When clients begin working with Designity's platform, they often tell us why they made the switch.
We hear tales of nightmare experiences; story after story about less-than-stellar web design agencies, ones that take weeks or months too long to get any of your projects done and then charge you for the time extension as if the delay was your fault. Or agencies that are unclear about their pricing or your project timelines or take all week to answer a simple email.
We get it. It’s frustrating.
No one wants a web design team that doesn’t communicate or one that turns in deliverables that look like they were created in 15 minutes the night before they were due. Or a web agency that delivers an amazing website, sure, but takes an entire year to finish and requires you to take out a second mortgage on your house to pay for it.
So, we have to ask ...
How are you doing with your current web design service provider?
Do you currently have a web design agency that can scale up with you? One that you can trust with your needs, not just to build your initial website, but for the long-term? A web design agency that can evolve your website along with your growing business needs and expanding customer base?
If you aren’t sure, then today’s blog is going to help you answer those questions. We’re going through the key qualities that all good website design agencies have, so you can see if you’re getting all that you should from the agency you’re working with now.
Why is a Web Design Agency So Important?
So, why is your web design agency so important? And would you be better off leveraging a web design platform instead?
More on the platform option later, but to answer the above question: Many reasons.
A good web design agency will make sure that your website leaves a good impression. Remember, your website is like your digital storefront.
For the same reason you wouldn’t feel comfortable walking into a messy and unorganized brick-and-mortar store, users aren’t going to want to stick around a website that is difficult to navigate or hard to look at. Your website needs to be inviting and intuitive, with clean design and easy-to-read text.
Here are all the ways a web design agency can elevate your website:
Professionalism: Your website must look professional. An amateur-looking, poorly designed website will leave your customers wondering if you’re the real deal and may make them skeptical about making any purchases through your site. Not something you want.
Good UI/UX: A good web design agency will build you a website that is intuitive in order to give your visitors a good user experience. They will ensure that all information on your site is easy to find and that your site is a joy to look at and easy to navigate.
Branding: They will also know how to incorporate your branding into your web design so that your website is an extension of you. Branding builds recognition, loyalty, and trust. It is essential that your customers associate your website with your brand.
Mobile Optimization: Everyone is on their phone these days, so it is essential that your website is optimized for mobile or other smaller devices. Make sure any images or text are legible on a smaller screen and that none of your design elements are warped or misaligned once your user clicks over on their smartphone.
SEO: A web design agency worth its salt will also have someone on staff who understands marketing strategies and SEO. Someone with SEO experience will know which keywords or phrases to sprinkle into your copy to make sure your website is search engine optimized to drive more traffic and increase your conversion rates.
Strategic Alignment With Marketing Goals: The best web design teams start with strategy. From developing target audience personas to crafting UX that’s based on knowledge of the user’s domain to integrating frameworks like Object-Oriented User Experience (OOUX), Domain-Driven Design (DDD), being efficient, systems-minded, and strategic all play into creating a website that will last you many years.
Qualities in a Good Web Design Agency
Now that you understand why having a web design agency is so very important to the success of your website and your business, let’s explore the qualities of top web design agencies.
Read through, think hard, and see where your current services fall on the map when it comes to things like:
Communication
Communication is so important. Without it, you can’t get anything done.
If you have ever worked with (or for!) anyone with poor communication skills, you can appreciate how incredibly frustrating it can be.
So, how does your web design agency communicate with you?
Are they clear and effective in your conversations? Or do they use jargon and acronyms that have you Googling for 15 minutes to decipher their meaning before you can answer back?
When you email them a question, do they reply quickly or do they take 3 or 4 days to get back to you?
When they do get back to you, are they upfront and honest when answering your question? Do they give you the runaround and leave you feeling like they aren’t telling you everything or that they’re taking so long because they don’t know the answer?
Do they make you feel like you’re being a nuisance when you have perfectly reasonable questions for them?
The bottom line is this: You want to work with a web design agency full of good communicators, web designers who will take the time to answer your questions, keep you updated, explain concepts to you, and take the time to make sure you understand what is going on with your website and how you can use it effectively.
Anything less than that standard is something that you shouldn’t have to deal with.
Knowing Your Creative Team
Communication can’t be all random emails, however.
Do you actually know the people on your web design team? By name?
Do you have a point of contact? Is it always the same person or are you dealing with a different person each time, because inconsistency like that can lead to miscommunication, information gaps, and wasted time.
Who is your point of contact, anyway? Is it the project manager of your account? Are you talking to the actual designer or an intern assigned to your project? Someone who may be great at web design but terrible at communicating?
Or are you talking to Bryan from Sales, the guy that keeps you updated and answers your question, but constantly wants to upcharge you every time you talk to him?
Our point is, it makes a big difference in who you’re dealing with on a daily basis and who your point of contact is that is keeping you updated on your project.
Ideally, you’ll want to speak to an assigned project manager. This is the person who will know exactly what is going on with your project, when your next deliverable is coming, and what your next step will be.
This will keep you in the know, let you know exactly what your timeline is, and do quite a bit to take as much stress as possible off of your shoulders while you wait for your website to be finished.
Consistency
You probably aren’t the only client your web design agency has, but you should still feel like you’re a valued client at all times.
Your deliverables shouldn’t look amazing one week and then look like they were slapped together the night before by a high-school kid the next week. A good web design agency is consistent in the quality of their work, the time it takes them to do it, and in their communication.
So, think about your web design agency. Does one project get back to you in a few days and the next (very similar) project take a month or longer? Do you find yourself feeling stressed because you’re never quite sure how long it’s going to take for your next deliverable to get to you? Does your web design agency change deadlines on you without warning?
If consistency is a recurring issue, then know that there are better agencies to go to for your services.
You want and deserve a web design agency that you can always count on and feel confident that their timelines, pricing, and quality of work standards will always be adhered to.
Accountability
Good web design agencies also have accountability for any mistakes that they make.
Does your team take the time to check their work for quality or are there typos, misaligned margins, broken links, etc.?
We know that web designers are people too and they make mistakes just like everybody else, but how does your agency behave when those mistakes are caught?
Do they blame each other (or you) or outside sources when something doesn’t perform or look as planned? Or do they do the right thing, take ownership, and make things right as soon as they can?
A good web design agency minimizes its mistakes through careful proofing and takes ownership if anything happens to slip through the cracks.
Experience
When you invest in hiring a professional web design agency, it shouldn’t be asking too much to expect, well … professionals.
They should have shown you an extensive portfolio of their work before you even signed on with them, proving that they know their stuff and can help you achieve your goals.
So, how much experience do your web designers have? Do you feel like the designers on your team are professionals assigned and dedicated to giving you the best website possible? Or does it feel as if you get a different designer from Upwork every time?
If your web agency flip-flops different freelancers to your project, then you’ll have inconsistent results, find yourself having to constantly repeat yourself to new members of the team, and, ultimately, wasting your time and money.
In order to have a great website that functions as expected and delivers a stellar user experience, it is essential that you have a dedicated team of designers working on your project.
It also helps if your team has skills beyond web design, like SEO or social media marketing so that your website not only looks great, it’s helping drive your business and attract new customers.
Substance, Not Flash
Another thing that some not-so-great web design agencies do is waste your time with flashy presentations that look nice but have no substance and little use for you.
Look, we get it. Presentations are cool and all, but when you hire a web design agency to build you a great intuitive website, that’s where its focus should be: on delivering you the highest quality website that they can, one that stands out to your customers, draws in traffic, and grows your business.
<div class="c-blog_comp-cta cc-component-1"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-wrap"><img src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/6369722e59155470b6840033_Potential-clients.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-img"></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-right"><div class="c-blog_comp-content"><div class="c-text-wrapper cc-mb-32"><div class="c-title-4 cc-bold"><strong>Want to save money without sacrificing the quality?</strong></div></div><div class="c-text-wrapper"><div class="c-text-2">Say goodbye to traditional, expensive agencies and unreliable marketplaces. Say hello to Designity.<br></div></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-wrapper"><a href="/pricing" target="_blank" class="c-button cc-primary cc-inverted w-button"><strong>Get Your 2-Week Trial</strong></a></div></div></div>
How Does Your Team Measure Up?
If this list has you rubbing your chin and wondering why you’re not getting the top-notch services we just described, then here are three options for you to make the change:
Option 1: You can hire an in-house team of designers and developers to work exclusively for you. That can be pricy, so make sure you have room in the budget for the following: hiring costs, training costs, hardware and software licensing, IT needs, benefits, payroll, worker’s comp, etc.
Option 2: Find another agency and hope that they work out better, but be careful, because the process you used to hire the first one could get you into the same spot you’re in now.
Option 3: Leverage a platform instead.
We’ll let you in on a little secret: Designity is a tech-enabled creative platform, like a B2B Uber for design, development, and marketing initiatives. With our platform, you’re taking advantage of a suite of tech automation for visibility, and you gain access to a vetted pool of the top 3% of US-based Creatives, including talented web designers, web developers, digital marketers, and mobile app designers.
Plus, you’ll have one point of contact: a highly experienced Creative Director who gets matched to your unique working style, personality, and industry.
No fretting about lack of communication or worrying if your next deliverable is going to be on time. Our Creative Directors sit and meet with you once a week to let you know exactly how your project is going and take the guesswork out of your process.
So, what do you think? Does your web design agency measure up?
Let us know because if it doesn’t, we’d love to get you the web design services your brand deserves!
Learn more about how the Designity platform compares to agencies.
