Fast and easy isn’t the approach you take in other areas of your business, so it shouldn’t be the approach you take when having a new website designed. Predesigned templates can serve as inspiration, but to optimize your e-commerce outcomes, a custom website is the best way to go. Here are just a few reasons why:

#1 Branding

Your website must instantly connect with visitors.

You have between 3 and 7 seconds to visually engage with website visitors before they move on to a competitor. Visual engagement is best achieved with a website that’s branded and unique, not generic and typical to what visitors have seen before.

Everything from your logo to the website colors, font, and page layout must resonate with your demographic. And with a custom design, your options are endless.

So, with a template, you can change the colors and rearrange the page, but you can’t fully brand the design. If you’re looking to make a statement with branding and visual intrigue, then use a template as loose inspiration, not an end-all-be-all guide.

#2 The User-Experience

With templates, site navigation is predetermined. You can designate your drop-down menu items but are limited to how shoppers can navigate your website. In contrast, a custom website allows your navigation options to be endless. Custom websites implement a data-driven approach to navigation. This alone can rapidly boost your conversion rates.

Beyond creating a seamless and intuitive shopping experience, your website must be mobile-first. Many website experts believe that your mobile shopping experience is even more important than laptop and desktop shopping. Even if shoppers don’t process their order on mobile, they are likely to browse your store on the go.  

#3 Integrations

All templates have a variety of third-party software integrations, but they may not have what you need.

Let’s say that you design and sell custom yoga mats that are sold on your e-commerce website and in brick-and-mortar locations around the nation. You want to create a directory on your website so that users can type in their city, state, or zip code to find the nearest retailer. This would require aGoogle Maps API integration.

Most templates don’t integrate with Google Maps or a variety of essential tools that optimize the shopping experience. This includes tools that enable trendy, interactive website features.

#4 Performance Updates

Templates have security measures built in. Even if the security is initially sufficient, how often the security is updated is up to the template designer or distributer. Having your business website custom built ensures that security can be updated at any time.

In addition to security, templates require periodic performance updates that are out of your control. Popular themes may be updated a few times a year, but some themes are only updated annually. As the popularity of a theme dwindles, performance updates may cease.

Instead of sitting around waiting to see if the next update has the features you want, you can have your site built, secured, and updated whenever you want.

In Conclusion

Though there’s more upfront work involved in having your business website built from scratch, there are several benefits that make it attractive to those who don’t want to stick to just templated, generic pages. And, if you choose to implement a custom website, your website designer will also build SEO in for optimal organic traffic outreach. Lastly, as your business grows, they will ensure that your site can scale to handle the increase in website traffic.  

If you’re in the market for a custom website, we invite you to reach out to H1 Web Development. We work with you one-on-one to design modern, branded, and responsive websites that will rapidly increase your conversion rates. Let’s get started!