Designing and building a successful and productive website involves a lot more than simply coding or designing. While these skills are obviously vital, its important to acknowledge some of the other functions of web development that go on behind the scenes, such as market research which plays such an important role, simply put, without it we are working blind. Below we have highlighted five stages of the design process, we use to help align your business goals with prospective customer needs and create a better customer experience.
1. Client Journey Development
Before considering any part of the design process, we must ascertain your goals. This needs to be documented and set out like a ‘Roadmap’; we need to listen to you, the client, and your prospective customers. After all, you know how your customers should interact with your services, marketing and sales materials.
Customers, however, are more likely to prefer a simplistic journey to their end goal, and finding the middle ground between your needs and those of your customers is essential to your success. This ‘Middle ground’ becomes the backbone of your navigation model. Discussing this with the client is easy but finding the customers’ needs is where market research comes into play.
2. Identifying the target audience:
Mediamatic will research the client’s target audience to determine the needs and preferences of the people using the website.
3. Determining the website’s goals:
Mediamatic will work with the client to identify the goals for the website, such as increasing sales, generating leads, or providing information to visitors.
4. Conducting a competitive analysis:
Mediamatic will research the client’s competitors to understand their online presence and identify opportunities to differentiate the client’s website.
5. Creating a content plan:
Mediamatic will plan the content for the website, including the pages, features, and resources that will be included.
6. Designing the website’s structure:
Mediamatic will create a plan for the website’s navigation and organisation, including the hierarchy of pages and the links between them.
7. Defining the technical requirements:
Mediamatic will identify the technical requirements for the website, including the hosting platform, CMS, and any necessary plugins or integrations.