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While the internet is loaded with websites, only a tiny percentage generates profits successfully. A website has more functions than just presenting services or products to users. To be viable for the business, it needs to generate revenue, or, in other words, a website is a thriving resource if it maintains a reasonable conversion rate (the ratio of the visitors who have completed the website’s desired action to the total number of the site’s visitors).
For those websites selling some service or particular products, the expected action is that ultimately a visitor makes a purchase. Therefore, a reasonable conversion rate indicates that a website is turning a profit for a business and that it is a valuable commodity in promoting business growth.
Thus, the primary goal of a website is to increase conversions. So how does a business go about doing so?
A great deal of conversion-based success stems from the website’s design, which may be surprising for people to find out. The website’s design refers to how the website’s content is presented visually, how it is organized, and, essentially, its identity. It drives the website’s unique distinction from its competitors and how memorable it is to visitors overall.
If a website has no competition, it might want to follow a formula for effective primitive design. Still, it is essential to stamp out a distinct identity in a highly competitive market.
Consider these ten essential tips for setting up an optimal design to drive a more successful conversion rate.
One of the most influential factors in the psychological perception in terms of repeat and prospective customers is the choice of colors used in the design.
It is essential to consider font and background color significantly and test it before performing a formal launch. Then it is a balancing act of keeping a unique look while making it intuitive, user-friendly, and appealing from a color perspective.
Qualitative Text Writing
No one will want to read a complicated wall of text. It is simply unappealing to someone looking for information to have to work through a lot of complex minutiae to answer their question. Therefore this type of approach holds little value.
Text on a website should be framed and formatted so that it is easy to read, attracts attention, and informs the visitor specifically about the business and its offerings. This is particularly important for commerce sites, as the text should have all of the attributes above and can ‘sell’ the products.
Here is a list of essential text-related attributes that a website must contain:
Illustrate the company and the website’s primary theme
Inform the visitor about the business, its history, achievements, and any recent news
Market the company’s products in an intuitive way
Provide information about product details, sales, special offers, and up-to-date product pricing.
Be unique from competitors
Comply with the latest SEO requirements
Use Text Links Or Buttons, Not Both
Your website should decide on a more effective means of soliciting a call to action, with the two primary choices being links and buttons.
Recently published A/B studies have found that buttons are far more effective (anywhere from 20 to 200%) in click-through rates (CTR) when changed over from links. This is not overly surprising as buttons are easier to see and are more intuitive to click. If your site is still using links, try switching your call-to-action prompts to controls.
Images
There are a core set of rules to increase effective image use on websites:
High-quality images consistently yield good results, while low-grade resolution images have the opposite effect on conversion rates.
Multiple images of a product are always better than one. At least one of the images should display a product up close (can be enlarged), while others should show products in an application or from various angles. In either case, the image should be clickable.
Pictures with tapes have been found to increase conversions.
3D images score better on the convertibility meter when used.
Guiding The Users
The goal of a commercial site is to get a user to make a purchase. From a design perspective, it is paramount that how a user gets to this action is intuitive and logical. If a hundred visitors come to a site looking to make a purchase, but the path to doing so is not intuitive, only a few of them will follow through with the purchase at the end of their journey. That is a lot of potential conversions wasted, not to mention the promotional efforts to get visitors to the site are rendered worthless.
Keep in mind that the visitor may not be coming to a product’s page from the main page of the commerce site but from an article that links to it (like a review). While this makes the path to conversion somewhat more complex, it indicates that no matter where the visitors arrive, the way to making the conversion should be clear and easily attained.
Speed Up Loading Time
Not enough is said about the website’s loading times in terms of its overall effect on conversions for the business. The fact is that fast loading times are now the expected norm for internet visitors. No one will wait more than a few seconds for a website to render; they will just go to a faster loading competitor.
Another important consideration of fast loading times is SEO qualifications. As part of its sorting algorithm for Google, site loading speeds are a high priority. In other words, the better the site’s loading speed, the higher Google will rank it in its returned search results.
Involve Media Explanations
Internet visitors have become lazy in their desire to read up on a product. If your website offers only a text-based explanation for a product, users are likely to get frustrated at reading it.
An effective strategy to combat this is to provide product explanations in audio or video format, though these need to be supplemental to text rather than its place.
Many visitors may be curious to see a product in action or understand how it works. In that sense, video is far more effective at illustrating things than a text-based explanation.
More Intuitive Sign-Up Forms
The more simple registration forms are, the more likely visitors are to fill them out. Don’t include those questions if you do not need to ask for specific demographics like age and gender.
Many businesses also use a CAPTCHA for users who arrive at their site for the first time to fill out sign-up forms. This isn’t strictly necessary and can reduce conversion rates.
It is also essential to draw the user’s attention to a call to action button to finalize their sign-up form. That means that the button to take the desired action should stand out and be displayed on the part of a screen with the least possible chance of being missed by the user.
Auto-Validation
When someone registers for a website, any assistance and auto-validation features are helpful. Let’s consider the way Twitter runs its sign-up process. The user navigates to a page indicating that they want to sign up for an account. They are prompted to enter a name, password, and address, then they are prompted with a “Sign Up” button which takes them to another page that asks for a few more pieces of information.
For instance, they will be required to enter a username. Because users may choose names already taken, Twitter informs the users whether the name they selected is viable or unavailable right then and there. The user needs to alter it before even leaving the field. This prevents a user from navigating to the next screen only to be told there is something on the former one left to correct.
Optimize Text For SEO
There needs to be no call to action text on your site if there is no call to action text. You should provide users with text guiding them to take the action that the website intends.
Prompts to guide the users through their journey are especially effective. Involving relevant text also means that the website is more SEO optimized. This will help users navigate quickly around the site, but it will also bring more visitors since the website will show up higher in SERP.
Final Thoughts
You should test every aspect of a website to ensure maximum conversion rates. This includes images, titles, prices, captions, buttons, call-to-action elements, menu locations, colors, element sizes, and bonuses. Based on the testing results, you can either append additional aspects to the site or refine those you may not have tested.
It is also important to seriously consider user feedback, especially the harmful kind. Negative comments do not mean they aren’t pointing out a fundamental weakness or flaw with the design. Designers cannot think of every scenario, so it is prudent to address it correctly and quickly when users identify one.
A website will never be perfect. There will always be areas to improve upon. It is important to let such growth be a part of the development process rather than an ignored nuisance. The improvements stemming from these comments will lead to a more robust, effective website and a better conversion rate for your business.
Can you share any eCommerce website design strategies and models with us?
Krystle Cook – the creator of Home Jobs by MOM – put her psychology degree on a shelf and dived into a pile of diapers and dishes instead. She is a wife and mother to two rambunctious boys, sweating it out in her Texas hometown. She loves cooking, DIY home projects, and family fun activities.
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