the customer when designing websites, organizations risk damage to the whole brand.