Design Matters

Is your web design functional?

Your site and user experience design matters in terms of conversions and also to the search engines as well.

If your visitors have a hard time finding their way around your site, you will lose them. Having your logo on the top left of the page, along with easy-to-follow navigation and a clear site hierarchy (good organization), is paramount when trying to keep people from leaving your site. During your website redesign, review the pages people visit most and find a way to make it easy to get at that same information in your new design.

Increasing the rate at which users act on your campaign is simple. You need to tell them what to do, by effectively incorporating a clear call to action in your website design! That means first going above and beyond the usual “Submit” and “Click Here” buttons; instead, using icons and one-liners that really grab visitors’ attention will do much more to inspire them to act. Then there’s compelling copy that includes those trigger words and calls to action. When appropriate, keep in mind that better product photos are worth a thousand calls to action.

10 Examples of Calls to Action

1. Buy Now
2. Add to cart
3. Download 11 steps to improving your golf game
4. Use our online calculatorto see how much you save
5. Register today to change your life in seven days
6. Free Newsletter Signup
7. Call now for a free consultation
8. Watch our video on how to organize your office space
9. Learn how to choose the perfect engagement ring
10.  Read our hotels.com case study

11 Examples of Credibility Factors

1. Being in the news
2. Lists of important clients
3. Testimonials
4. A powerful “about us” page
5. Member of local or regional chamber of commerce
6. Photo of your business
7. Photo of your team
8. A photo of your warehouse
9. Awards
10. Case studies
11. Years in business or experience

5 Points of Assurance

1. Guarantees (service or product)
2. Your privacy policy
3. Shipping within a set timeframe
4. Secure shopping cart
5. Website identity validation

Reduce anxiety, hesitation, and friction by keeping a consistent information scent. Don’t keep users in the dark on anything, including shipping, taxes, and returns—especially if you led them in with those. Let them know you are there for them and that customer service representatives are standing by via phone and/or chat. Customer service contact information should be featured prominently near shopping cart buttons.

Long-term, you should analyze your site against the 30 main factors that influence conversion. These are listed below and are from the book Always Be Testing by Bryan Eisenberg.

1. Addressing the four main personas or people types for greater conversions
2. Unique value proposition 
3. Buying decision process
4. Categorization
5. Usability
6. Look and feel
7. Searchability (use of navigation and the ability to find things on the site)
8. Layout, visual clarity, and eye tracking (using tools like Feng-gui.com)
9. Purchasing process
10. Tools that can get in the way and tools (like ClickTale.com and usertesting.com) that can help
11. Error prevention
12. Browser compatibility
13. Product presentation
14. Load time
15. AIDAS or Creating Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, Satisfaction
16. Security/privacy
17. Trust and credibility
18. Product selection/categorization/search results
19. Navigation/use of links
20. Up-sell/cross-sell
21. Calls to action
22. Point-of-action assurances
23. Persuasive copywriting
24. Content
25. Headlines
26. Readability
27. Use of color and images
28. Overuse of industry terminology/jargon
29. Customer-focused language vs. “me me/we we”-focused language
30. Using reviews