Taking a more simplified approach to designing your website will have surprising results!
There exist numerous strategies that you can use to convert your online visitors into paying customers; however, a simplified website is the first and most important method to apply. Multiple focus groups and studies confirm that simplifying your website plays a significant role in the success or failure of your online presence.
This article will detail how the best web design is a simplified web design and how this converts more customers and improves your business’s bottom line.
What does it mean to have a more simplified design?
The primary aim of a website is to communicate your services and business values to the visitor as simply as possible. This goal is only achievable with a design that’s less sophisticated, free of all unnecessary elements, and coupled with content that’s easy to comprehend.
Additionally, you can take a modern approach and make your website responsive across all devices, since most internet traffic comes from mobile browsing. However, ensure that you arrange the site’s components, so they don’t confuse and frustrate the user is important.
Why Is It Important?
Website visitors have very little patience (less than 5 seconds) when surfing the internet, causing them to instantly exit a website that seems too hard to navigate or takes forever to load.
Therefore, you must eliminate any virtual load like unnecessary graphics, excess pop-ups, and irrelevant texts, else, you negatively overwhelm the visitor’s mind and cause him to exit your page.
*Note: the faster your website’s loading speed, the more viewers will want to stay and browse through your inventory.
Take Science’s word for it
Recently, the digital giant “Google,” conducted a study on multiple websites and users, and uncovered two critical findings:
- Users will decide a website’s beauty within 1/50th to 1/20th of a second.
- Sites that were “visually complex” received fewer visitors compared to the simpler ones.
Based on this brief study by Google, it is safe to deduce that a straightforward web design plays a massive role in its viewership.
The Primary Purpose Of A Website Is To Convert Visitors Into Customers
The main reason for creating a website is to generate revenue by turning the viewers into permanent clients. To achieve this goal, you need to put a few vital factors in place. These include:
Familiarity
Its common knowledge that less energy is required to process something that you already know. For example, the tension you feel from playing a game the second time is several digits less than the first attempt.
This is because your brain is familiar with the environment and knows what to do to achieve its objective. You can apply this concept to your website and give your visitors a unique but familiar design that’s easy to navigate.
Predictability
Similar to a movie on repeat, you don’t have to focus intensely to understand its plot since you already know it. The same applies to a simplified website with elements that gently guides the viewer with familiar visuals.
You can use this method to direct your visitor and compel them to react with the “call-to-action” buttons and become your customer.
Content-First Approach
Instead of focusing on additional images, pop-ups, and text, direct your efforts to provide value to your visitors. Use precise words for descriptions, few photos, and aim to deliver the type of content that viewers expect to see upon visiting your site.
Although these three factors above emphasize that you keep your website simple and optimized, don’t forget to give it a unique touch that highlights your brand.
The primary reason your visitors will view your website is to learn more about you and your offerings, so ensure your site remains unique and an extension of your business.
Why A Simple Design Is Easier For The Brain To Process
Scientific research reveals that websites with less visual complexity appear more beautiful because they require less effort for your brain and eyes process.
Basically, your eyes receive visual input from the page and convert the various colors and light into electric signals that get sent to the brain. The more color and light the eyes receive, the more work the brain has to put into decoding them – which can be frustrating.
With this in mind, ensure you save your viewers the mental hassle by providing a straightforward website with little to no mind-boggling content.
5 Ways To Create A Simpler Website To Convert More Customers
1. Investigate
It’s essential that you do some research on your audience and discover the sites that they visit or often patronize, then analyze the design of those sites and look for how you can incorporate it into your page.
2. Predictability
When you lay out your design, apply the rules of cognitive fluency and put essential things in places that viewers expect to find them. For example, all the crucial details about your business (About Us, Terms & Conditions, etc.) should be at the bottom section of your website.
3. Eliminate Anything Unnecessary
Instead of filling your website with images and irrelevant content, use your logo, color, and typeface to communicate with the guest gently.
*Note: Only include images or a write-up when it’s relevant to the visitor.
4. Less Is More
If you feel like your website seems complex, get rid of the unnecessary details. Remove the obstacles that get in the way of the user making a purchase or signing up for a service. Utilize whitespace to make it easier on the potential customer browsing your website.
5. Be Original
Developing your site using an accessible layout makes it easier to navigate it due to its familiarity. However, ensure you make some essential tweaks to the model to help convey your brand into the visitor’s mind.