press releases

a site for sore eyes

by Tessa Denison, Creative Director, Denison Design Ltd

It is estimated that in the European Union over 5 billion cosmetics products are sold every year to approximately 380 million consumers. The majority of cosmetics companies have a web presence and these days many sell their products online. With so many cosmetics companies now entering the online retail market how do you make your company stand out on the internet? Tessa Denison, creative designer of Denison Design, explains.

Regardless of the company or the product, the major priority for website design is the demographics of your target market, for example their age, sex, income, and lifestyle. It is critical to take these characteristics into account when selecting the style and layout of your website, in order for it to appeal, meet their needs and encourage buying behaviour. For example, at a most basic level, a male market will generally be attracted to darker, stronger colours, and a female market much softer colours, with co-ordination being key.

In addition to the style and layout, your company website needs to incorporate the company branding and it is vital that this is consistent both online and offline to encourage instant recognition and brand awareness amongst the target market. When buying cosmetics, consumers are making a lifestyle choice and this is reflected by the brand. Therefore, build your brand with consistent colours, logos and packaging appropriate to an aspirational lifestyle choice both on and offline for maximum brand building benefit.

With the overall style and branding appealing to your target market, the next point to consider is merchandising. Rather like in the retail environment, products that can be bought online should be merchandised on the home page properly.

Customers are more likely to enter a shop where the quality of goods can be viewed through the window and, similarly, customers will move through a website where the products are on show from the outset. Therefore, include a selection of products or a special offer on the home page to grab attention immediately.

Whether your organisation is clicks and mortar or internet only, online payment and delivery methods are as significant as correct merchandising. You need to be as transparent as possible with both online payment and delivery methods, for example customers can be put-off at the last minute if they think they are being ‘ripped-off’ by postage.

The act of payment itself should be made as simple as possible and this can be achieved by removing any barriers to sale. For example include clear navigation for delivery times, ensure the checkout process is simple with a prominent ‘next’ button on display and in addition, include the functionality to ‘save details’ to aid returning customers.

When it comes to payment, safety and security are key and you should always use and advertise a well-known payment gateway such as WorldPay. However, if you choose to handle payments in-house use a secure SSL server which encrypts data transferred from the site. Consumers are now wise to the padlock icon that denotes the use of a secure server and are put off if it is not in evidence.

With the content of your website developed to maximum effect it will only serve its ultimate purpose to boost sales if it is optimised on the various search engines properly.

Search engines are the main method of directing traffic to your website and if content is updated regularly, web listings - those near the top of a search results list - can be improved. Ensuring key words are carefully integrated into the body copy of the text can also enhance search engine optimisation (SEO).

Once you have given careful consideration to all aspects of the design of your website the last thing to remember is to follow something called “web standards” guidelines and use valid HTML and cascading style sheets (CSS) in the actual construction of the site. CSS enables the web developer to separate the appearance or style of a web page from its structure and content, making it easy and cost effective to update. This is a particularly important factor with the cosmetics industry due to the diversity of the product ranges and the continuous need to launch new ones.

There are a number of aspects to consider when it comes to designing a successful website. For the cosmetics industry style and layout are key but branding, SEO, simple pricing and payment options and correct coding will further enhance the website’s performance – a vital requirement in such a competitive industry.