New research from digital marketing agency IronMonk examines whether or not consumers will buy from a company with a poorly designed website—and discovering that a whopping 86 percent of Americans say they won’t buy from such a company.
More specifically, the survey revealed 85.8 percent of all respondents indicated that they wouldn’t buy from a company that has a poorly designed, hard to navigate or outdated website.
Interestingly, when demographic filters were applied to the results specifically targeting females, the percentage skyrocketed to 90.1 percent. In addition, the age bracket with the highest percentage of respondents who indicated “No”, was females between the ages of 18 and 24, at an astounding 92.6 percent.
Trust makes the difference
Based upon the results of the survey coupled with research into consumer motivation online, trustworthiness is the key element that determines if a visitor to a company website will likely follow through with a purchase.
Consumers use their intuition when making online purchasing decisions. If a company owns a website that makes visitors feel safe and comfortable, with clear prompts and relevant content, they are far more inclined to follow through with purchases. Professional quality web design is utterly imperative in forming the effectiveness and legitimacy of a company’s online presence.
“The results of this survey are really interesting, but definitely aren’t surprising. For companies to succeed and flourish online, good website design is absolutely critical. First impressions are everything, especially when it comes to the opinions that users will formulate about a company and brand when they visit a website,” said Amine Rahal, founder of IronMonk, in a news release.
Conversely, 14.2 percent of respondents to the survey indicated that the quality of a company’s website had no bearing on their purchasing decisions. Curiously, when demographic filters were applied to the results targeting only males, the percentage increased to 18.8 percent. Additionally, 21.9 percent of males 65+ selected this response. Of all female survey participants, 9.9 percent stated that they would make a purchase from a company with a bad-quality website.
The resounding conclusion of the survey, is that given the astronomical number of company websites for American consumers to choose from, a business must own a well-designed website to stand out from the competition and succeed.
IronMonk surveyed 1,500 Americans for this report.