Design & Development Trends for 2019: All About Engagement & Conversion Rate Optimization
2019 is all about engagement and finding (and relieving) your user’s pain points. It’s pretty simple. Customers who are engaged spend more money. In fact, according to Gallup, they represent 23 percent of profitability, revenue, and relationship growth compared to the average customer. Here are six design trends for 2019 and how conversion rate optimization (and everything that goes along with it) should be a key focus for your web design and development projects this year.
Smart Chat
Chatting isn’t new, but it’s becoming more and more tailored to the user as technology improves. Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed mechanical chat sessions into intelligent customer experiences. The quicker your customers find what they are looking for, the more likely you are to convert them. According to Forrester, customers who chat are 2.8 times more likely to convert, and they spend 60 percent more than customers who don’t use chat. Why is there such a difference? Simply put, smart chat improves the customer experience. Whether the user is looking for customer support or product information, they are more likely to have a better user experience (UX) if they can get the right information quickly. Forbes put the connection this way, “User experience measures the quality of site interactions, which in turn measures the quantity of site success and conversions.” Read this article to learn more about how chatbots are transforming UX.
Conditional Forms
Keeping in mind that the UX is a key factor to increasing conversions, conditional forms are an efficient tool to add to your strategy. Customized forms use conditional logic to hold a user’s attention. They are tailored to meet their specific needs. Whether your goal is to give users a clear way to get in touch with you, direct them to the right team member, gather data for your email marketing campaign or simply to get visitors to subscribe to your newsletter, conditional forms get more specific information from your users and provide more value to them. Ultimately, you’ll improve the quality of the data going into your CRM, enabling advanced data-processing, which leads to an even more customized UX.
Micro Interactions
A design that strategically uses micro interactions prompts engagement and improves the overall UX. Think about them as little moments that bring joy. The most well-known example is the social media “like” button. It encourages action. Similarly, your micro interactions should create a UX that is smoother and more intuitive. It gives your traditional website UX a more nuanced flow. Each interaction nudges your visitor closer to conversion. Here are some micro copy examples to start your creative juices flowing. Also, check out these examples of animated .gifs that work nicely as micro interactions.
Video Headers
Video will always be on trend, but 2019 will see them used in a more nuanced setting. They are not the tacky and disruptive videos of the past that took forever to download. CDN’s, OGV’s and third-party housing make it possible for your videos to load in record time and not slow down your site. Video headers connect with visitors emotionally and can communicate your message in ways static images and text can’t. They add a new dimension for interaction between your visitors and you.
SVGs
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) are making an appearance everywhere. Brilliant colors and unique graphics are the order of the day in 2019, and SVGs are the key to making your images stand out. Check out these unique trends for design, and think about the importance of quality images. A poor quality image will actually diminish the UX. SVGs maintain quality at large dimensions, while keeping the same file size. Vectors are cross-browser optimized and are scalable across all formats of your website. Here are some tips for using SVGs effectively.
Artificial Intelligence
We touched on AI in relation to chat, but there are many other applications to improve the UX as well. Web design that incorporates AI can be as simple as browser and language detection to more advanced uses, like dynamic design elements tailored for new and returning customers. AI is helping advertisers read user emotions, so they can develop content, platform designs and other strategies that get the desired response. Combined with chat and scalable SVGs, AI is creating truly intelligent online experiences.
It’s not too late to tweak your 2019 design strategy to emphasize user engagement. Learn more about practical engagement tools that can help you optimize conversion.Â
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