5 really cool things to put on your website in 2022
Website design doesn’t stay still for long, trends in both aesthetics and features change quickly and it’s sometimes hard to keep up. So here are 5 really cool features to put on your website in 2022 that we think are going to stand the test of time.
1. Social media integration
This is actually a pretty old feature and has been present on websites in some form or another for over a decade, but we think it’s still an important feature to include on your website.
How you integrate social media into your website depends on its purpose. If your website is largely content focussed, then social sharing is a very cool feature to include on your website. Any way that allows your audience to share your content is a real win.
If your website’s purpose is to build a community, think about including a comments feature on your site to encourage communication and engagement between you and your users.
If the core objective of your website is to sell, think about integrating positive social media comments and reviews. Reviews are a great way to convince potential customers that your product or service is the best.
2. Chatbots
The ability to communicate directly with your website’s visitors can be a powerful way to convert interested users and help support existing customers to help increase retention. However, having a real person available 24/7 to communicate with everyone who stops by your website is not always financially or logistically possible. That’s why a good chatbot can really step your website up.
A chatbot is an application that can carry out a 2-way online conversation with one person via text or text-to-speech. This automating of conversations can be used to direct users to the right person in a team, streamline communication, or can be used to facilitate a complete conversation, depending on how advanced the chatbot software is.
Before picking a chatbot for your site, think about how you would like to use it and then make sure that you can achieve authentic communication with your user based on your needs. With the rapid advancement in AI technology, chatbots are only going to get more efficient and intelligent so watch this space!
3. Progressive lead forms
Forms are a great way to curate email lists that will help you engage with users and nurture leads, but progressive forms take this one step further.
Progressive lead forms use profiling technology that allows you to display different questions and forms depending on what information you already know about that user. For example, progressive forms can allow you to display a different question to the user depending on whether they are a new or returning user. This level of personalisation can be very powerful and makes sure that you are communicating the right message to the right user at the right stage of their journey.
Bear in mind that data protection continues to be a hot and sensitive topic and rightly so. While people respond well to personalised messaging, they also want to be assured that you are storing and using data correctly and responsibly, so make sure that you give users reassurance in this area and make sure you can back this up with the correct company policy and procedure.
4. Polls
You might consider polls to be a thing of the past, but polls are becoming more frequently used across social media and websites. In fact, polls can be a great way to creatively engage with your audience as well as give you the confidence to make some radical product decisions.
A great example of this is Bloom & Wild who used a poll in the run-up to Valentine’s Day which confirmed their suspicion that red roses were considered unimaginative. After reviewing the results of the poll, they made the radical decision to ban red roses from the site, leading to a huge boost in sales as well as a stack of press coverage. Kudos to you Bloom & Wild, kudos.
Think about how can you take a leaf out of Bloom & Wild’s book and use polls to your creative advantage?
5. A/B Testing
A/B testing remains on the top 5 list because it’s still an excellent way to optimise your website and gain valuable insight into user behaviour that could lead to some breakthrough product and strategy decisions. Since the concept of A/B testing is not a new one, you won’t be surprised to find that there are multiple plugins for websites that will make implementing A/B testing on your website as simple as 1,2,3. Just ask one of our many talented freelance website developers.
