Small and medium businesses set to invest more in web design in 2016
Up to 76% of small businesses surveyed plan to invest more in web design next year.
By Envato
A new survey from the world’s leading digital design marketplace, Envato, suggests that small business will increase investment in their web presence in 2016 – but that apps may be falling out of favour.
The global survey aimed to identify SME’s sentiments around their current online presence and uncover plans for changes to their online marketing approach in the new year.
For this survey, Envato reached out to a portion of its international user-base to determine if small businesses are satisfied with their current websites, and to identify if SMEs are expected to invest more in their web design in 2016 than they did in 2015.
The survey, conducted in October, found that 76% of small businesses surveyed plan to invest more in web design next year.
Other notable findings include:
- 61% of SMEs are not planning to build a mobile app in 2016;
- 67% of respondents will be looking for help improving their online presence (45% of those seeking these improvements do not plan to build an app).
“As a web professional, my web presence is critical to growing my business and reaching potential clients to whom I can offer my services,” said Mick Thompson, owner, Web Solutions Plus, Kansas City, MO. “The large selection of products available in the Envato marketplace helps me deliver high quality solutions very quickly. I look forward to increasing my business substantially in 2016 and Envato will be an important part of those plans.”
“The world of marketing has become significantly fragmented, meaning businesses need to build more assets more quickly to get in front of more people at the right times and in the right ways,” said Alex Holmes, Digital Marketing Manager at Envato.
“Small businesses are joining large enterprises in using Envato to build high quality digital projects faster; from simple landing pages to catchy Facebook videos.”
Envato Market data also supports the trend toward mobile-first assets outpacing apps themselves in sales.
“We’re seeing a big shift towards mobile-first templates for all website types,” says Holmes.
“If your website doesn’t have a great experience on mobile you won’t be hitting the top-sellers page, or getting the conversions you want to see. App templates on Envato’s CodeCanyon marketplace are still growing in sales, but not nearly as fast as responsive and mobile first web templates.”
The survey suggests that the so called ‘gig economy’ still has room to grow, with designers, developers and other digital creatives supporting businesses still making the move to online.
Envato’s Small Business Survey was conducted in October 2015 across a sample of 500 small business owners worldwide. Countries participating included: U.S (15%), Australia (14%), UK (7%), Germany (5%), Spain (5%), Brazil (4%), Italy (4%), Netherlands (4%), India (2%) and France (2%).
