Your business needs a website that converts leads to sales and visitors to customers. Avoid these website designs that are guaranteed to kill conversions:
• Obviously too busy
Cram too much text—especially long, wordy paragraphs—on a page, add too many colors and widgets, employ too small a font, or leave too little white space, and you risk overloading your visitors’ senses.
Substitute these for the “too busy” elements
– Shorter sentences, subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists for wordiness
– 2-3 colors that match your brand
– A single video or widget only if it enhances the customer experience
– Generous margins and white space
• Unresponsive
According to a 2015 Pew Research Center study, 75% of young adults in the United States have smartphones, and they want to use them to quickly access all the information they want and need. Design a slow-to-load, not ready for mobile, generic website and you are asking for trouble with users and search engine rankings.
Instead, make sure your website is
– Mobile-friendly
– Responsive
– Quick to load
• Lacking contact information
Omit contact information to make your web page pop and you encourage your visitors to click away because they can’t confirm your whereabouts or your existence.
Replace this and build trust by giving website visitors
– Multiple ways to contact you
– A map that shows location and parking if you are a “brick and mortar” store
– Extra help with a “Get directions” widget
• Missing a clear call to action
Only mention your product or service in general terms and you leave web visitors wondering “What can you do for me?” Worse yet, they may just depart from your website to see how your competition will answer that question.
As an alternative, guide them with
– Copy that sells
– One clear call to action on every page (research shows that limiting choices also helps in the conversion process)
• Delivering a terrible user experience
A website that is hard to navigate, difficult to read, full of links that don’t work, and/or impossible to search drives prospective customers away.
In its place, offer a website that treats visitors well
– Make the navigation intuitive for novices and experienced users alike
– Be clear and concise
– Include accurate descriptive text instead of loading your descriptions with meaningless hashtags or keywords
– Use professional-quality pictures that can be enlarged at the click of a button
– Add a Search widget
– Check often and repair links, if necessary
– If this appeals to your demographic, personalize the user experience based on prior behavior, location, and the user’s profile
– Make sure your website loads quickly and correctly every time
– Choose a mobile-friendly, responsive design that will work with desktop PCs, smartphones, tablets, and wearable technology
– Select font sizes that will accommodate visual challenges and different user preferences
– Check other usability features mentioned in Usability: Web Versus Mobile
Don’t let bad website design drive away customers and kill your conversions. See what the Tate Design team can do for you and your business’ website. Conversions start with a call to Tate Design at 610.725.0702 or an e-mail to [email protected].
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