Some of your design choices may actually be putting off visitors and hurting your conversions. Even better, they’ve got a clear picture of their product. I know I’ve been saying how important this is for new visitors, but it’s just as important for your existing customers. Use visuals It’s easier for people to understand an image than to read text. Make sure your page has a simple, clear layout, featuring at least one image as the focal point. Visuals get attention, so you’ll need to make it clear which images are more important. Use common language As I said earlier, you’ll need to use a combination of both images and text to create a persuasive website. Don’t use industry slang or terms people can’t understand. Limit choices How many products is your company selling? As the visitor scrolls down the page, they see more information.
How do you convince a person to do something?
When you’re having a face-to-face conversation with someone, you know how to persuade them. But you don’t have the same luxury of conversation when you’re dealing with visitors to your website.
Fortunately, you can utilize online persuasive tactics to close sales and improve your conversion rates.
Many of these factors have to do with the design of your website. The way your current website is designed could be the reason why you’re losing sales.
Some of your design choices may actually be putting off visitors and hurting your conversions. Obviously, you’re not doing it intentionally. But either way, you’ll need to address these mistakes and make the necessary changes.
Since you can’t actually talk to people who are visiting your website, you need to show them why they should do something.
That’s why I created this guide. I want to show you the top persuasive web design principles that will lead to conversions.
1. Emphasize clarity
What’s the purpose of your website?
It should be clear and obvious to anyone visiting your website from the moment they land there. They should be able to tell what you do and what you’re offering, even if they’ve never heard of your company.
Here’s a great example of clarity from the Square website:
You can figure out exactly what this company does. They use phrases such as “start selling fast” and “accept credit cards anywhere” to help visitors understand what they’re offering.
Even better, they’ve got a clear picture of their product. The hand that’s holding the device is used to show how small it is, which is a huge selling point.
Pictures are a great way to clarify your message on your website. We’ll talk about how to use visuals in greater detail shortly.
Analyze your website. Obviously, you know what your company offers, but is it clear to others?
Put yourself in the shoes of somebody who has no prior knowledge of your brand, services, or products. If they can’t identify what you’re offering on your website, you need to improve the clarity of your message.
Don’t use any ambiguous terms. Get right to the point.
I know I’ve been saying how important this is for new visitors, but it’s just as important for your existing customers.
It should be very easy for people to find what they want on your website:
As you can see from the data, 76% of those surveyed feel that being able to find what they’re looking for is the most important factor in the design of a website.
Take some time to remove anything from your website that doesn’t add to the clarity of your message. Now it will be much easier for you to persuade visitors to buy something.
2. Use visuals
It’s easier for people to understand an image than to read text. Obviously, you’ll need to have some words on the screen, but you can let pictures do the talking for you.
Recall the earlier example of Square. The words on the screen told visitors if they buy the gadget, they can accept credit payments anywhere and get paid fast, but how can they do it?
Well, the picture was very clear. There’s a small device that can be held with your fingertips and that plugs into mobile devices.
Explaining your product isn’t the same as showing it.
Here’s something else to take into consideration. First impressions matter. You’ve probably heard it your entire life. But have you applied it to your website?
What’s the first impression people get when they land on your homepage?
A clear picture can help focus their attention and ultimately make the page more visually appealing. Too much text without any photos will crush your sales.
Highrise offers CRM software. Their original website had some images, but there was no clear point of focus. It was cluttered, and a visitor could easily get lost on the page, eventually leaving without converting.
Highrise redesigned their website and included a picture of a person.
What does this person have to do with their software? Nothing. But they still saw their conversion rates increase by more than 100%. Largely, it’s because the new design was much cleaner.
Using a picture that takes up most of the page forces you to choose your words carefully, which means the words on the screen are much more impactful.
Make sure your page has a simple, clear layout, featuring at least one image as the focal point.
3. Prioritize the most important elements
As I just said, you need to have images on your website. But what if you have multiple images? Your website needs to have a visual hierarchy.
Visuals get attention, so you’ll need to make it clear which images are more important. Here are some of the best ways to do this.
First, the size of an image should clearly communicate how important it is. Simply put, the bigger the image, the greater its importance. If you have an ecommerce website, your top selling items should be the biggest on the screen.
You could also draw attention to elements on your website based on their position….
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