As a 20-year old university student, I rely on the internet in every aspect of my life. It is where I can connect with family and friends, find entertainment, search for products that I want, and purchase them. If young adults (aged 18 to 25) are the group that your company is trying to attract, then your online presentation should be a priority.
The most important thing to note about people in this age range is that they have grown up using technology, and are quite advanced in terms of their level of understanding the internet. Generally, when a young person is searching for something to purchase online, their decisions are made very quickly. In fact, on average, users may decide to leave a web page within their first 10-15 seconds. For young adults, that time frame is even smaller.
A young adult today places a lot of importance on the visual appeal of the websites that they visit on the internet. Basically, if a website looks cheap, the brand image is dated, and not relevant. Let’s say you are walking through a shopping mall. It is very easy to differentiate the big-name brands from the lesser known brands simply by seeing the storefront. Online, this is completely different. A strong and visually appealing website can give a smaller business the same appeal as a bigger business, and a weak website can harm a larger business’s brand recognition.
In order to create a concise brand image that young adults will find appealing, a website should appear to be current, and up to date. Having a clean, organized home page with a unique design will give a website a great first impression, and will most certainly result in a higher traffic of users visiting your site. Another way to show that your website is well kept is to post additions such as blog posts that show the company is actively adding to their site. This is very important to young adults as websites that appear to not have been updated in years is an immediate red flag.
Nobody likes clutter, especially young adults. Keep your website clean and simple. If your homepage is full of pop-ups and various options, a user will be immediately overwhelmed and will leave to find a website that is easier to use. Make sure that this does not happen to you by making your website coherent.
The important thing to remember is that building an appealing website is not as hard as it may sound. It is just something that needs to be done right, and with the target demographic in mind. Make sure you are confident in your brand, and are willing to take the extra step to make your site stand out from competitors. If your company is able to manage this, a new website is extremely beneficial.