Website design is a modern mystery. The question of how to choose a web design that converts is destined to become your quest, sooner or later, if you are a business owner.
Websites offer tantalising potential for exponential growth yet conversion rates and successful user experience are affected by so many factors. Conversions are a perplexing challenge every ecommerce owner must face.
Once your website traffic is forthcoming, the challenge to convert those visitors into paying customers begins. Conversions are essential. Increasing them will create the buzz and sales you desperately need to see your brand soar.
How do you design a high converting website that turn leads into paying customers?
Its a complicated question. An optimised website design will look professional and build trust but could work against you when it comes to your conversion rate. The trick is to pay attention to the small stuff.
Don’t overlook simple design factors that can go a long way to increasing the conversion rate of your site. In fact, there are four key high converting web design secrets you can use to boost your conversion rate
You don’t have to be a web developer to build leads. Let’s take a look at four web design basics you can use to increase sales – that many people miss.
1. Colour Psychology:
Colours and emotions are deeply connected. According to Forbes.com, utilising ‘color psychology ‘can give your business an edge’ and ‘help you design a space that will maximize potential’.1
Colours affect our behaviours and emotions so much we don’t even notice. You want your brand values to evoke an emotional response from your target market so when choosing colours for use on your site make choices that will enhance your brand and convey the right emotions.
If used correctly, you can use colour to stimulate conversions so don’t fall into the trap of choosing a colour scheme for your website simply because you like it.
Instead, think about how you want people to feel when they visit your site. Take blue for example. Blue may not be your favourite colour but don’t disregard it when it comes to your website design.
We associate blue with strong emotions related to trust, durability and strength. Trust is a major factor in securing sales, that’s why so many leading global brands include blue within their website colour schemes.
Red is another strong colour. Red conjures feelings of excitement and joy so you’ll notice red featured within the web designs of lots of gaming brands and entertainment sites.
It all depends on how you want your website visitors to feel when they land on your site. Pick the right colours and you could have the winning combination that encourages your visitors to buy.
2. Typography
The aesthetic of your written text also plays an important role in increasing your conversions. Writing in inpublishing.co.uk, Peter Sands reminds us that ‘fonts play a huge part in branding’ and ‘can make all the difference’ to your online success. 2
There are an enormous range of fonts out there and again it is easy to be swayed by a font you like or have always used. Yet, spending a little time thinking about the font that will best represent your brand will prove a worthwhile investment.
For example, if you have an antique furniture ecommerce site, a hyper- modern font won’t be for you – you’ll want something more classic, traditional and in tune with your buyers.
On the other hand, if you have a high-fashion retail store, you’ll need a contemporary, on-trend font that may need to be updated from time to time to ensure it remains in step with the latest typography trends.
3. Readability
In addition to the style and size of your font, you should also think about paragraph spacing.
The paragraph spacing you choose for the text on your web pages has a huge impact on your website visitors’ experience as they use your site.
Narrow gaps between paragraphs will result in a large quantity of content being packed into a tiny space. For the reader, that content will feel overwhelming and hard to read.
If your site isn’t designed for readability, visitors will be put off from spending any further time on your site. Every element of your web design, including the spacing between your paragraphs, must create a positive experience if you want a high-converting web design so readability is a crucial element to get right.
4. Whitespace
Whilst design elements like graphics and visuals are great at getting your website visitor’s attention, it is easy to slip into overload.
Going overboard with graphics can quickly kill your leads. Thinking about your use of whitespace can be a helpful way to ensure your design elements stay balanced.
Whitespace enables you to draw website traffic to important elements you want them to notice so strategically incorporating plenty of whitespace into your website design can help you to increase sales.
Take a look around and you’ll see brands across the world using whitespace to highlight products, promotions, calls to action and more. When you place an element within an expanse of whiteness it automatically becomes the dominant feature so whitespace has a powerful role to play in building leads and sales for your ecommerce site. Use whitespace for product promotions, calls to actions, bestsellers and more.
These four basic web design elements hold powerful secrets to high converting websites.
Websites that convert create a positive experience for website visitors. Whilst big, shiny techniques may sound good, it is the basics that will secure your leads. From readability to typefaces and color schemes, ensure your web design is constructed to work for you, starting with the humdrum basics that are easily overlooked.