When someone visits your website for the first time, you have less than three seconds to win them over. If you can’t, they’ll move on to the next and you’ll have missed out on a potential new lead or client.
Think of your website as your digital storefront. If you were operating out of a brick-and-mortar location, wouldn’t your entry be clean, comfortable, and inviting? The same should be said for your website.
In other words, for the first few moments a potential customer spends in your digital storefront, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling. You need to create an experience.
Researchers point the finger at Millennials for creating a demand for experiences before goods. This leaves business owners with two options. You can hold a grudge, or you can learn from Millennials and create a website UX that’s unforgettable.
Based on Millennial values and culture, here are five elements your website needs.
Fast Loading Time
Your bounce rate is directly related to the loading speed of your website. Growing up in a culture of instant gratification, it’s easy to see why Millennials won’t stick around for a slow-loading website.
Sourced from the 2017 Google/SOASTA Research team, the following statistics speak volumes to the importance of website loading time.
- A website that takes up to 3 seconds to load has a 32% bounce rate increase
- A website that takes up to 5 seconds to load has a 90% bounce rate increase
- A website that takes up to 6 seconds to load has a 106% bounce rate increase
- A website that takes up to 10 seconds to load has a 123% bounce rate increase
Creating a website UX that speaks to Millennials means your website needs to be fast, and not just the homepage. There are many possible culprits behind a slow-loading page, including image sizes and formats, unclean coding, too many ads, or excessive HTTP requests. If you don’t know the loading speed of your website, you should test it.
Keep in mind that email responses, social media conversations, chat dialogue, and any other types of interaction also need to be quick. If you’re unable to keep up with these expectations, you can expect your audience to move on to another provider.
Opportunities for Interactions
Millennials have never known a world without computers. When they need to know about a service, company, individual, or news event, most turn to the internet as their first source of information. This is how they interact with the outside world.
If Millennials have made it to your website, only to find there’s no clear call to action or opportunity for interaction, they’ll feel ignored or left out. It’s like they’ve knocked on the door at a party but no one’s asking who’s there or telling them to come in. Without a bit of direction or interaction, they’ll leave.
Make sure your website includes several “Contact Us” and “Learn More Here” buttons, along with internal links on every page to help guide their journey through your site.
Thank You Pages
A common complaint about Millennial etiquette is the noticeable absence of thank-you cards. In an ironic twist, Millennials tend to abandon websites without thank-you pages, or pages that they’re redirected to after filling out a form on a landing page.
Don’t let pride get in the way on this one. As hypocritical as their demand may sound, thank-you pages are great for nurturing leads and even up-selling customers. Think of them as confirmations. If a lead engages with your site through a form and doesn’t receive confirmation via a thank-you page, they might fill out the form again, reach out in a different way, or even worse, go to a competitor’s website instead.
Keep your thank-you pages sweet. Start with a sincere message of gratitude that also confirms the form went through successfully. If necessary, provide any further instructions and then recommend additional content or resources to keep them on your site.
Custom Imagery
Let’s face it. Stock photos are awkward, often inaccurate, and just plain cheesy. Even though we’ve known this since the first stock photo made its way to a marketing campaign, Millennials were the first to demand better.
But you can’t go without images from your blogs and social media posts. Research shows that pairing an image to information improves reader retention and social shares.
Luckily, there are several ways you can create custom visuals that improve your marketing reputation with Millennials. With today’s smartphones, just about anyone can be a photographer. With a little practice, you can put together your own stock photo database.
Then, you can take advantage of software like Canva that allows you to edit and customize your photos. But if becoming a photographer isn’t on your bucket list, outsourcing your visual content is always an option.
Authentic and Genuine Reach
It’s simple psychology. We’re more likely to trust a genuine person than a fake one. The same goes for websites.
According to Stackla’s Consumer Content Report, the majority (86%) of today’s consumers say authenticity is important when they’re deciding between brands. At the same time, 57% say that less than half of today’s brands are putting out content that comes off as genuine.
The best way to come off as authentic is to truly understand your audience and their needs. Put out interesting and relevant content and you’ll pour the foundation for a trust-filled relationship with your Millennial website visitors.
Creating a great website UX is critical in today’s market. With over 83.1 Millennials representing 25% of the U.S. population, it makes sense to create an experience that matches their preferences.
Do you need help connecting with Millennials through your website or other marketing avenues? NYB Creative can help. Start a discussion today.
