The importance of investing in a considered, functional and intuitive website design cannot be overstated. As one of your most important digital assets, your website must be built to house important information, appeal to your target audience and successfully convert visitors into customers in numbers that will allow your business to thrive.
Invest in a Fully Responsive Website Design
Mobile currently accounts for more than 51% of global traffic, which is a notable rise from 31% in 2015. It is therefore imperative to invest in a design that is fully responsive to a variety of screen sizes and functions seamlessly when accessed via a range of browsers.
If your visitors have a poor user experience, they will simply look elsewhere for the information they are seeking. Don’t risk undermining the ability of your business to connect with your audience and showcase precisely how your products or services will enhance their lives.
Use Inviting Visuals
Most consumers will respond more favourably to visual images than to a large block of text. Utilising well-chosen images will enhance your website, provide your audience with an augmented idea of who you are and what you do, and help you to explain details of your products or services that might be the deciding factor for successfully converting a visitor into a lead or a sale.
Professional Gloucester website designers, such as the team that can be found at http://digi-tel.co.uk/gloucestershire-website-design/wordpress-web-design/, will understand how to integrate engaging visuals into your site without compromising on performance.
Considered Calls-to-Action
As the primary aim of driving traffic to your site is to convert visitors into customers, implementing carefully considered calls-to-action that can’t be ignored is key. As everything from the design to the positioning of your call-to-action will impact its effectiveness, it is important to utilise all available analytics and data to ensure the correct decisions have been made.
Reviews and Testimonials
Consumers want to gain an insight into the experiences of other consumers before they make a final purchasing decision. Clearly displaying reviews and testimonials on your website will help you to establish a connection with your audience that is based on trust and authenticity. Compiling a series of genuine customer reviews for your business will help you to enhance your conversion rates, so making it simple for your customers to share their feedback is crucial.
Using colour and fewer choices to convert
Understanding how visitors think helps a website turn browsers into customers. Colour is a powerful influence. The right colour can encourage someone to buy, while the wrong one can send them elsewhere, and research has found that many purchasing decisions are made within about 90 seconds and can be swayed by colour alone. Learning how colours affect emotions, and running simple A/B tests to compare them, shows which combinations convert best.
Choice is the other big factor. It is tempting to put every product and every piece of information on one page and let visitors decide, but too many options overwhelm people and stop them making a decision at all. When it comes to choice, less is more.
Keep the design simple. Avoid offering too many calls to action or too many clickable areas competing for attention. Decide what you want each visitor to do and make that step obvious. Stepping back and walking through the customer journey as if you were the customer is one of the best ways to spot where people get stuck.
Making a strong first impression
Conversion starts with the impression a site makes in its first few seconds. It needs to look professional, trustworthy and experienced, so visitors feel confident enough to stay, explore and eventually buy. With so many businesses relying on online traffic, a site that fails to do this simply sends people to competitors.
Simplicity is central. A complicated site is hard to find your way around and drives users away. Clear, readable fonts, simple navigation, a pleasing colour palette and attractive visuals all help, but the design still needs enough flair to avoid looking generic.
The site must also be responsive, with every element working smoothly on mobile devices, because so many searches now happen on phones. Finally, make it easy for visitors to get in touch. Clear contact details are the minimum. Feedback forms, live chat and quote requests show that you are not a faceless business and give interested visitors an easy next step towards becoming customers.
Features customers expect to find
Conversion depends on giving visitors what they came for. Every website has a purpose, whether that is selling products, gathering enquiries or sharing information, and the design should make it obvious what you want people to do. Clear calls to action, written as direct commands or action phrases, guide visitors towards that next step.
Customers also want an easy way to find the products or services you offer. Use titles that are simple to understand and clearly separate your different categories. People usually arrive looking for a solution to a problem, and they want to find it quickly and without effort.
Testimonials and reviews are the third feature visitors look for. Many people trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from someone they know. Rather than tucking them away on a single page, spread them throughout the site so that reassurance is never more than a glance away.