B2C Web Design: 9 Must-Know Tips

A business-to-consumer (B2C) website is designed to sell products or services online.

An excellent example of a B2C website is Amazon, where customers can buy products and services online.

A good B2C web design must be aesthetically pleasing, easy to use, and promotes trust among the visitors (consumers/customers). All of these properties ensure that customers can easily navigate the website, access the information they require, and make a purchase.

On the contrary, an outdated design with tricky navigation may ruin a B2C web design.

So, it wouldn’t be surprising to say that a good website design is essential to the excellence of a B2C company!

However, this would make us ask what B2C web design is & what makes a good B2C web design… Do you also have the same questions? Then continue reading, as that’s what we will be discussing today!

What is B2C web design?

Generally, good B2C web design is concerned with making a good-looking and functional website. On the other hand, a poorly designed B2C may require a longer duration to load & is not aesthetically pleasing.

Generally, webmasters use the terms “B2C web design” and “B2C web development” interchangeably, which causes a little bit of confusion as these are two different things.

The B2C web design is the process of creating the visual part of a website, and often, the animations and effects too. A web design is the part of a website everyone can see! This includes the navigation bar, logo, graphics, colors, content, and so on.

The B2C development process involves transforming the visual web design and animations into a functioning and accessible platform (or, simply, a website). This can include buying a domain name, coding functionality, setting up plugins, and so on. That’s the part that the website administration only sees.

What forms a good B2C web design?

Now that you know about what is B2C web design, let’s talk about the essential components of a good B2C web design… The inclusion of these components will help you get the most out of your B2C web design:

1. Navigation menu

A good B2C website must be easy to navigate. In fact, navigation is quite essential that you are one customer down whenever a user struggles so as to figure out where to find a page or where to go next.

That’s why, per se, our website has the two most important pages (contact us & create an order) on the top menu; they are visible and accessible on any page you land on on our website!

We don’t want our customers to face problems when trying to connect or work with us. And you should do the same. You should ensure your essential landing pages are one click away from any page on your website!

Also, navigation does include classifying existing content and web pages under category labels. For instance, we have two long-form content types: Case Studies & Blogs. Then, on the Blogs Page, we have Web Design, Web Development, Marketing… And the same holds for our case studies page; you can review it here!

Once all the relevant pages are grouped into categories, you can run the extra mile and include the category links in the navigation menu. But that’s just one piece of the puzzle… The location of navigation menu on your B2C website must also be at a prominent location.

On most websites, the navigation menu is usually found at the top of every page. So, you can also include the navigation menu at the top of every page (in the header section).

For instance, an e-commerce website that sells several bed pillows can categorize all the products into one category called “Bed Pillows.” Including that category link in the navigation menu would help visitors navigate and find pages on your website easily.

2. Search bar

It is usual for most B2C websites to offer a wide range of products spread across multiple categories. That’s why the B2C website design must also include a search bar located at a prominent location.

Including a search bar ensures that customers can quickly find the exact product they are looking for without going through several pages. This will save the user’s valuable time & thus eventually increase the chances of conversion.

Include it at the top of the page to ensure the users can easily find the search bar. For example, you can look at Amazon, which includes a prominent search bar in its header. Through the search, a potential customer can skip the navigation menu and even the category pages to find their desired product.

And while we are discussing the search bar, another additional feature that can be added is “predictive search.” With this feature, a user only needs to enter the first few letters of a product/service & the search bar shows all the relevant results.

This feature not only saves time but also gives valuable suggestions to the end user. This is yet another feature that can help you to create a B2C website design that centers around ease of use and conversion.

On some B2C websites, a sticky search bar is also used, which remains visible even if the user scrolls down through the page. That’s yet another feature that can be implemented to promote a good UX (user experience) on your B2C website.

3. Responsive design

That’s why even the leading search engine, Google, has created a mobile-first index. Google, in a nutshell, gives preference to websites that are mobile-friendly.

And even if we put Google aside for a moment, mobile visitors also prefer a mobile-friendly website version. I mean, isn’t that common sense!?

This raises the question of what responsive design is…

In another nutshell, a web design that adjusts itself based on the visitor’s screen size and dimensions is called a responsive web design. This means your website’s blocks may change size and shape based on the screen of the user so as to deliver the best visual user experience possible.

To get an idea of responsive design, visit our website from your computer and mobile phone. You will notice that our website design will adjust itself based on your screen size.

Our website is a bit of a B2B website, not a B2C one; yet, the notion of a responsive design holds the same definition in both cases.

4. Catchy graphics

Don’t just rely on text alone to communicate with your website visitors… A good B2C web design requires catchy graphics to catch visitors’ attention and eventually lead them to a conversion.

Graphics include logos, icons, product images, illustrations, and relevant images based on the page’s content.

Another thing to remember is to use unique & high-quality images on your B2C website. The usage of mediocre stock images or poor-quality images can also deteriorate your site’s image in the visitor’s eye.

If you need more convincing, this study tells us that an increase of 80% in online sales was found after including images and infographics.

5. CTA buttons distribution

On a B2B website, visitors don’t make buying decisions immediately and spend a lot of time on research and choice evaluation. This means you can even place CTA buttons at the bottom of a page or the middle (like we did throughout our website), as users will likely scroll through to get information and click whenever they’re well-informed to make a decision.

On the other hand, the visitors of a B2C website are usually compulsive and spend less time researching than a B2B customer. That’s why the best strategy is to include CTA buttons above the fold so visitors don’t have to scroll down.

And for those select few that do read through the end of the page, you can also include CTA buttons throughout the page. But the main focus should be on adding CTA buttons above the fold and at a prominent but not sticky location.

With the location of CTA buttons out of the way, the next thing to focus on is the CTA’s color and text. As we mentioned, B2C buyers are ready to click that Buy or Add to Cart button. So, make it even more apparent with warmer and more attractive colors.

The exact color combination depends on your site’s brand identity, but red, green, orange, and yellow drive the best results.

And the text used in your CTA should be short but descriptive and enticing. For example, “I want to lose weight” will be much better than a simple “Buy our course” CTA text.

6. Brand values

Branding is what makes your B2C website distinguished and unique from the rest of the crowd! For example, people associate Red Bull with sports, action, and Adrenaline, while they associate Coca-Cola, per se, with good, fun, and party time!

That’s the power of branding! It’s the ability to create a unique brand identity where your audience associates what you offer with something of a positive value. And when branding is applied in web design, it can help your website form its own unique identity and sense of association.

If you already have an established B2C business, it means you will also likely have a logo and preferred color scheme. In that case, it would be best to incorporate the existing brand values in your site’s design.

And if you are a new business & have yet to establish brand values, then the main aim should be to appear unique and exciting to the visitors.

Some of the things that fall under the category of branding on a website’s design are:

• Logo
• Colors
• Language style
• Font
• Word choice
• Shapes

Value proposition and association with positive emotions are, of course, parts of branding and can inspire web design. Review this case study to see how our agency associated Smartness with Cleanness in a branding project for one of our clients.

7. Social proof

If you want a highly converting web design, then make sure to add social proofs and testimonials! Social proof helps convert your website’s visitors into paying customers.

For example, adding reviews or testimonials from other customers can make it easy for visitors to make a decision. Similarly, adding ratings can also help the visitors to pick the right product/service from your website.

When we talk about social proof, it can mean any of the following:

• Reviews
• Testimonials
• Awards won by your company
• Partnerships
• BBB or other agency ratings

8. Content

Content adds value to your site & can help you attract traffic. At the end of the day, great looks and functionality won’t matter if you can’t add engaging content to your B2C website.

The best way to go about this is to fill your website’s pages with informational and high-quality content. When adding content, you should ensure that the tone of your content matches the branding values of your website.

For example, it wouldn’t make much sense to adopt a funny tone if you are offering medical services… And the exact opposite is true if your business requires a more casual and funny approach, say, a pet accessories niche.

In short, it all depends on the industry and the nature of your business. But one thing that must remain consistent is quality & delivery.

9. Consistency

Consistency is also a key element that can help you make a good B2C web design! A consistent web design ensures that all of your website pages look coherent and parallel. 

In short, if any of your website pages looks out of order and wildly distinct from others, then your design is not consistent.

Some of the design elements that would need consistency include the header, sidebar, navigation bar, and footer.

But this, again, raises the question of why consistency matters!?

Let’s say a visitor opens the “product A” page on your site where the navigation menu is in the header section.

Upon clicking on the “Product B” page, they decide to use the navigation menu but can’t find it anywhere as it’s no longer present in the header.

Usually, things like these don’t happen, but it is still good to keep consistency in mind for a good B2C web design. And if you need extra convincing, here are some advantages of consistent web design:

• Provides a positive experience to the visitors
• Improves the usability of your website
• Makes navigation easy
• Visitors can complete tasks more easily and quickly

Conclusion

There’s a lot that goes into creating a winning B2C website design. From user-friendly navigation to branding to consistency, missing even a single thing can lead to a poorly converting website! And that’s the last thing you would want as a B2C website!

That’s why it is critical to always get your B2C website designed by a team that has relevant experience.

And more importantly, the team you select should know about the current web design trends, so you don’t get a website that looks straight from 2005!

At Canadian Digital Consulting, we excel at making aesthetically pleasing and converting B2C website designs! So if you also want to join the winning side, contact us today!