Consumers today have a higher level of expectation when it comes to choosing a brand. It is no longer enough for a company to offer premium-quality products or reliable services.
For any business to thrive in the current environment, it must stand for something more than profit. Specifically, it must have a purpose-driven mission that is bigger than itself.
Based on a recent study, 70% of consumers want to know first what a certain brand is doing to help answer pressing social and environmental issues before supporting it. The survey also says that 46% of the same respondents are more likely to buy from companies with perceptible social responsibility efforts.
However, people are skeptical about corporate motivations whenever they hear news of companies donating to a cause or supporting community projects. Only 9% believe that the efforts are authentic, while 67% are only somewhat convinced.
If you own or manage a company with a desire to help communities or preserve the environment, how can you assure your target audience that your intentions are authentic?
The best way is to distill all your philanthropic sentiments into a clear, purpose-driven mission and integrate it into your web design.
What is a Purpose-Driven Website?
Purpose and mission are a company’s reasons for existing. All of its business decisions and strategies are guided by these core principles.
In today’s digital business landscape, it is important for a purpose-driven brand to showcase this mission on its website. This allows it to reach a broader audience and gain more support, putting it in a better position to do good.
But what constitutes a purpose-driven website?
A purpose-driven site strikes a healthy balance between function and aesthetics. The user’s journey on any webpage is not just an afterthought but a priority. It takes into account the path that the visitors take from the time they land to the time that they make a purchase, subscribe to a newsletter, or take any other gainful action. Every element should be designed to guide the user through an intentional path and a meaningful experience.
Why Businesses Should Focus on Having a Purpose-Driven Mission
Having a clear mission that is visible and, more importantly, believable to your target audience comes with a long list of benefits. Below are some of the most impactful.
- It Helps Boost Sales
While profit is not the main driving force behind the existence of your company, you would still need it to survive. In order for you to continue making a difference, you have to think about your bottom line.
In this regard, leading the charge as a purpose-driven brand gives you an upper hand from your competitors.
Today’s consumers are drawn to businesses with bigger concerns other than profit. Supporting a purpose-driven company makes them feel like they are doing their part in making a positive impact.
- It Inspires Brand Loyalty
Consumer behavior has been evolving in recent years. In particular, people are becoming more aware of sustainability and how it can impact all aspects of their lives. This development affects their purchasing decisions and how they determine which brands to support.
Are there animals harmed in making a product? Does your manufacturing process leave much carbon footprint? Are communities being marginalized by your operation?
These are just some of the many questions that people ask today before buying a product or hiring a service.
By using your website to assure them that your business goals fit with their principles, you can connect with your customers at a deeper level and create a lasting relationship.
- It Leaves a More Lasting Impact
People are realizing more and more that the government could not fix all the current global problems by itself. That is why they are increasingly looking to the private sector to effect positive change.
Based on a study, 78% of American consumers are willing to spread the word about a purpose-driven company and tell others to buy its products, while 65% are inclined to support its cause.
By allowing your core mission to drive your brand and incorporating it into your website, you will be able to reach more people and leave a lasting impact that will ensure business continuity for years to come.
How to Build a Purpose-Driven Website
Your website is important to your business now more than ever. It serves as your gateway to increased brand awareness as more and more people turn to the internet first before making a purchase.
Here’s how you build a purpose-driven website that generates organic traffic and connect you to a much broader audience.
- Set the Tone Early with the Design Team
First of all, you need to have a clear purpose. Without it, the front-end or back-end developer will have no foundation on which to build your website.
Do you want to increase your conversion rate? Do you want to be the thought leader in your industry? These are just some of the questions you need to address before you start designing your website.
Once you have identified your mission, you must make sure that your design team is aware of it, whether you are implementing the project in-house, hiring an agency, or doing some combination of both.
It will help ensure that all succeeding activities, whether it is an overall website check or an optimization strategy, will be carried out based on the goals that you have set.
Aside from sharing your goals with your design team, you need to show them the ins and outs of your company and your operation. This will give them valuable insight into what design elements to use and how to implement them to deliver the best results.
One thing to note about establishing your goals is that success or failure must be measurable. This is important because it allows you to monitor your progress moving forward and give you the chance to make the necessary changes before things are too late.
- Identify the User Journey that Best Fits Your Goals
One of the biggest deciding factors that can impact a buyer’s purchasing decision is user experience. You need to make your website as appealing and navigable as possible not only to attract more visitors but to convert them into paying customers.
Create multiple buyer personas to accommodate varying motivations from different people. From there, you can identify what calls-to-action to use that will attract the most clicks by learning more about your target audience.
It will also guide you and your team as you add more elements to your website. The overall design must create a great user experience that visitors will reward in the end with a purchase.
- Make Things Easy for Your Target Audience
When designing a website, it is very easy to give in to the temptation of packing as many elements as you can. Many business owners naturally think that more is better.
However, while this adage might be true in most cases, it does not apply to this situation. Having a website with a lot of clutter will frustrate or overwhelm the user. Either way, your visitor will end up abandoning your page and moving on to another website.
To prevent this from happening, try to keep things as simple as possible without diminishing the user experience. Clean up your navigation menu and limit the number of options to around seven. You should also make the most out of white space to make your calls-to-action pop.
As a rule of thumb, the fewer clicks it takes for a user to find the answer to a question or solution to a problem, the better.
- Monitor Your Performance and Be Proactive About Adjustments
Contrary to what many people think, website design is not a one-and-done activity. Customer behavior changes and trends emerge, which means that the strategies you are using this month may not be as effective in the following month.
To illustrate, users may start making subtle changes in the keywords that they enter in search engines. A good example is the emerging trend where people use the terms “near me” or “in [location],” which can be addressed by an effective local SEO strategy.
If you fail to recognize changes like these, you might miss out on the opportunity to reach more potential customers near you. Even worse, you might lose them to your competitors and make it more difficult for your brand to maintain relevance.
To make sure that your website remains purpose-driven and that your brand stays connected to your target audience, monitor your performance after you have set up your website.
Check your engagement activity and other key metrics at least once a month. If the numbers are down, then it means that you need to retrace your previous steps and make appropriate adjustments.
If you think that implementing a purpose-driven mission is a lot of work, you are right. However, there is no way around it. Times are changing, and you need to keep up to maintain top-of-mind awareness and stay relevant to your target audience.
To make sure that you are not missing out, partner with a reputable digital marketing agency such as MAXBURST to help you create a compelling website and optimize it for maximum brand exposure.
