Web Design Foundations: Consider Your Avatar Before You Start

One question most business owners fail to answer is, “Who is your ideal customer?” – your avatar…

A majority of marketing-savvy businesses don’t give serious consideration to this question and hardly know how to answer it. So, here’s the real problem: without knowing who your ideal customer is, how can you market a product or service successfully on a website?

Do this first and you’ll be ahead of 99% of your competition.

From our experience with working with small businesses, we often see people jump right into web design or even their business without considering the most important foundational element that everything you do should be based around …

your avatar.

An avatar (sometimes referred to as a buyer persona, marketing persona, or customer profile) is a representation of your target customer – the type of person you want to purchase your products or services. We have found that detailing your avatar on a deep level from their biggest pain points to where they shop – ignites success faster and further than any other strategy.

Think about it…

Are you more likely to buy from a business that feels like it was made just for you or a generic business trying to attract anyone? Chances are you’re going to go with the business that connects with you.

Makes sense right? But how does that have to do with web design?

Great question!

The answer simply put is … your avatar has to do with everything lol.

When you break down your ideal customer and learn more about them you’ll discover that specific designs, phrases, colors, and everything in between makes all the difference in building brand trust & loyalty.

So how do you build an avatar in detail?

Here are the basics of building out your avatar, go through every bullet point here and you’ll uncover secrets & opportunities you never knew existed.

This is just the beginning!

There is much more to detailing out your avatar but this is a GREAT start.

Building your avatar is an ever-evolving process … those that continually learn and grow with their target customers always have an edge over their competition.

Here is an example of an avatar we created for one of our health & fitness clients, Jo Feathers.

Meet Charlie, she is 25 years old, earns around $65k per year, and struggles with repeating bad habits like eating out and drinking too much wine on a weekly basis. She works out at least 3 times a week but wants to really go for it drop the fat, but she keeps telling herself it’s too hard she doesn’t know where to start, and she just doesn’t have the time. She is looking for a quick solution from home with an option to go to the gym but it needs to be simple and easy to do otherwise she won’t do it and will regret the purchase. She wants to go in baby steps so she’s not overwhelmed like all the other programs she’s gotten. She shops for groceries at trader joes & sometimes whole foods. She loves online shopping and finding a good deal.

These details help us understand how to connect on an emotional level with our customers and give us a blueprint on how to market to them.

Keep in mind that it does take some time & research to build these avatar profiles, BUT these insights take all the guesswork out of how to market your business which will save you so much time & money.

SO …

Now that you’re getting to know your avatar on a deeper level, you’ll have a better idea of what attracts them and where to find inspiration for website design.

I know you’re ready to get your website going and create a fantastic design – hold tight! We’re pouring the solid foundation that you need to tailor your website for your avatar.

Since you’ve outlined other brands and stores your avatar shops at, you now have a direct list to source inspiration from others that have already done the work!

Trust the fact that bigger brands know their avatar on the deepest level and have basically put together a cheat sheet for you on their website.

Create an inspiration document with links to at least 10 of these brands & stores and consider the following when reviewing:

Look at you go!

Not only do you know your avatar on a deeper level, now you know what experience attracts them online!

Your web design cheat sheet is now ready to go .. your foundation is settling.

In the next article, we will take a look at the elements of web design you need to consider for your cohesive digital presence.

Need help with your avatar? We all do lol it’s much harder than people give it credit for. Lucky for you … we’ve got you covered. Click here to speak with one of our avatar specialists for a free 30-minute consultation to build out your perfect blueprint.