Good design is good business. From dating apps to online shopping, we choose products, services and people based on beauty. Successful business owners know this well.
According to Adobe, companies with a strong design outperform companies with a weak design by 219% on the S&P Index (a stock market index) over the span of 10 years. In fact, 48% of people surveyed by Tyton Media said that the website design of a business was their number one factor in determining the credibility of that business.
So not only is good design directly tied to success, it’s also tied to trust. People don’t trust just anyone.
When people work with a company, they want to know they’re working with professionals. Investing in professional design shows that your business values professionalism and sends a powerful message to potential clients or customers. You only have one chance to make a first impression, and using a professional designer helps you make it as effective as possible. Investing wisely is key to sustaining and growing your business, and design is no exception.
Here are 7 proven reasons why good design is good business (and how you can use design to increase your small business revenues).
1. Good design makes a strong first impression.
Good design is about using colors, shapes, textures, space, forms, images, and content in a harmonious, balanced way. Good design starts with a strong brand.
In the digital age, companies only have a matter of seconds before a customer makes up their mind. Those few seconds are crucial because they can make or break a sale – and design plays a huge role in the deciding factor.
2. Good design helps your business stand out.
If you thought you had no competition, think again.
Every company, no matter the industry, faces a hefty amount of competition. Good design can make or break your business:
If your designs are current, modern and impressive, people will just gravitate towards your products. It’s a fact of life. The next time you go to the grocery store, browse a random isle that you never look through and ask yourself which items on the shelves catch your eye first. I guarantee it’ll be the products with phenomenal design, branding and modern packaging.
Creating a successful product, service or website is all about getting eyeballs to it. What if you can spend less money but generate more eyeballs just because something looks better than the others? Would you not take the time to invest more upfront to get those kinds of results? That’s the great thing about good design, you don’t have to spend more but you’re automatically able to generate more attention.
3. Good design builds customer relationships.
Since relationships are based on emotion, customers are often emotionally connected to a company.
If you look at the crowdspring site, for example, you’ll see that we leverage this in many ways.
For example, to showcase the emotions someone may go through when seeing a beautiful design, we use a fun illustration to show that crowdspring’s clients will get a design their customers will love:
Good design makes it easier to create emotional connections.
4. Good design keeps your website easy to use.
Good design is not just what looks good. To be effective, design needs to perform a specific function. Good design is about how something looks and works. A well-designed website, for example, helps convert visitors into customers.
When people have attention spans that are shorter than that of a goldfish, you know you don’t have a lot of time before someone gives up.
According to a study by Microsoft Corp., the average human attention span has declined by 4 seconds since 2000. Today, that attention span is 8 seconds, while a goldfish clocks in at 9 seconds. While the difference seems small at first, it’s actually a pretty big deal.
With good design, websites and online products are easier to navigate and bounce rates are usually lower. When people encounter poorly designed sites, they are more likely to give up because they can’t find what they are looking for or it takes too long to find the information they seek.
5. Good design promotes brand consistency.
It would be strange if Google suddenly started displaying search results in a cursive font. Or if McDonald’s decided to change up their logo depending on the day.
If you’re cringing, it’s probably because you’ve never tried to imagine a purple McDonald’s logo or a script Google search results page. We don’t blame you.
The layout of Google’s search results and the McDonald’s logo are more than just design elements for the companies, they’re a part of their brand.
Because those designs are so memorable, it’s hard to imagine them changing, and that’s a really good thing.
Consistency is key when it comes to creating a cohesive brand.
6. Good design is the key to social media success.
If you thought you only needed a well-designed website to succeed, think again. Many of today’s marketing efforts are done on social media platforms. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or any other platform, social media is one of the best ways to connect to customers, go viral, and make a name for your company.
But in the age of aesthetics, you won’t get far with your social media strategy with poor designs.
Buffer took a look at the effect of graphics on social media engagement on Twitter. In their research, they found that tweets with images received 150% more retweets than those without any images. A closer look at these images showed that companies often took the time to post something more than a stock photo.
Customers aren’t the only ones that agree good design helps companies on social media platforms. 60.8% of marketers said that in 2017, design was essential to their marketing strategies. And 93% agreed that it was very important. Without design, marketing messages boil down to plain text and this approach rarely catches people’s attention.
7. Good design makes you money.
We pointed out that good design is good business and hopefully, you’re beginning to understand why that’s true. Ultimately, good design increases your company’s value, boosts sales, and puts your business in a better financial situation.
Today, a MySpace account is the equivalent of a flip phone. It’s Facebook’s clunky, uglier relative. Facebook’s sleeker, more intuitive design helped Facebook become the dominant social network in the U.S. Facebook is now valued at over $440 billion, while MySpace is valued at around $35 million.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Even though your business is small today, a good design can help it be big tomorrow.