Here’s How Website Design Impacts Conversions

The basic function of a website is to provide information to the user. Every website is constructed to make users perform a certain function. For example, ecommerce websites are there to make the shopping experience easier. That’s why their outlook requires lots of product photos and categories.

If you have a website, you must have realized that design plays a big role in increasing or decreasing conversion rates. Many components of site design have the ability to either pull or push potential customers away.

These people look at certain factors and may make immediate decisions or subscribe to mailing lists if brought in the conversion funnel the proper way. Design is that element which is the door to the conversion funnel. Let’s look at some important components of site design which impress a reader/viewer:

Visual appeal:

Your website should look good to a first-time visitor. It should look visually appealing and have all the elements joined in harmony by design. You can either perform the task yourself by choosing from the multitude of themes online, or you can get help from a professional web designer who knows the tricks of this trade and established a responsive and fast loading site that has no worries for end users while opening the site.

Either way, the final product should neither be too glorious that it loses its message, nor too poor that it makes Comic Sans look better (we have all been there).

When a user opens a site, the overall effect should be very pleasing to the eyes. This can grab the attention as well as urge the user to browse further into the site.

Text:

One of the things that really annoy people when using a site is being unable to read or understand anything. This closes the deal instantly. If there are readability issues on your site, the reader is going to abort mission. You lose a customer once a person leaves your site with the impression that you have zero idea about site design or business credibility.

First impressions are 94% design-related. Means it is the prime reason for mistrusting or rejecting a site.

75% users make judgments on a company’s credibility based on its website design.

88% of users are not likely to return when they have had a bad user experience. –Source

The content on your website should be easy to read. Site owners often make the mistake of designing a site which only appeals to their minds. The thing which adds to this destruction is wrong grammar and poor language.

People from all walks of life may be visiting your site, but what’s the point if they end up thinking that your website is not a business but just a poor attempt at launching a site? Thus, your site should be designed in a way that it caters to all of your target customers.

Compatibility with devices:

There was a time when a big computer and dial-up internet were the only ways to access the internet and browse a website. Things are pretty different in 2017. There are many kinds of gadgets, even smart watches that have apps and can sync with smartphones.

This has made websites accessible to so many devices at a time. As a website owner, you should be thinking about it and preparing your website to show up on every device and tablet.

The worst mistake you can make is to assume that only desktop users will access your site. Mobile searches have surpassed desktop searches and users are often performing all necessary searches using their small screen devices.

If your website still runs on a desktop version on a phone, you should put a stop to it right now. The last thing you want is to have visitors zooming in to be able to view your pages and that is the worst thing you could do to a potential customer.

Placement:

The placement of pages on your website needs to make sense to the visitors. For example, you have a product category which has all the products within the same category, but to proceed to that page, you redirect the user to a mini-page describing your charity work details. It’s not only going to confuse the user, but maybe they will bounce off the site after getting annoyed.

The structure of your website has to follow a logical pattern. The pages need to be in order, because users surf the web and have a basic idea of how most sites operate. You can’t change their habit of browsing by mixing up the about us page or asking for email subscription before beginning checkout.

Call to Actions (CTAs):

You want some elements on your site encourage readers to perform certain actions. For example, you want people to enter their email addresses in the subscription box. Thus, you will try the most effective measures to make people feel motivated to enter their email for newsletter subscription. Therefore, you will place a Call-to-Action button and site design can help you make that button or popup look appealing.

In ecommerce sites, you have to place the ‘add to cart’ button clearly on the page so the shopper doesn’t miss it.

Tips to ensure credibility and increase conversions:

According to the experts, a credible looking site has the power to drive conversion faster. Here are some tips by usability.gov to ensure your website looks credible:

Provide a useful set of frequently asked questions (FAQ) and answers;

Ensure the website is arranged in a logical way;

Provide articles containing citations and references;

Show author’s credentials;

Ensure the site looks professionally designed;

Provide an archive of past content (where appropriate);

Ensure the site is as up-to-date as possible;

Provide links to outside sources and materials; and

Ensure the site is frequently linked to by other credible sites.