Can design really boost your conversion rate? In most cases it really can and here are a few design tips that may help you improve the way your website performs as well.

How to improve your websites conversion rates with design tips

What is a conversion rate?

Before we go any further, you need to understand what a conversion rate is exactly. The conversion rate is a value that denotes the percentage of users who have taken an action.

Conversions do not always have to be sales, but can be any key performance indicators (KPI), that are directly or indirectly related to the business. An example can be that of search engines whose main objective is to gain the number of “clicks”. Some KPI include Purchasing a product, Registering, and Signing up for subscriptions (free/paid), Sharing one’s card information, Download trial software’s, Download mobile apps.

Simple design over complex noise

Millennials are the most active online and there is a need for simple designs which catch the eye easily. For example, no one likes the “new times roman” font on WebPages. People look for something more soothing to the eye, for eg – “Arial” or “Calibri”. Alignment of pictures and text on the web page is important. Flashy colors and stock photos are to be avoided. References/links to social media networks are also to be avoided or kept to the bottom of the page (as icons). An example from my personal experience is that of SNAPDEAL which has improved its web pages immensely from before.

 

Avoid stock photos since they don’t work and use responsive design since almost everyone is online. Navigation is essential and you have to focus a lot of time and effort in making sure people are able to move around your site without getting frustrated.

Earn trust

It is important for a website to gain the customer’s trust. One of the ways highlighted earlier was “easy and simple payment methods”. Some other factors include Accurate information, Show that there’s a real organization behind your site, Easy ways to contact, Update site’s content, Have a design/layout that looks professional, Avoid pop-ups/unnecessary ads, Avoid mandatory login to view page.

 

Think out of the box

Things like design/layout, sale periods etc. are temporary measures that although may guarantee a higher conversion rate, are not long term plans or schemes to keep the conversion rates soaring. In order maximize the investment put forward, one need to think a little out of the box. (For more information on SEO, check out Good Monster)

An example is that of word stream. It went against the policy of free trial software’s, which were found ‘not compelling enough’ to attract customers. Instead they came up with the concept of “Ad Words grader” which gave customers an account evaluation report, with recommendations to help them improve their Ad Words strategy.

Another concept can be that of “lower level and higher level” customers. Since it is more difficult to make a consumer to subscribe/create an account/gain feedbacks from their purchase, special credits/points can be awarded to them for every feedback/rating/review or whenever they just create an account.

Another important concept is REMARKETING. Since over 90% of the visitors can leave the website without purchasing anything, remarketing helps to give them the targeted/required message, in addition to them being engaged in other activities in the site like watching a video, email etc.

This Post was contributed by Sunny Popali