The fundamental principles of how good web design improves conversion rates

Having a conversion-based web design presents a complex yet seemingly simple approach to how your website appears to online visitors. In order to find that perfect solution and drive leads, you need to determine the visual design factors that build trust. And although there are plenty of them, the following 7 elements should earn your focus:

#1: Structure

Structuring the pages on your website in a transparent and user-friendly way is essential for a design for conversions. People that come to your website should feel comfortable with the overall structure of your website. Also, they should be able to easily find all the information they need about your products or services. Therefore, you always have to take into consideration the big picture – how your page answers the initial question while pointing potential buyers towards other relevant pages.

This is where a proper website structure comes in, and how you design it all can make all the difference. It will do you little good to have a simplistic “Product” page if users are unable to find an “Order Now” call to action (CTA) or section on the page. Another wrong approach would be having people jump through hoops of a complex structure, only to eventually land on the “Purchase” page.

Your structure needs to be logical and to-the-point. Otherwise, you will find a whole lot of people giving up before making a purchase.

#2: Responsiveness

*Responsive web design (RWD) is an approach to web design that makes web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes.

If your company has a long-standing online presence, then you’ve probably heard the term of responsiveness be thrown around a lot. And there is a good reason for that. A responsive website design increases sales due to the simple fact that it is adaptable to the 50% of consumers today that use mobile devices. Responsiveness is a ranking SEO factor in the eyes of search engines like Google and Bing. Despite this, you will still find countless websites that are not mobile-friendly.

The point here is simple. If people come to your website over their phone and they need to zoom and pinch, you’re losing conversions. You do not want to exclude such a large base of potential customers. Make sure that you design your website in a way that will also increase conversion rates on mobile devices.

#3: Design for mobile devices

Before you ask, having a design for mobile devices is not the same as having a responsive website. We already mentioned that over fifty percent of users today are mobile. That means that the design for your mobile device website version needs to have a conversion-optimized approach. And the steps to this are simple enough:

• Make forms short;
• Ensure autocomplete is on;
• Make buttons big;
• Simplify the check out process.

#4: Web design affects conversion rates through readability

People need to be able to scan/read the content on your website to identify you as the number one brand. That means that the design of the content on your website can’t give them headaches. You can achieve this by choosing simple and professional fonts while leaving enough spacing in between the lines to make everything easy to skim through.

Most users today waste little time reading through every word, which is why successful businesses opt for a simple and blunt approach. Otherwise, people won’t even bother to scan through your site, let alone read the content on it.

#5: Call To Action

You won’t find any high-converting website examples without a proper call to action (CTA). Once you’ve hooked people with your offer, you need to invite them to make the leap of purchase. And nothing can do this better than a well-designed call to action that hits all the right buttons. Like the features for mobile design, you need to make sure that the CTA is clear and obvious. And of course, having more than one on a single page is definitely a step in the right direction – people should always be able to have an option to click “Buy” or “Get Offer”. That is one of the fundamental ways in which web design improves the rate of visitors who convert into prospects.

#6: Aesthetics

Although a logical principle of conversion-based website design, you can never accent the importance of aesthetics enough. This is the first thought that comes to the minds of people when one says “website re-design“. It’s like renovating your home – you expect new colors, contrast, a complete turnover.

Everything we mentioned so far improves the conversion rate from the background. However, this is the face of the website – the colors, fonts, images – every visual element. That is why you want to make sure that it brings everything else together in the end:

• Choose colors that complement your brand.
• Save high-contrast colors for CTAs.
• Use as many high-quality photos as possible.
• Play with natural frames and shapes, etc.

#7: Finally, embrace white space to ensure your web design affects conversion rates

As we mentioned earlier, enabling site visitors to easily scan your web pages is important. And this is where using the white space between content can do wonders for your conversion-optimized design. By using white space properly, you can highlight special offers, calls to action, cornerstone content, high-conversion images, etc. Cluttering your web pages with colors and images can prevent people from seeing what matters most and turning them off.

Don’t neglect the importance of high-quality web design

The contemplation of how web design affects conversion rates is one of the most significant roles of digital marketing companies. Never forget that your website is an online store – one of the finest sales tools available to you today.

With so many under- and over-designed website, it’s important that business owners find that middle ground. Having gone over countless websites, Digital Pilot worked on both sides of the web design specter, and we managed to help companies find the best solution for creating a high-conversion design for their website. Use the years of experience our NYC team has to transform your current website into a high-converting website.