If you were to paint a broad picture of who Generation Z is, it would be this: they’re young, decisive, smart and just a little bit vain with plenty of buying power. In just four short years, this demographic will make up nearly half of the U.S. population. While Generation Z shares some similarities with Millennials, the group has some vast differences too. Particularly in their expectations of brands and how they interact with them. Generation Z is poised to make a big impact on the consumer buying space.

Who Is Generation Z?

Loosely characterized as those born after the mid-nineties, Gen Z is maturing in a world where the veil of normalcy has been pulled off. As a result, today’s teens appear to be more level-headed and realistic about the world they live in compared to previous generations. Analysis from the Cassandra report shows that:

• 71 percent of Gen Z respondents expect to experience significant failure before achieving success
• 40 percent say they see failure as an opportunity to try again

Just like generations before them, Gen Z’s world view has been shaped by incredible political and historical events. This generation is growing up in a post-9/11 world. They’ve felt the impact of The Great Recession; watched the unfolding of corporate scandals including Lehman Brothers, Bernie Madoff, Volkswagen and Turing Pharmaceuticals (to name just a few). They have witnessed the legalization of same-sex marriage along with the nomination of America’s first black president and subsequent nomination of its first female presidential nominee.

Consequently, Gen Z thirsts for honesty, candor and social good. Nearly 80 percent of teens surveyed by sparks & honey reported that they are concerned about world hunger; children around the world dying of preventable disease and man’s impact on the planet. It’s no wonder they prefer to shop with brands that exhibit some sense of corporate social responsibility.

Gen Z is also one of the most open and accepting when it comes to gender and racial equality. This is the generation that’s given rise to terms like “gender fluid” and “gender queer”. Notable Gen Zers like Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus and Ruby Rose are emerging as role models for a generation that eschews labels when it comes to gender and sexuality.

They’ve also grown increasingly diverse and tolerant of different races and ethnicities—and will expect as much from the brands they support. By 2020, more than half of American children are expected to be part of a minority race or ethnic group. A figure that is slated to grow as time passes.

The Generation Z Consumer

How much buying power does a Gen Zer really have? JWT Intelligence reports $44 billion annually. This group’s purchasing power extends to their parents’ buying decisions as well. About 93% of Gen Z parents say their children have at least some sway on their family’s spending, including:

• Apparel
• Electronics
• Entertainment
• Toys

It’s estimated that Gen Z spends one in ten of their dollars online. In fact, access to internet is huge when it comes to this generation. Considered the most connected, Gen Z is used to accessing what they need on-the-go. No surprise since nearly three quarters of American teens ages 13 to 17 have smartphones and go online daily.

“Generation Z and Millennials, the digital natives, are voracious consumers of media, and mobile phones are at the center of their lives,” said Megan Clarken, executive vice president, Nielsen Global Watch Product Leadership in Nielsen’s Age of Technology survey. “For younger consumers, the mobile phone is no longer just for use on the go, but everywhere—even their living rooms. Content providers and advertisers need to be flexible with their approaches in order to reach consumers where they are, on the device they are using and during the activities in which they participate.”

Gen Z’s extreme connectivity gives them access to a global community, which they actively engage in—and rely on when it comes to making purchasing decisions. That word-of-mouth pipeline is one of the reasons review sites like Yelp, Zagat and TripAdvisor are so popular—and will be increasingly important to brands.

Not only do Gen Zers look to the internet to discern quality, but it’s made them increasingly aware of other people’s opinions. Almost to a fault, as a Generation Z Entrepreneur Patrick Finnegan puts it in a recent interview with uinterview.com:

“We’re part of a social media generation, so we [want to] look good on social media. When we post a picture… It’s so we get likes on our Instagram. We actually aren’t genuinely as caring as millennials were. We still have that social change aspect to us, but at the same time if that photo can make us look good on social media… I would say it’s about validation.”

What Can Brands Do?

Navigating the Gen Z consumer space may seem like a lot to take on, but luckily millennials have been priming you for the last few years. Just like millennial consumers, Gen Z expects an omnipresent approach to their shopping experience. Nearly 90 percent of teens ages 13 to 17 have or have access to a desktop or laptop computer, and 58% of teens have or have access to a tablet computer (Pew Research Center). Their interaction doesn’t end online either; many Gen Zers will research a brand or a product online, then visit a retail store to make a purchase.

4D is the new norm. Gen Z has been texting, swiping and chatting their whole life. For brands wanting to connect with them, it’s imperative that they have a robust online and offline experience. Immersive and interactive experiences are a must, including:

• Emojis
• Symbols
• Images
• Video
• Live Stream

Living in a highly digital, multi-screen, real-time environment has its drawbacks. By 15 years-old, most Gen Zers will consume at least 200,000 marketing messages. Perhaps, this is why their average attention span is just eight seconds. So, it pays to know where they’re hanging out online and catch them in the moment. It’s typical for this demographic to spread themselves across various social media platforms from YouTube and Snapchat to Facebook and Instagram.

Take a creative and transparent approach. Gen Z is characterized by its desire for corporate responsibility and social inclusiveness. Branding that embraces love, diversity, respect, and positivity are more likely to get their attention. Advertisements that feature a range of ethnicities, body shapes, and sizes are more likely to resonate with Gen Zers, since it’s a closer reflection of the reality they’re living in.

Make social work for your brand. Encourage conversation and suggest that your consumers leave reviews. It’s critical that your social media game is on point. Be sure to respond quickly to consumer feedback and take a proactive approach to any negative reviews. Invest in social listening software to help you keep tabs on the discourse surrounding your products/services.

Find ways to give back. Brands that embrace Gen Z’s mission to do good in the world stand a better chance of earning their trust and loyalty. Find a theme they care about like the environment, poverty, equal rights, etc. and turn that into a cause you stand behind too. Then, make a genuine effort to support it.

It’s not too soon to start thinking about ways to reach this important demographic. While Millennials might have considered these features an impressive nicety; Gen Z will look to it as the norm.

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With influencer marketing the next era of digital marketing has arrived. Although some forms of influencer marketing have been practiced by advertisers for years, the modern use of this promotional strategy is clearly defined in structure and importance.

Influencer Marketing is a marketing strategy by which brands indirectly connect with their audience and convey product concepts via an opinion leader, inspirational person or topic expert.

In 2012, Nielsen reported that only about 35 percent of consumers trust online video and banner ads — yet 92 percent of consumers worldwide trust “recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.” This is the power behind influencer marketing.

Over the past three years, the number of Google searches for the term “influencer marketing” has jumped by nearly 1500 percent. This dramatic increase is no surprise. More and more strategists are employing influencer marketing tactics because:

• it maneuvers around ad blockers
• it can be conducted online or in-person
• it involves mutual benefit
• it relies on someone else who already has a dedicated and established following
• it reaches your target audience with the highest chance of return

While many have already launched influencer marketing campaigns, it’s never too late to join the game. Fast-track your way to marketing success by carefully securing your first few influencers.

Define influencer marketing

First you must use some imagination: What does your overall influencer marketing program look like? What are the business objectives? What social media platforms will be utilized and how will each differ from one another? What does your ideal influencer look like for each of these platforms? As if you are writing a job posting, write out a list of qualifications for your potential candidates.

When considering what traits and criteria your ideal influencer would posses, ask:

• Which industry are they in?
• Where are they located?
• On which social media platforms are they active?
• What do they post about?
• How many followers do they have?
• Who are their followers?
• What is the target audience?
• Who do they follow?
• How would you collaborate in order to benefit both parties?

Identify

Once you have outlined your ideal candidates, search for them. Since most influencer campaigns are executed on social media platforms, you will likely find an influencer on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or Tumblr. Here are tools that will help your search run smoothly:

• Facebook Search will show you public posts by individuals and pages. Scan for the ones that earn the engagement you need.
• Twitter’s List feature organizes users within certain categories chosen by users. The right lists will lead you to the perfect influencers.
• Buzzsumo is an online tool that allows you to search for terms and see who is sharing that content alongside how much engagement they receive.
• Look for speeches or topics under TedTalks. Their speakers tend to build a following after their talk is posted on the site.
• Hashtag searches on Instagram will return top and recent posts. See who makes it onto the top posts.

Approach

By now you may have found a list of influencers that look promising. But, before you jump ahead and make the first move, get them to notice you first. Follow them and engage with their posts. Let them notice your brand from their own social platform. Your influencer will be more inclined to help out if they already know of your brand and they feel like they will get something out of the relationship.

Connect

When the first impression has been made, it is time to advance by making a personal connection. Send them a message, and invite them to collaborate. Explain why you believe they are the ideal influencer. Most importantly, write in detail about how working together would be mutually beneficial. No need to be aggressive, as this could turn influencers away. Take it slow, and start on a smaller project before jumping into a full campaign. Test the waters, and take the time to make sure you have found a strong match.

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Cart abandonment is an important topic to consider when working on a new eCommerce web product. Often times clients have put a lot of time, effort, and resources into an existing eCommerce website, but consumers are still dropping off at checkout. This is something our digital agency has seen time and time again. Ecommerce research agency Baymard Institute estimates that the average online shopping cart abandonment rate is nearly 70 percent. As consumers increasingly shop online with their mobile devices, brands are struggling to find ways to meet their demand for convenience, immediacy and simplicity. The good news is that a flawless user experience can win them back.

Simplicity is key

Despite the rise of abandoned shopping carts, Business Insider reports that about 63 percent of merchandise can actually be recovered by online retailers. The key is to simplify the checkout process.

A traditional checkout funnel typically consists of at least five steps:

• Checkout
• Shipping
• Billing
• Payment
• Confirmation

With so many steps, it’s easy to see why mobile consumers are getting frustrated. Consumers aren’t abandoning their online shopping carts because of product cost. They just don’t want to fill out tedious and/or time consuming forms. Nearly 40 percent of online shopping cart abandonment is due to lengthy forms prompting consumers to enter shipping and payment information. In fact, four of the top five reasons consumers drop off at checkout are related to entering information.

“The importance of mobile isn’t news anymore. For most brands and marketers, more than half of site visitors are coming from mobile marketers,” said Anthony Nicalo the VP of Platform at Mobify during a recent web payment webinar hosted by Mobify and Google.

Mobile has fractured and fragmented consumer behavior into hundreds of short, fleeting mobile moments. Customer expectations for simplicity and convenience are growing exponentially.

Improve cart abandonment

To prevent online shopping cart abandonment, you need to optimize your checkout process. Make your consumer’s needs, and the devices they frequently use, the centerpiece of your checkout design. Here are a few tips to help you:

1. Enable autofill forms. Mobify surveys revealed that 46 percent of online shoppers site checkout speed as the number one factor in whether a consumer returns to a site. The longer a checkout page takes to process a transaction, the more consumers worry an error has occurred. One easy way to speed things up is to enable auto fill forms so consumers don’t have to manually fill in shipping and payment information. Go one step further and offer to save this information for future purchases.
2. Keep everything on the checkout page. Offering a discount code? Great. Make the code accessible directly on the checkout page. Consumers won’t need to abandon their cart in search of discount codes posted on the web. Many online retailers are starting to offer a “tap it” option where consumers tap a button at the start of their shopping journey to automatically apply the discount to their online shopping cart.
3. Pay attention to visual design. Pay close attention to how color and design affect your consumer. The color red typically flags warnings to consumers, so seeing this color on your checkout page could make them cautious about processing an order.
4. Automate follow up. In a study of more than 200 brands across the country, email marketing company SaleCycle reported 46 percent of all abandoned shopping cart emails (follow up emails to consumers who left items in their cart) were opened by recipients. More than a third of email clicks led shoppers back to purchases on the retailer’s website.

Mobile dominates, so can you

In today’s connected world, it’s no secret that mobile is playing a huge role in how consumers shop. The challenge for marketers is to take their online brand experience to the next level. Marketers now must predict the needs of consumers to make brands more compelling. Simplifying the checkout process is a step in the right direction.

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Market research is an area that some brands find much too easy to overlook. There are over half a million new business owners emerging each month (Fast Company) in the United States alone. So it’s imperative your brand develop a digital strategy that facilitates business success. And with so much competition, digital strategies should be backed by market research.

Market research helps focus marketing efforts to make informed business decisions while capitalizing on opportunities. When you conduct market research you examine a variety of information including industry trends and relevant competitors. You’ll also want to do a deep dive on the desires and needs of your specific target audience. Well executed strategies from market research help your company stand apart while moving your business forward profitably.

Market Research Sets Your Brand Apart

A study conducted by CB Insights revealed that 42% of failed startups identified the “lack of a market need for their product” as the single biggest reason for the failure.

One of the greatest benefits of conducting market research is that it helps you navigate the consumer buying process your customers are engaging in. By researching what consumers are looking for and where they are engaging, you can develop an intelligent marketing approach based on data rather than opinion.

For example, if your company is targeting millennials you might guess that they are easily reachable on social media. However, your market research might show that the age group you’re trying to attract is most active only on certain channels such as YouTube and Snapchat. Rather than wasting resources on ad campaigns across all social media, your market research should guide you to more targeted outreach campaigns that offer a higher ROI.

Market research also helps you determine where your products and services fit within the overall industry your brand belongs to. If your company specializes in pet products you need to know if there’s a way you can differentiate your pet products from other brands. Market research may help determine that there is a lack of eco-friendly or holistic pet products available in a certain area or among a targeted demographic. This insight may provide a great differentiator to utilize when selling products or in communicating a brand in a manner that is more useful and unique to consumers.

Do it Well and Do it Often

The best time to conduct business research is any time! Obviously before the launch of a new product or service or before any major marketing campaign or investment makes great sense. But research should be conducted often (at least twice a year) to ensure strategies remain beautifully aligned. For finely tuned digital strategies our digital agency will conduct research and reviews up to four times a year. Research can come from a number of sources, and both primary and secondary resources should be considered.

• Primary Data is original data collected directly from first-hand experience. It can be collected through surveys, questionnaires, interviews with experts, etc.
• Secondary Data is data previously collected by someone else. Common sources of secondary data include market studies, journals and government reports.

The steps to gather market data begin with identifying the right questions you want answered about your industry. Once you know what kind of insights you’re looking for you can:

• Research your competitors. Examine pricing, advertising budgets, product features, financial data, even retail displays to determine their strengths and weaknesses.
• Compare these insights to your company. How are  your products and services different or similar? Can you identify ways to make your brand stand out?
• Pull conclusions and insights from your primary and secondary data.
• Strategize how your company will benefit from your research by targeting advantages or foreseeing potential obstacles.

Your company’s digital solutions depend on messaging and marketing strategies that identify business opportunities within your industry.  A business plan or a website audit that includes comprehensive market research will help brands limit potential business risks, as well as prosper from data-driven strategies. Assessing consumer indicators will place a company in a better position to capitalize on opportunities.

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“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” – Peter Drucker, business educator and expert

Really knowing your target audience is an essential component of any successful marketing strategy and for dramatically growing revenue.  According to Gartner Research, customers will manage 85% of their brand relationships without ever speaking to a human by 2020. That means your business website will be enormously influential and a powerful communication tool for potential consumers. Brands that fail to target specific people through a marketing message will spend valuable time and money on content that doesn’t speak to the people most interested in consuming it. A little customer research will minimize this loss and help you take your brand experience to the next level.

Understanding Your Target Audience

Your target audience is a specific set of consumers you are seeking to attract to your brand. They can be grouped into tiers based on similarities such as purchase history, job title, industry or needs. They are the ones who will find the most benefit from your product or service, and you’d be wise to focus on the ones that are buying up your brand’s products or services the most. Identifying the needs of your target audience will help your marketers, copywriters and sales team create tactical solutions that reach people most likely to engage and purchase from your brand.

So you understand the importance of reaching your target audience, but how do you figure out who they are? Who your target audience is takes some due diligence on your part. Obtaining consumer demographic information will help you shape your frame of reference for digital marketing solutions.

One way to gain insight is to form a profile or user persona to represent your most coveted customers. During a website audit for example, a brand’s digital agency may perform an extensive audit that includes research and analysis of target audience information, demographics, customer profiles,  value proposition and brand messaging to gain a deeper understanding of the customer base and specific needs.  A customer profile will help you gather information about a specific type of consumer so that you can add context to marketing messages. Learning more about your ideal consumer also gives brands more ways to create customer-centric solutions. A typical customer profile might include the following information:

• Age
• Gender
• Marital Status
• Occupation
• Hobbies
• Buying habits (i.e. brands they like, stores where they shop, etc.)
• Publications or reading material they subscribe to

With this information in hand, you can align your website and content to provide information customers find useful, fun and engaging—an important first step in building brand loyalty.

Another way to learn more about your target audience is to interview your current customer base through surveys or Q&As. Interviews will help you find out what attracted people to your brand. Was it a specific need you solved? Where did they learn about you? Asking questions like these will help you root out ways to streamline and tailor your offerings for increased ROI. You may also want to do a deeper dive and examine select demographic information for each of your top customers. Once you have demographics and answers to your customer questions you can begin to hone in on a strategy that resonates powerfully with your target audience.

Marketing Strategy

Having a firm grasp of who you are selling to helps you with strategic decisions and towards achieving very specific goals. Understanding your target audience helps you identify better platforms for outreach, smarter keywords and social media content as well as media that will actually resonate and attract attention from the people that really matter.

With an inbound marketing strategy for example, not only can brands double average website conversion rates, but also provide consumers with positive, authentic interactions with your brand. Addressing the real needs of your target audience will help you collect invaluable feedback, encourage consumer engagement and inspire your consumers to share your brand with family and friends. Which is not too bad when you’re looking for ways to drive brand awareness and growth.

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It’s only when you apply ongoing analysis and the structured implementation of actionable improvements, will you achieve the significant results reserved and coveted by industry leaders.

These brands understand the power behind analytics and the interpretation of the data.
Analytics is the central way of identifying whether your business website is achieving objectives and providing users with value. And executing on specific tactics is how you achieve record ROI for your brand’s web product.

User insight

Giving your customers what they want is a must for a business to succeed. So why not empower your website to do so? You may have a strong understanding of who your customers are, but what if you also knew how they prefer to navigate your website or what content they were most interested in? Imagine having a grasp on their preference for consuming information or the entry points they utilized to access landing pages. Now imagine using this information to improve things such as average session duration and other engagement metrics by 50%. Or increasing phone calls, emails, form submissions and other conversion metrics by 30%? What value would your business place on such a significant increase in qualified leads for example?

Interpreting a company’s web analytics provides essential insight regarding visitors, customers and behavior. All of which may lead to new improvement opportunities. Your web analytics may validate your assumptions about your customers, or they may not. The data might force you to challenge some assumptions, giving you the actual evidence needed to advocate for necessary changes. The evidence may also lead to having management revisit critical site objectives.

Want your users to take specific actions?  You can in fact direct users throughout a page and lead them to a certain area. You can also encourage a certain behavior that leads to an actionable item.

Measurable goals

If you want to make the most of your site and your business, measurable goals are required. Don’t fall into the trap of allowing your decisions to be purely subjective or ruled by gut feeling. Instead, decision making should be based on both qualitative and quantitative data.

While some decisions may be black and white there are often user experience decisions that must be made with a blend of hard data and creative inclination.

In addition to looking at the correct data points, you’ll also need to have the appropriate expertise and acumen to properly understand what to do with the information. Make no mistake, the data alone will not give you the answers, nor will they give you your next move.

Such tactical recommendations must be made from a deep foundation of expertise, user experience knowledge and years of results-driven application.

These days a full service digital agency will have SEO and online marketing experts that have been living and breathing these subject matters daily for several years. These individuals are able to provide optimal recommendations from the marriage of simple data and expertise. It’s this combination that leads to result producing solutions. And this is precisely the type of digital agency your brand will want in its corner when determining which tactics to implement.

For example, your company is operating an interactive B2B website and you cater to large and well-established brands with locations all over the world. You’ll want to understand the path of least resistance to that all important submission form. Or you’ll want to have clarity on the best place to have your white papers through A/B testing. Or how far down to put a call to action on a specific case study. These specific decisions make a big difference when it comes to conversion and are just a few of many ways you can enhance overall website effectiveness.

Implement ongoing enhancements

Never settle for flying blind with regards to how your business website is performing and meeting customer needs. Have the tools and the specialists ready to implement enhancements. Over time the benefits can be substantial. And it won’t take long before you start to achieve record ROI from your brand’s most important marketing tool.

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Mind The Habits

Understanding your customer’s buying habits is essential in successfully leveraging the sales power of a seasonal event. Knowing how those habits change in relation to a particular event is also a must – sales cycles and purchasing funnels expand and ebb significantly depending on the holiday or event in question. For example, Halloween and Valentine’s Day shoppers are more likely to make last-minute purchases than back-to-school shoppers, who tend to buy school supplies a few weeks ahead of time.

By understanding these sales windows and buying preferences, savvy marketers can begin planning a marketing campaign with enough lead time to be effective – and segment approaches to appeal to the customers who’ll be most interested.

Tailored Content and SEO

Once you’ve identified your key seasonal dates and the customers you want to reach, this data can be used to update your specific tactics accordingly. A PPC campaign with a seasonal focus is a simple, efficient way to direct users to your site. Make the most of click-through traffic by directing these users not to your standard home page, but to a specially tailored landing page with a seasonal focus. This page can be a simple  product page for a B2C company or even a detailed micro site for a B2B firm.

Given that much ad-driven click-through traffic will be new customers, aim to collect new customer details through campaigns such as giveaways, gift-themed newsletters or special discounts – doing so will allow you to undertake remarketing campaigns as a specific holiday or event grows nearer. Gearing blog posts or articles toward seasonally relevant topics also works well. For example, a tech site might prepare content relating to recommended purchases to take advantage of, or develop a shopping list of computer peripherals and accessories that would make affordable holiday season gift ideas. Similarly, update your store content categories or listings to reflect seasonal relevance – and don’t forget to rewrite your product listing information accordingly.

Formulate Strategy

Sales funnels used to be relatively streamlined and linear, allowing marketers to focus their efforts on pushing customers down a particular buying pathway. But in a multi-device world, there are a myriad of ways in which a customer might go from beginning their research about a product to making an eventual purchase.  Even with scores of analytics data at your fingertips, the very real limitations of time and resources mean that it’s difficult to anticipate a customer’s exact buying funnel. Address this uncertainty by ensuring your business website is strategized from the ground up, so that users are gently guided along an optimal user flow once on your website and regardless of landing page.

Ensure that your online store is as easy to use from a mobile device as from a desktop computer – responsive design is a requirement. Leverage social media channels to get the word out about your products and services, create a targeted email campaign to kick off well ahead of the event, and take advantage of in-app purchasing functionality, such as Twitter’s “in-tweet” purchases. In doing the above, however, it’s essential to take a cross-channel marketing approach.

Taking a cross-channel marketing approach means implementing a cohesive online marketing plan that also capitalizes on the nuances and strengths of each identified marketing channel.

Plan Ahead

Your sales uptick doesn’t need to end when a major calendar event does. Stretch out your seasonal event with a re-targeting program that will encourage shoppers to return to your store, or refocus your sights on the next event – because there’s always a next event. Strategies to entice customers back can be as simple as including a limited-time discount offer as part of your product offering. Or you can leverage a customer’s personal and purchasing data to offer individualized deals. A customer who has purchased jewelry as a Christmas gift may be a great candidate for a Valentine’s Day offer on a complementary item. And someone who has bought a new cell phone or electronic gadget, might be interested in the numerous accessories related to those purchases.

Planning ahead is at the heart of any successful online marketing strategy. And with a slew of major seasonal events quickly coming up on the annual calendar, it’s time to begin – or even finalize – your seasonal eCommerce marketing approach.

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You can have the most stylish web product around (be it a website or a mobile application), but those visuals remain limited if your customers can’t figure out how they’re supposed to engage with it. The reality is that your visitors shouldn’t have to think about how to use your website. That’s your UX designer’s responsibility. And believe us when we say that a lot of research, thought and planning goes into ensuring that your users have to think as little as possible and are instead guided effortlessly throughout each and every page.

User Experience is Strategy

User Experience is the foundation of any user-centric design, but it’s particularly important for complex or wide-ranging websites that pull together a range of different information and/or features.

Complex or advanced websites including social media websites, eCommerce sites and business grade websites are all excellent examples of web products that require UX strategy as a foundation.

From the customer side of things, a well-architected website will encourage longer visits, deepen engagement and have a direct impact of conversion metrics. From the business side such action increases conversion and impacts your company’s top line.  It’ll also reduce maintenance and support needs, as well as time and costs involved with administrative work, future development and/or expansion.

User Profiles

It sounds obvious, but good user experience is all about the user. And in order to design effectively for your customers, it’s essential to understand who they are and how they want to interact with your web product. This is where the concept of user profiles comes in handy. Developed through data-gathering processes and customer analysis, user profiles are used to represent the different types of user groups that your business caters to. By understanding demographic factors including backgrounds, habits, attributes and needs of these user groups, it’s possible to develop a relevant, highly targeted UX framework designed specifically with these user groups in mind.

User Flows

With a user profile in hand, it’s possible not only to understand who your customers are, but how they’re likely to engage with your web product. User flows are where you start to consider how your specific customers will want to move through your website pages. Business objectives will play a vital factor in determining how you want each user group to interact and ultimately where you want each group to end up. What specific actions you want completed for each page must be considered and the ideal flow for each page is also outlined. If this sounds like quite a bit of research and planning required by an expert – it’s because it is!

Keep in mind that there’s no requirement that you start at the beginning and work through to the end in linear fashion. Some users may arrive on your homepage and work their way through sequentially until they land on a specific call to action such as a “buy” button, trial of a demo, or “contact” page. Others may arrive on your newsletter sign-up page via a social media link. Others again may begin with your blog, having arrived there via a google search.

These different patterns of engaging with a website are known as user flows. By identifying the typical narratives your visitors follow when engaging with your web product, you can ensure that your individual page design provides a flow that not only makes sense but accommodates your specific users.

With this carefully developed understanding of user personas and user flows, the individual website page structuring process can begin.

The Schematics

Now that we’ve organized our site’s information at a structural level, it’s time to begin planning how the site will communicate key information and goals at the page level. The schematic or page blueprint is a visual guide that must consider hierarchy of information, the arrangement of design elements, functionality and the seamless flow from user behavior to call to action.

Wire-frames may not look very impressive as they are often stripped away of any design detail to ensure a focus on usability, navigability and coherence. The goal is to create a simple, intuitive experience for your identified users. Through the wire-framing process, UX designers can ensure that each page, and each element on the page, serves purpose and communicates the information a user needs in a logical, natural manner.

While there are many tools in a UX Designer’s tool box, the above are a few of the essentials worth highlighting. Great user experience design comes from a customer-first perspective and a deep understanding of that customer. By ensuring we know who we’re designing for, and for what purpose, it’s possible to develop a website or mobile app that’s seamless, effective, and drives results.

Of course, creating that simplicity isn’t quick or easy, but the result is a web product built not on assumptions or gut feeling, but on precise information and a deep understanding of the brand and objectives. This holistic and wholly necessary approach provides far superior outcomes.

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Common considerations for brand positioning

In general, a company should start by deciding to satisfy very specific customer needs or even a single need if possible. It should avoid attempting to satisfy too many things for everyone as this is often difficult to communicate and utterly confusing. In addition, a company should decide to satisfy just those specific needs it’s really good at and hopefully in a way that no other company can match. Here is where a company’s competitive advantage must come into play. You want to capitalize on this and communicate this advantage to the world. Maybe the company has a set of value propositions that satisfy a cluster of needs that is so unique, very few competitors can compete. You also want to consider your target audience (both primary and secondary).

Your target audience must be able to identify with your brand and recognize your unique offerings.

They should have a special place in their minds that they reserve just for your brand. So for example, when a customer is in need of Lemon Garlic Turkey Jerky made with 100% turkey breast, there should be only one brand that comes to mind!

Evaluate your offerings

Developing and establishing a brand positioning takes time and careful consideration. You need to look at your brand internally and also consider the competition. You’ll need to evaluate how your services stack up against the competition and it’s important that you are honest about what you discover. Because while you may think you offer a unique credit card service millennials will love or a luxurious and high quality bag women can’t wait to get a hold of, the reality is that consumers are well informed and rarely ever fooled. So check your ego at the door and be completely forthright with what your company is really good at (and not so good at).

Points of difference and points of parity

Surely there will be similarities between the various brands and offerings. But these points of parity are not where we recommend spending most of your time. Instead a company should know their points of difference and how those differences make them unique.

Identifying the point of difference – This is where our agency likes to spend some extra time in order to discover the benefits a customer associates with a brand. These attributes may be numerous but often times there are just a few (even one) that really make all the difference. With Apple it can be design and ease of use. With Coca Cola it can be classic taste. With All State Insurance it can be that you are in the best of hands. Whatever those associations may be, it’s important that they create strong and favorable associations between brand and consumer.

Top Competitors

A company should also be aware of top competitors, including the strategies and tactics utilized by competitors. This will help define the competitive frame of reference to guide positioning. And as for competitors it’s the direct and top competitors that you want to pay close attention to. Another great tool is the SWOT analysis that includes a competitive analysis. But we’ll save the SWOT analysis for another write-up.

Positioning should be clear

Remember, the goal is to place your brand firmly in the minds of consumers in a special place that maximizes the benefit to your firm.

Everyone in the company should be clear on the brand positioning so that they may use it as context for making decisions. Sometimes it helps to be able to condense the overall positioning into a single concise statement such as a tagline or mantra. Of course, that’s up to you to decide. However, ensuring employees are clear on positioning will go a long way towards effective customer-focused communication.

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Not every web design company actually has a brainstorming session with the client – but every web design company should! The brainstorming session is what really kicks off the entire web design and development process. This is where all the FUN really begins! At Isadora Design the web design process can’t begin until the brainstorming session has taken place with the client. Our clients often ask about this meeting and what actually takes place during the brainstorming session. We receive questions all the time such as the ones below:

• How do I prepare for the meeting?
• What should I bring to the meeting?
• What will we review?
• Who should I have attend?
• How long will the meeting last?

These are all great questions so for clarification purposes let’s go over what really takes place during the session and see what we can do about answering all of these questions. First off make sure the final decision maker attends the meeting – it may sound obvious but it’s important to have buy in from more than just the assistant! Now the brainstorming session begins and here is where you will finally be able to put a face to the web design company you’ll be working with for the next few months. You’ll get to meet face to face with the project manager in charge of your website build. Most importantly here is where you’ll be able to share all your ideas, your vision and the purpose behind your new website. The primary target audience along with business needs and any marketing initiatives are reviewed. After all your new website should be an enormous component of any online marketing efforts. Maybe you have a logo that you really love and would like to use on the website? Maybe you want to discuss Social Media integration or management in depth? Or maybe you want to talk about the SEO optimization package for your website? Whatever it is, here is where you’ll be able to do it.

For large scale web design and development projects you may even see some of the web designers who will actually collaborate during the web design phase. With Isadora Design it’s not uncommon to have our Marketing VP attend either! Depending on the complexity of the project the brainstorming session normally lasts between 60-90 minutes. It’s plenty of time to go over all the details and functionality of every page including the various deliverable items within the scope of the project. Of course you’ll likely have a small amount of homework you’ll be responsible for so bring a pen and pad of paper to jot down notes. During the web design process clients provide assets such as copy (text) and certain images for the website. Website assets such as all the business lingo, certain images or photography are all provided by the client. In addition, for an eCommerce website a list of products and product attributes, images and descriptions are also provided. Make a note of what specific assets are due and by what date so that you have plenty of time to prepare. Turning these assets in late may slow down the web design process and cause delays.

Lastly you’ll sign the agreement to commence the work. This last step is what officially locks the client into the work calendar and makes it all official. Often times web design companies in high demand are booked for months in advance. So plan ahead and get started on your research and web design company selection early. Remember, brainstorming sessions are FUN and quite a learning experience – so immerse yourself in the experience and enjoy the creative collaboration.

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