Website Footer Design Examples

A website footer can often be a left-out, overlooked portion of a website, when in reality, it’s an effective conversion tool. Many times, people who choose to design a website focus on the major components and leave out areas like the footer because they don’t understand the importance of this essential website real estate. A footer on a website can help a visitor easily navigate to a new page. This feature can also prompt a visitor to take action or stay on the page. In other words, it’s a valuable asset that can leave a visitor with a lasting impression of your brand, product, or service.

Several footer designs can help you make your website's navigation user-friendly while also boosting your search engine optimization. Whether you use a footer to provide testimonials, sitemaps, secondary links, or customer engagement pieces, utilizing a website footer can help you make the most of your entire website.

Before designing a website footer, see examples of other footers to get an idea of what you would like to accomplish. There are a variety of websites for different stores or companies that utilize footers in different but effective ways. So, effective samples can help you design your footer in a way that will help customers and compete with similar businesses in your area.

Common elements of a website footer

To customize your footer content, decide what you want to accomplish for your business and create content streamlined for that purpose. Because of the many pieces of information you can include in a footer, it is good to have a purpose in mind before creating your footer for your website.

The following is a small sampling of common footer elements used to enhance this area of a website and speak for your business.

Terms of Use

When you create a website for your business, you want to ensure your visitors abide by the rules you have established in using the information on your website. If you are collecting data from your visitors, you want to ensure they are aware of what data you are collecting, how you will use that data, and how it will be stored. You also want to ensure that your content and information are protected from unauthorized use by anyone who visits the site.

Site map

Site visitors will reach the bottom of a website of interest wanting to learn more, navigate to a new section of interest, or go back to a section viewed before. A sitemap footer design makes it easy for a visitor to continue to engage with a website. If a visitor has difficulty moving to the next area of interest after reaching the end of a website, that visitor may choose to move on instead of staying connected to your website. Utilizing the footer of your website to house a site map can show a visitor that you value their user experience and can help you maintain contact with the visitor.

Privacy policy

A privacy policy in a footer is often linked with other footer content such as “Terms of Use” and “Contact Us” information. A privacy policy link that takes visitors to the full policy is good practice for a website. It is always necessary to maintain best practices regarding information on a website, especially when legalities are involved.

About us

Using an “About Us” footer offers a variety of ways for visitors who have reached the end of your website to get more information about your business and what you do. Typically, an “About Us” footer includes a link to a privacy policy, a copyright notice, logo, sitemap, contact information, email sign-up form, newsletter sign-up, and social media icons. Visitors can continue to interact with your business via multiple outlets and learn all they want to know to help encourage them to make a purchase or access your services. This section is also good for relaying your brand’s mission and purpose and the concepts your company holds dear.

Contact information

Visitors need all of the ways available to contact you for more information on purchasing information and services. They also need to feel comfortable that they have access to you in case they have questions or concerns. Being accessible to customers provides a feeling of trustworthiness. Customers want to know they can reach a business or company if they have any questions or if they need a resolution to a problem.

5 website footer design examples

When designing a website footer, it helps to look at companies or businesses that have already perfected the use of a footer on their websites. The following website footer design examples can help you see a variety of ways footers can be used and the variety of information that can be included.

Canva

Canva, a website that helps you design several aspects of business needs, has a highly effective footer. Its footer includes what language you can read their site in, copyright information, privacy policy information, terms of service link, social media links, a login area, and an area that allows you to “play” with the site to see all of its functions. It is a crisp, clean example and shows how you can give your visitors the best in a website footer.

Lulus

Lulus is a clothing store that knows how to give its visitors all they need in a footer. The store used a simplistic black font on a white background. The first order of business it provides is a discount for the visitor’s first purchase. Users can access multiple links to provide a wide variety of information to the visitors, an email sign-up, and links to all of the social media links that support the store.

Patagonia

Patagonia is an internationally known clothing and gear store. The Patagonia footer is an example of a mega footer. Done in an elegant white-on-black format, the footer provides all information any visitor would need to know about the company and what they care about, how to sign up for a newsletter, all policies and procedures, and how to get in touch with someone at the company, how to buy gift cards, careers available, and much more.

Skype

Skype, one of the first video calling technologies, has a mega footer example much like Patagonia but offers several types of information. This footer is a fitting example of a technology-based company. The company has links to everything about its store, how its platform can be used in education, and the education the visitor needs to utilize all of its features, business information, developer information, and all of the company information a visitor may want and need.

Rei

Rei is an outdoor gear company that gives its all in the footer of its website. They initially provide a place for customers to sign up for email. Adding email campaign footers to a footer is a fantastic way to continue to maintain contact with a visitor to your website. An email design guide can help you design your email footer to look and function like Rei’s. Rei’s footer also provides information about the company and its beliefs important to the company and usually held by its customer base. They also provide a way for customers to get involved in the company's beliefs. There are links to shipping, returns, registries, and much more, making it quite simple for its visitors to navigate the enormous amount of information the website provides without being overwhelmed.

Designing your website footer

Sometimes overlooked as an optional element, website footers are important in captivating and maintaining contact and interaction with a visitor to a company website. Mailchimp can help you design a footer that connects with your visitors and makes them become repeat customers. Your footer can be fashioned after a website footer design example included above, or one individually created for you. You can even use footer content blocks that allow you to edit information to make it your own.

Contact Mailchimp today to hire an expert or get step-by-step information on creating your website footer design using one of our website design templates.