As a business owner, you want to ensure that your website is working hard to help you get conversions. A good design will encourage people to stick around, check out your products, and learn more about your business, which will increase the chances of them making a purchase.
In this article, we’re going to outline some design tricks that can help you improve your website’s conversion rate.
Let’s get started.
Make it incredibly easy for people to take the next step
The easier it is for someone to take the next step with your business, the more likely they’ll be to make a purchase. Getting your web design right plays a huge part in this.
There are a lot of different elements you can include on your website in order to ensure that people take the next step, increasing your conversions. Here are just a few:
- Use call to action buttons to encourage clicks
- Make it easy to get in touch with your customer service team
- Provide a lead magnet to collect people’s email addresses and stay in touch
- Create a sophisticated search features that leads people to exactly what they need
- Place online forms front and center so your visitors know what to do next
Make sure your landing pages are well optimized for specific keywords. Bouqs is one Ecommerce brand who create numerous landing pages that rank well for their target keywords such as online flower delivery. These pages are perfectly optimized to capture high-value keywords, and they’ve created dozens of separate pages to capture different types of Google searches.
Getting the design of your website right is vital for getting people to take the next step with your business. Let’s take a look at a few examples of businesses that have designed their websites in a way that encourages conversions for inspiration.
Victoria University, an online university offering postgraduate classes, has a form on their Online MBA Finance page where a visitor can download a program brochure. People who come to this webpage for more information about the program don’t have to go far to take the next step — they can simply scroll down, plug in their information, and receive a detailed brochure.
This is a great way to design a webpage like this. People visiting the website likely already have some form of interest in the program, and providing them with more information in this way will help them to feel a closer connection with the university. When they’re ready to start studying, this will increase the chances of someone choosing Victoria University.
When it comes to your own website or app, consider asking for your customers’ information like Victoria University has, and provide something in return. You should place these kinds of forms in a very visible spot on the page, too, to secure more conversions!
Insurance Navy, a provider of non-standard auto insurance, also makes it easy for website visitors to take the next step on their SR22 insurance page. As you can see in the image above, they have a short form that directs the user to a page where they can get an insurance quote. Notice how this first form only has two steps — a user selects the type of insurance they are looking for, plugs in their ZIP code, and then they are directed to the full form.
Not only does this make it easy for users to take the next step, but it leads to a full-page that gathers more information. Because insurance quotes do require a lot of information from the user, designing forms in a way that’s quick and easy to complete can help secure conversions.
On your website, make sure that your customers don’t have to go through a lot of steps to invest in your products or services. Use a strategy similar to Insurance Navy that will help them get started with the process without taking up a ton of time and energy.
Finally, iCASH, a financial services provider in Canada, makes it easy for their website visitors to take the next step on their loan services page for British Columbia. As you can see in the image above, there’s a tool that allows a user to input how much they’re looking to borrow, how many repayments they want to make, and where they live. From there, the user simply clicks “Get My Loan” in order to take the next step. The tool has a sleek and simple design that’s easy for the viewer to understand, making it great for securing conversions.
On your website, think about how you could implement interactive tools that get website visitors started with your business. Doing this will not only help engage the customer, but also give them enough information about what they’ll be getting from your business so they feel comfortable taking the next step with you.
Ensure your calls to action are eye-catching and convincing
A call to action, or CTA, is a word or phrase, often on a colored button, that tells the website visitor what to do next. CTAs should be a major part of your web design, as they can directly lead to more conversions. “Buy Now” or “Register Today” are just two examples of simple CTAs. That being said, there are a lot of different ways that you can design your CTAs to ensure that they are eye-catching and convince people to convert.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Place your CTAs where people can see them immediately
- Use a strong command verb
- Utilize stand-out colors to draw the eye to the button
- Tap into a reader’s fear of missing out, or FOMO
- Incorporate urgency into your phrasing
Let’s take a look at a few examples of businesses that have eye-catching and effective CTAs for inspiration.
Evernote, a note-taking and organizational app, has a great CTA right on its homepage. Notice how the green color of the main and secondary CTAs jump off the page — they’re the same color as their logo, making all three elements stand out very clearly. The supporting copy here is notable, as well. “Remember Everything” helps the customer understand what they’re going to receive by signing up for Evernote. These design elements work together and help to improve Evernote’s conversion rate.
On your website, be sure to use bold, stand-out colors (perhaps matching your logo) and supplemental copy that helps get your message across. These design strategies can help to improve your website conversion rate.
Brooks, a sporting goods company, harnesses the power of FOMO with their CTA to encourage more conversions. In the image above, you can see that one of their limited edition sneakers is temporarily sold out — but they’re coming back soon!
On their bright blue CTA, Brooks has a clever CTA: “Find out when we have more.” When a visitor clicks the CTA, Brooks can gather information about the customer and shoot them a message when these shoes are available again. Giving people another chance to get the exclusive shoes is a great way to encourage more conversions and get customer information!
On your website, tap into a customer’s sense of FOMO with your CTAs. Doing so will encourage people to click, thus improving your conversion rate.
If you’re having trouble deciding between a few different CTA designs, don’t worry. You can try out a few different options through A/B testing, or split testing. It will help you determine which of your CTA designs leads to the most conversions! Check out the A/B testing guide from AppInstitute to learn more.
Always leave space for positive customer reviews
Reviews and testimonials are a form of social proof and are typically trusted by website visitors more than other forms of marketing. This means they can be very effective at boosting your conversions.
The way you gather customer reviews will depend on your type of business. If you run a product-based business, star reviews are likely to work best — this will help your potential customers compare different products quickly and easily. If you have a service-based business, longer-form testimonials are appropriate, as they let past clients elaborate on their experience with your business.
To collect these reviews, all you have to do is ask. Send out post-purchase emails to your customers and see if they would be willing to leave your product a review, perhaps in exchange for a small discount. Or, reach out to past clients and see if they would be willing to discuss their experience with your business in a short written testimonial or video.
When designing your website, highlight these reviews throughout! All of your product and service pages can be served well by displaying relevant reviews and testimonials — visitors will see that other people have confidence in your business and be more likely to convert. You can display these reviews and testimonials on your homepage, as well, in order to ensure that your website visitors see them immediately, so they’re hooked and will be more likely to convert. Consider using services like creating powerful customer stories with Vocal Video for compelling and effective testimonials.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of businesses that have done a good job designing their
website to include reviews and testimonials for inspiration.
Jambys, a loungewear retailer, shows off reviews in a rather unique way. As you can see in the image above, they have a scrolling image that highlights reviews from a variety of different customers in speech bubbles. It’s a really fun and engaging way to add reviews to a homepage, and website visitors get the message that everyone is talking about Jambys.
On your website, think about how you can incorporate reviews in a unique way. Play around with design elements like social media mockups, speech bubbles, or star ratings, for example, to encourage people to engage with your products and convert!
Doors Plus, an Australian custom door retailer, embraces the power of reviews in a rather unique way, as well. As you can see in the image above, there is a review bubble on the left that rotates through some of Doors Plus’ best reviews. The bubble follows you throughout the homepage so, no matter where you’re scrolling, you can see them. This unique design reminds the website visitor that Doors Plus creates quality work, thus helping secure conversions.
On your website, be sure to place your reviews in a place that website visitors will easily spot — even if they don’t follow your users around the page, making them as visible as possible will help you secure conversions.
Create space for inspiring video content
Video marketing is a great way to engage your website visitors, and it’s also a great tool for selling your products or services. There are a lot of ways that you can create inspirational videos that will convince your audience to convert.
For instance, you could show your ideal customers achieving great things through your app, or solving a problem using one of your solutions. If you’re a service-based business, you could have video testimonials from past clients or customers discussing how your services were able to help them with a problem they were having.
When adding video content to your website, be sure to place it on the most relevant product or service pages. And, be sure that they draw in the viewer and tell them everything they need to know.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of businesses that have done a great job of incorporating video content into their websites for inspiration.
Southern Cross University, an online education provider in Australia, uses video content well on their web page for their SCU Online Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Leadership. Towards the middle of the page, SCU has a video featuring a program graduate who shares her online student experience and why she chose the school to continue her studies. The video is inspiring and shows that anyone can go back to school at SCU and will be supported, making it engaging and persuasive.
For your own website, make sure you create videos that will leave visitors feeling incredibly excited about your products or services. Show how they’re going to change your customers’ lives. This is sure to help increase your conversions.
SchoolLockers.com, a retailer of school lockers and storage cabinets, uses video content well on its homepage, too. This particular video shows an interview with a SchoolLockers.com employee who showcases their products, outlines their benefits, and discusses their installation services, customer service options, and more. This video is very engaging and shows that SchoolLockers.com is willing to go the extra mile to ensure that they are producing quality products.
On your website, think about how you can use engaging videos to show off the best parts of your products, services, or business as a whole. Creating space for these when designing your website will then help you to get more sales.
Ensure it’s very easy for people to contact you from any web page
If prospective customers have a question or concern, they’ll want to get in touch with your business. If it’s difficult to do this, they’ll be likely to leave without making a purchase. So, you need to ensure that your website is designed in such a way that potential customers can quickly and easily get in touch with your customer service team if they need to. For those who are just starting out and need guidance on how to create a website from scratch, it’s essential to prioritize user experience and ease of navigation.
It’s important to provide several contact options for your website visitors, as different people like to communicate in different ways. You might find that some of your older website visitors prefer email or phone customer service, while younger visitors prefer live messaging or social media, for instance. So, use multiple channels for customer service, but be sure that your employees aren’t spread out too thin.
You also need to ensure that your web design makes it clear where people need to go to get in touch with your team if they have questions. Let’s take a look at a few examples of companies that get this right for inspiration.
Charbonnet Law Firm, a Louisiana-based personal injury attorney law firm, makes it easy for website visitors to get in touch from their car accident attorney page, for example. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can see that there are three different ways that a customer can quickly and easily get in touch: through a contact form, a live chat service, and a phone number. No matter what type of contact option a user prefers, the website is designed so people can easily get in touch.
On your website service pages, be sure to offer multiple contact options. Doing so will reduce the risk of people struggling to get in touch with you, and will increase the chances of you making more sales.
Spectrum, a provider of internet, TV, and phone services, makes it easy for prospective customers to get in touch from their homepage, too. As you can see in the image above, there is a live chat service that appears immediately once a user lands on the Spectrum website. Instead of a user having to click around the page to find what they are looking for, they can simply be directed by the chatbot or an agent.
This is a great way to design a homepage, particularly for a service provider like Spectrum — people who come to the website likely know what they’re looking for, but might not know where to go specifically. Offering a live chat service on the homepage is a great design element that makes things easier for the customer, thus increasing conversions.
Be sure to design your homepage so users have easy access to your customer service team, should they need it. If they know where to go with questions and concerns, they’ll be more likely to convert.
Use website imagery that humanizes your business
If people can put faces to your business, they’ll feel far more connected to it and be more likely to make a purchase as a result. Your website imagery can help a lot with this!
To humanize your business, post images of yourself, your team members, your customers, or even just images of people that represent your ideal customer base. This is a great design trick that will help encourage website visitors to engage with your website and build trust with them.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of businesses that use website imagery well for inspiration.
Kaiser Permanente, a healthcare insurance provider, uses imagery on their website that showcases their ideal audience in order to humanize their business. As you can see in the image above, there is a picture of a mother and her child — this shows that Kaiser Permanente serves people and families, which is sure to appeal to website visitors. This imagery is a great way for a healthcare provider to humanize themselves through design, as it shows that their customers are families just like yours.
On your website, use imagery to show off your ideal customers. Doing so will help your website visitors place themselves in these peoples’ shoes and imagine themselves using your services. This is a design tactic that will improve your conversion rate!
Neil Patel, a digital marketing expert, consistently puts a face to his business using his website’s imagery. The Neil Patel website is largely built around Patel as a brand — in the image above, you can learn a bit about Patel and see what he looks like. This helps put a face to the brand and humanizes the business — this means his articles and expert SEO advice feel like they’re coming from a real person, rather than a faceless corporation, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
On your website, don’t be afraid to show off images of your founders or employees. Showing your website visitors who they’ll be working with can help build trust and increase conversions.
Need help optimizing and personalizing your website? Take a look at Hyperise website personalization toolkit for assistance.
Summary
Your website is your virtual storefront — if you want people to convert, you need to ensure that you’ve nailed the design. In this article, we outlined different web design tricks that will help you improve your website’s conversion rate, including using the right imagery, showcasing engaging videos, creating eye-catching CTAs, and more.
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Author bio & headshot:
Aaron Haynes is CEO and co-founder of Loganix. The company is an SEO fulfillment partner for digital marketing agencies and professionals, which provides the services businesses need to improve their online visibility and grow. If you liked this article, check out the Loganix blog, where you’ll find more SEO guides full of expert advice.
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