Crazy technological advancements have created a small business landscape of unprecedented proportions. You can see the ripple effect in how we view websites, what we expect, and what we won’t stand for anymore. Worstofall has broken down what separates successful websites of the future from the dinosaurs of yesterday and today.
So the question is... Is your website leading the revolution, or are you already a dinosaur?
WEBSITES OF THE FUTURE...
1. Will be childishly simple in their message and purpose
We can now hop back-and-forth between articles, screens, and ideas multiple times per minute. Customers lose interest in something if they aren’t sold in a split second (or at least sold on the idea of reading more). Getting your point across stat-quick will only be more important as the online landscape gets better at it—and as the dinosaur sites get crushed.
Proof: Every successful company
2. Will sell only one thing
Everyone should understand immediately what you sell so they can determine if it is right for them. With a bajillion new websites popping up each day, users are getting more and more used to finding exactly what they are looking for on websites that make it easy to understand, order, or contact. Businesses that offer hyper-specific products and services will beat their generalist competitors.
Proof: There exists a store called The Heatonist in the high-rent section of Williamsburg, down the street from the Wythe Hotel, that only sells hot sauce... seriously.
3. Will have very limited “Options”
Sheena Lyengar’s great TedX talk outlines “choice overload.” She explains a study where she set up a tasting table of jam in front of a supermarket. On certain days she had 24 different jams to choose from, and other days only six. People who saw fewer options were six times more likely to buy a jar.
There are countless examples of this phenomenon (Sheena offers a few more; the talk is worth a watch!), but we know it feels like the wrong choice. You’re worried that offering fewer options equals missing out on sales. Stop thinking like that. When customers are six times more likely to buy from you, your sales will go way up, not down.
Proof: Casper- Maybe you’ve seen the subway ads? They sell only one mattress in every bed size. Business Insider’s article, “I just bought a bed from the ‘Warby Parker of mattresses’ and I will never buy one in stores again,” says it all: This trend is here to stay.
4. Will speak in tweets, captions and headlines only
If you’re over 40, you may still have the patience to read five-paragraph “About” pages and laundry lists of services, but I doubt it. As businesses get better and better at communicating their value in a sentence, no one will tolerate lengthy prose. Stop reading. You get it, and I’ve already said too much.
Proof: Twitter and your shrinking attention span
Want to lead the movement with a "website of the future," now? First step is to simplify your message.
WANT SOME MORE ACTIONABLE TIPS?
We'd love to share our 5 Steps you can take to Badassify Your Website in our
