Your business has an online presence. You know your products are without a doubt THE BEST in their category. So why are sales stagnant, and why is return traffic to your website, at best, meh. I wish I could get consumers to believe in my brand. If only they understood.

There is so much currently going on in the website development space. Everyone believes they have the answer. What are the actual answers? How is the 2018 version of my website going to stand out above all others?

Here are 3 of our favourite emerging website development trends:

Chatbots

It’s great that your company responds to emails and social media mentions within 24 hours. It’s lovely that there’s someone around between 8am-5pm in your timezone to answer phone calls.

BUT it’s 2018. Your target customer exists across all 39 time zones (yup, there are 39 of them, we double-checked). Companies have to be responsive 24 hours a day. The are endless options available to customers which has reduced the need for them to have to wait for your response. Therefore, companies need to be available, or the competitor may get the opportunity to make the sale.

Take advantage of every opportunity to make a sale!

There is a new superstar in customer service. The chatbot is here to save you!

Business Insider shows that by 2020, over 80% of businesses are expected to implement a version of chatbot.

According to HubSpot, 47% of users will even purchase something directly from a chatbot.

Artificial Intelligence will play a big role in the bright future of chatbots. Machine learning will allow these bots to learn from their experiences.  They will continuously become more knowledgeable and more helpful in their customer communications.

Push Notifications for Websites

Re-Engagement through Push Notifications have been maximizing engagement on mobile applications for years.

Only 19% of users who do not have push notifications turned on return to an app within 30 days. On the other hand, 65% that opt into push notifications return to that app in the same 30 day period.

Why hasn’t EVERY businesses taken advantage of this data-backed trend?

You can remind your potential customer of an expiring promotion, show them price changes for items they have browsed, and let them know about new product offerings.

When done right, Push notifications for company website’s are a great tool to increase engagement and clicks. All this without the increase of effort and cost that you might expect from something SO productive.

Video Content

• 33% of online activity is spent watching video.
• 51% of marketer’s name video as the content with the highest ROI.
• 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos.
• 1200% more shares are generated through social video than text and images COMBINED.

Current video marketing statistics are pretty remarkable, and there are many powerful ways for you to use video, such as:

• Businesses can easily show products in action.
• User generated video content is free advertising for brands.
• Show behind-the-scenes experiences with your customers.
• Viewers can relive an event, where they can connect their great experience back to your brand.

Videos create an experience that is superior to any other type of content. Start experimenting with video to learn what your customers react to. Then, reap the benefits of the increased engagement that comes with video.

These are just 3 of the best website development tools that businesses can take advantage of to help reach their customer engagement and conversion goals.

What companies do you know that are already doing a great job of incorporating these tools into their online presence?

The post 3 Crucial Website Development Trends to Skyrocket Engagement in 2018 appeared first on iMediaDesigns.