Requiem for the Flash Intro: Seven Dying Trends in Website Design

Thanks to the now ubiquitous #TBT (that’s “throwback Thursday” for those of you who don’t speak hashtag), every week we’re all treated to a cringe-inducing trip down memory lane that takes us on a tour of our most regrettable fashion choices, whether it’s the bad perms and acid-washed jeans we sported in the 80s, the grunge-era plaid shirts and Doc Martens of the 90s or the velour sweatsuits and Carrie Bradshaw-inspired nameplate necklaces we left behind in the early aughts. Just as in fashion, website design trends come and go. What’s popular one day is old news the next. And just as you wouldn’t wear shoulder pads and stirrup pants to a sales meeting, you don’t want your website to be an embarrassing amalgamation of passé design trends. After all, if your website looks dated, it won’t inspire confidence among prospective customers that you’re on top of your game – no matter what game it is that you’re playing. Here are seven once-popular design trends that are fading fast – and that you should purge from your website as soon as you can:

1. Flash intros

Once upon a time, everybody and their brother wanted a Flash intro to create a memorable first impression. These days, though, having a Flash intro is a recipe for disaster. First, in today’s era of mobile surfing, speed and simplicity win the day. Keep in mind, too, that Flash and iOS do not mix, so your site won’t even be accessible to users on Apple gadgets. Also, today’s visitor demands more control and fewer bells and whistles that only serve as obstacles to accomplishing their end goal.

2. Pop-over windows

As site owners became increasingly eager to turn their web presence into full-blown conversion engines, the pop-over window rose to popularity. As soon as a new visitor lands on the site, BAM! they are greeted with a request to complete a form to provide their contact information in exchange for a welcome discount offer or to follow the company on Facebook for future updates and promotions, thus giving the company all the ammunition they need to continue their engagement long after that visitor has moved on to other corners of the Web. But while these pop-overs are good for site owners (at least in theory), they are very disruptive for the user and provide roadblocks that only make it more difficult for them to accomplish what they originally came to the site to do. As a result, any value that might be gained in collecting the user’s data is quickly negated if that user has no interest in continuing their as a result of this negative first encounter. Thankfully, good UX is winning this battle, and the pop-over is falling quickly out of favor. Reality has set in that no one comes to a site for the express purpose of helping the site’s owner market to them, so it’s hardly the best way to lay a foundation for a successful long-term relationship. Instead of leading off the conversation with your survey request, Facebook follow prompt or current promotion, simply allow your visitors to dive right into the site to find the information they’re seeking or complete their desired task. Keep your mailing list sign-up and Facebook links in your site’s universal framework, and if you do your job in creating a positive experience for them, your visitors will willingly allow you to become a presence in their email inbox or their Facebook news feed all on their own. Read more: Deal-Breakers and Dead-Ends: Six Turn-Offs That Alienate Website Visitors

3. Animated billboards

Oversized, rotating slideshows have become a common fixture on home pages in recent years, largely because they provide a way to present several key messages to the visitor without requiring them to scroll or to click past the initial page. However, UX tests show that these animated presentations are not as effective as we’d like to think. While the initial message in the carousel often prompts a click, the effectiveness of subsequent messages in the loop drops dramatically because many users do not stick around to see all of the slides. Other users ignore these animated areas completely, perceiving them as banner advertisements that should be glossed over in search of more meaningful content. The billboard remains a popular design feature; however, the trend is growing toward featuring a singular strong message in this area combined with a striking visual image. Streamlining and simplifying allows this one key idea to come across loud and clear rather than being lost among a muddled array of messages that are presented indiscriminately in the hopes that one will result in the desired outcome.

4. Information overload

Continuing with the theme of reductionism, today’s most successful websites pare down the information presented on the home page in order to create a cleaner, more focused presentation. This is in stark contrast to the approach that many sites took for years, which was to stuff the home page with as much information as possible in the hopes that visitors would find whatever they might be looking for on that page without having to dig any deeper. The result is a page that is utterly lacking in direction; nothing is emphasized because everything is emphasized. In the end, instead of being guided intuitively toward the information they seek, users are driven away by an overwhelming mess of content that is not properly organized and prioritized. To avoid this pitfall, focus on only the most important information for visitors while providing easy pathways, such as search tools and user-friendly site navigation, to help them find the content that lies deeper in the site. This approach will ultimately yield a better experience for your users and therefore better results for your company.

5. Drop-down menus

For years, the drop-down menu has been the go-to solution for streamlining a site’s primary navigation options while providing easy access to secondary pages. But with the advent of touch-based devices, which do not have a hover state, drop-down menus no longer serve the needs of all users. The simple fact of the matter is that with the rapid growth of mobile Web use, you simply can’t afford to risk leaving these visitors stranded with no way to delve beyond your site’s home page. Instead, a better solution for modern websites is to feature secondary page navigation options along the top or side of the page within the relevant section of the primary navigation. Read more: 3 Simple Rules for Navigation That Will Boost Your Website’s Performance

6. Contact forms

The contact form has long been a staple of websites – so much so that it’s often used in place of providing other means of contacting a company, such as a phone number or email address. However, more and more, site owners are choosing to eliminate this form altogether in an effort to provide a more personal, service-driven experience. Instead of having a visitor’s first interaction with their company occur via a cold, faceless web form that goes to an anonymous recipient and assures no timeline for response, the company elects to provide only their phone number so that the customer’s needs can be addressed immediately and directly by a live human being. While contact forms are not likely to disappear completely anytime soon, what is going away is the practice of relying on these forms as the sole vehicle for communication with customers and prospects.

7. Third-person narratives

Your website should embody the voice and personality of your brand. As such, it simply makes no sense for the content to be written from a third-person perspective, as if it’s being read to the user by a distant omniscient narrator. Instead, writing in the first-person creates a softer, more approachable tone that puts a human face on your company. It’s the difference between saying, “At Sanford & Son Remodeling, their goal is to ensure your satisfaction.” and “At Sanford & Son Remodeling, our goal is to ensure your satisfaction.” Which one feels more authentic? More warm and personable?

Beyond keeping up with the Jonses

Remember: keeping pace with the latest trends in website design is more than skin-deep. It’s not about having more bells and whistles than your competition; it’s about providing the best experience for all users, no matter how or where they’re accessing your site. By staying ahead of the curve, you’ll ensure that your site continually evolves to meet the needs and expectations of users who are constantly adapting to new devices and technologies.

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Check it Out: 10 Ways to Stop Shopping Cart Abandonment

It’s not over until the cash register rings

A customer has found your site, browsed your store and added several items to their cart. You’re home free, right? No so fast...until they’ve confirmed their purchase, you’re still at zero, and you still have plenty of opportunities to derail the sale. Fatal flaws in your checkout process can not only cost you the potential sale at hand but also drastically decrease the likelihood of that customer ever returning to your site to buy from you in the future. If you’re experiencing a high occurrence of shopping cart abandonment, here are 10 ways to fix the obstacles and annoyances that are driving away customers and crippling your conversion rates:

1. Eliminate all chance of unpleasant surprises.

Make sure customers have all the information they need upfront to make a confident buying decision. This includes confirming the availability of the item; calculating promotional pricing or discounts; mapping out shipping options, costs and timetables; specifying whether or not sales tax applies to the purchase and clearly defining your return policy. If a customer reaches checkout only to discover that the particular item they wanted is out of stock, ineligible for an advertised discount or costs more to ship than they are willing to pay, odds are good that will be the last you see of them.

2. Display relevant details in the cart.

The shopping cart itself should provide a clear overview of the pending purchase at a glance so that customers do not have to navigate away from the checkout process to confirm the details of their order. Keep in mind that by this point in the process, your shopper may well have clicked to and from the cart numerous times as they selected multiple items, browsed various categories of products or compared one item to another, and they may be fuzzy on the specifics of everything they’ve chosen. Without the benefit of being able to glance down into a physical shopping cart to review their selections, they need reassurance that the package that lands on their doorstep will contain exactly what they intend, so be sure to provide thumbnail images, descriptions, quantities, sizes, colors, prices, availability and applicable discounts for each product in the cart.

3. Allow changes within the cart.

Every time your customer navigates away from the cart, you’re running the risk of losing them, so make sure that they can edit details such as quantity, size and color without having to locate the product page a second time.

4. Offer multiple payment options.

If you’re conducting e-commerce business online, your site should be tied in to a secure payment gateway. However, offering the option to complete the transaction through a third-party processor like PayPal or Google Checkout can put some customers – especially those who may not shop online often – at ease because they don’t have to release their credit card number and billing information directly to you. Conversely, PayPal and Google Checkout shouldn’t be the only options you provide. If a customer does not already have an account established with one of these payment processors, they may not want to create one just to do business with you.

5. Don’t require customers to create an account.

Without a doubt, it’s awfully tempting to require customers to create an account to complete their purchase because it will allow you to collect valuable data from them for future sales analysis and marketing. However, given the sheer number of social media and e-commerce sites that your customers likely interact with, they may very well have account creation fatigue. They may not want to establish yet another user account and password just to make a purchase, especially if they don’t necessarily anticipate ordering from you again in the near future. The best approach is to offer two options: checking out as a guest, which will expedite the process, or creating an account, which offers conveniences appealing to those who do shop with you often, such as eliminating the need to re-enter their shipping and billing information every time they make a purchase and allowing them to check on the status of an order. The key is to let your customer make the choice that suits them best; don’t force the issue and lose a sure sale in pursuit of future marketing opportunities.

6. Simplify and streamline.

Online shoppers are notoriously impatient, so don’t ask for more information than you need to complete the transaction, and don’t break the checkout process into more steps than necessary. Make sure as well to display a breadcrumb trail that indicates how the checkout process will progress. If a customer can see at step one that they only have three steps left to complete their order, they won’t get impatient or frustrated as they move from one screen to the next, not knowing what’s coming next or when the process will be done.

7. Cater to the on-the-go shopper.

When evaluating your checkout process, don’t forget about mobile users. A customer may be standing in the bricks-and-mortar store of your competitor and comparison shopping on their phone. If you offer the better price, don’t you want to make it as easy as possible for this customer – who’s clearly ready to buy – to order from you on the spot instead? This is another reason why it’s critical to streamline the steps within your checkout process as much as possible as well as to ensure that form fields can be easily completed on touch-based devices. Walk through your checkout process on as many different types of mobile devices and platforms as you can get your hands on, and don’t waste any time in eliminating any obstacles or road blocks that you discover.

8. Don’t give up too soon.

In the age of multitasking, sometimes a customer will simply get distracted before they have a chance to complete their transaction. The phone rings, the baby wakes up from her nap, the computer freezes, the pizza delivery guy arrives, etc. Or sometimes, they just need some extra time to make a decision while they continue to do research, get opinions from friends and the like. While you can’t do anything to mitigate this type of offline interference, you still have a chance to save the sale. A persistent shopping cart retains the items your customer has selected for a set period of time, whether that’s a few hours or a few days. When your customer has a chance to return to their computer, they can pick up exactly where they left off rather than facing the hassle of tracking down each item again, even if they had closed their browser window.

9. Never underestimate the importance of the human element.

If your customer has a question as they are progressing through checkout, the easiest, most reliable way to ensure they don’t lose momentum is to display your customer service phone number prominently at every step along the way. A simple question should have a simple resolution, and usually that is best provided in real time by a human being. If you leave your customers to their own devices to find the answers they need, you’re running the risk of allowing them to become distracted or frustrated and losing all interest in completing the order.

10. Reinforce trust at every turn.

As with all elements of doing business online, trust is key. In the absence of face-to-face human contact, you must rely on your website to build trust for you if you want customers to choose to spend their hard-earned dollars with you rather than with your competitor. Some elements of trust-building in e-commerce are obvious. Do you display your SSL certificate to reinforce security? Do you feature customer testimonials or reviews to boost confidence in your reputation? Is it easy to locate your company’s phone number, physical address and return policies so they feel assured that they can resolve a problem or obtain a refund without hassle? Other elements are less tangible. Does your site have a polished, refined look and feel overall, or does it look dated or sketchy? Do you offer value-added content like how-to videos or blog articles that convey to your customers that they are doing business with experts who are knowledgeable and passionate about their products? Thanks to the proliferation of Internet scam artists, the burden of earning trust with online shoppers is steep, but it is surmountable with careful attention to detail.

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