Manufacturing website design requires experience and strategies to strengthen and showcase the corporate brand as well as craft excitement and visual appeal around subject matter that is traditionally dull and uninspiring. Many manufacturing websites feature stereotypical views of the manufacturing plant or warehouse that do not offer much differentiation from competitors or appeal in any visual sense to the viewer. Understanding the subject and how it will be viewed is critical for web designers as they rely on their creative powers to bring a new manufacturing website interface design to life.
Since 2003 our Toronto web designers have built upon years of experience to create a list of best practices for manufacturing website design.
Manufacturing Company Web Design Best Practices
Portray Professionalism
Professional website design is a must-have for any business to begin to instil trust and confidence in the prospective customer. Key web design elements such as typography, layout and colour go a long way in establishing professionalism. A common challenge within a manufacturing website design is imagery. If you were to randomly select a handful of manufacturing company websites from a Google search, you would undoubtedly find that most, if not all, feature the same imagery shot inside a manufacturing plant or warehouse with poor lighting and void of anything that offers an appearance of personality or uniqueness.
Our approach often involves taking a conceptual approach to the image selection or photographic style used to create the new website design. Using conceptual imagery to illustrate the company’s product or offering will help spark visual interest within the user and also convey a sense of confidence to the audience. The viewer will see a company that is willing and able to think outside the box and present their business in a more approachable and understandable view.
Another element within the selection of imagery, should people be involved in the photos, is to show happy workers. Industrial environments are very rarely inviting to the average person, so it is essential to convey a sense of humanity within the photography when it applies to nurture the human connection most viewers relate.
Intuitive, Well-designed Navigation
Manufacturing websites often have expansive navigation that covers many different product categories and sub-categories. As a general web design and user experience design rule of thumb, our web designers aim to have a maximum of three levels of navigation within any website we create if possible. Approaching website navigation design for manufacturing companies requires a little extra skill and tricks of the trade to tighten up the user experience and ensure that all information is accessible in three clicks or less.
A few questions we ask ourselves when forming our site map and wireframe designs:
- Does it make sense to use breadcrumb navigation?
- Can we go back to the previous page?
- Can we quickly access more relevant information?
- Can we go back to the home page in one click?
- What are the next steps?
Design For Your Audience
When preparing to design a new website for a manufacturing business it is essential to identify the target audience early on in the project. The overall digital brand and user interface design should focus on the best qualities of the business and its products and services with special attention given to tailoring the website design to decision-makers. In most cases, the decision-makers to target within the website design strategy are “the buyers” within prospective companies interested in the product or service offering. Showing the target audience that you have catered to their informational needs within the website will tell them that your business understands their role in the buying process and their potential business needs going forward together.
Once the target audience has been clearly defined, and design strategy is underway, you may also consider a content audit to ensure that the information within the new website design speaks to the audience’s needs and includes the type of information and next steps the buyers will be looking for.
Make “The Next Step” a No-brainer
One of the most critical design considerations within a new manufacturing company website design is the call-to-action. After creating a new user interface design and engaging content that commands attention from the target audience the final step is to convince them to convert from a web user to a customer. There are several ways to consider the design of action elements within a website, and a seasoned web designer will have the experience and ability to guide you into selecting the best approach at the right time.
Action words and phrases, such as “Get a Quote” or “Request Information” are essential partners in the user interface design choices. This calls-to-action may live independently as bright and bold text links within the body of information, or you may want to enhance their visibility by using them within a custom button design.
To drive traffic into the sales funnel a web designer may utilise a more substantial design to draw attention and drive conversion. This approach often appears as part of the overall page design, such as a panel or well-placed band that spans the width of the page featuring a large, bold contextual call-to-action with a highly visible button.
Choosing the best type of call-to-action at the right time can make or break a website design, and our Toronto web designers have the experience and skills to ask the right questions and guide you through the design process.
About Parachute Design
At Parachute Design, our professional Toronto web designers have worked with companies across North America to create successful manufacturing website design. We would love the opportunity to discuss your next web design project and help create a website design scope tailored to your business!
To learn more about our experience with web design for manufacturing companies or to have us prepare a proposal for your project, contact our Toronto web design company for a free web design estimate, or call our website designers in Toronto at 416 901 8633.
