Understanding the motivations of your website visitors and how they think could help you convert more visitors into paying customers.
In our many years as professional web designers, we’ve met many marketeers who know a lot about marketing such as social media, email marketing and other areas but none that have a secret crystal ball to tell you what your potential customers will do - especially when they visit your website.
Each potential customer is different, and it can be difficult to predict whether they are likely to click that ‘contact us’ button or simply vanish off to another site to find what they are looking for.
At aprompt, we don’t have a crystal ball either, but we do have many years of experience understanding the behaviour of visitors and how they react to different website elements that you might have on your site. Here are some key points to consider:
Grabbing their attention quickly
Some customers may browse your website for a while, looking for what they want but the majority of people are easily distracted. If we don’t find what we want or if the phone or doorbell rings then our attention is quickly taken away onto other things and we will most likely never come back!
There are many instances where visitors are on a site for less than 15-20 seconds because it’s not what they expected or they haven’t found what they want. This is measured in the ‘bounce rate’ of a website.
When scoping out or reviewing your website, ask yourself the question ‘Will this grab their attention and can they find what they want quickly?’. If you can’t find things easily then chances are that they won’t either!
Keeping every webpage clutter-free and relevant to what the page is about is important. If a visitor has to scroll or zoom in on their mobile phone to find what they want, then a number of visitors simply won’t bother unless they have enough desire to put the effort in.
Here’s a summary of things to consider when checking if you are grabbing your visitor's attention:
- Is the site mobile friendly?
- Does the site load quickly so you don’t lose their patience?
- Do you have too many links that distract them and make it hard to find what they want?
The proof is in the pudding (and the website!)
As well as looking for specific information, many potential customers are also looking for something else that’s not always evident - can they place trust in buying from you? This refers to the Halo effect of a website.
It’s a bit like interviewing someone for a job. You don’t want to commit your time and effort in recruiting a candidate if it turns out to be a horror experience! For some buyers (and recruiters) if there is ANY doubt about your brand they will decide to go elsewhere.
Here are some simple actions you can take to remove doubt:
- Make sure your site has SSL Certification (and avoid those browser warnings saying that the site they are visiting isn’t safe!). Ask us to install SSL if you haven’t got one already
- Keep the site professional looking with a great looking design
- Include easily accessible reviews and testimonials that show social-proof
- Have content on ‘About Us’ and other pages that tell a story about your brand and who you are
- Double-check and check again for spelling and simple grammar mistakes that can look unprofessional
Choose your wording and colours carefully
Different words and colours have different meanings and this can impact what action visitors take. Your website colours should be in line with your branding but did you know that black can infer professionalism while yellow is often considered to reflect cheap or low-cost offerings? A call to action button that is blue or orange is a great way to suggest trust (blue) or urgency (orange).
Using words that you can back up such as ‘guaranteed’, ‘proven’ and ‘exclusive’ are all words that can be enough to convince a visitor to take action and contact you or buy from you. Would you, for example, buy from a company that provides ‘web design’ or one that provides ‘web deign using their years of proven experience’? Similarly, an offer that’s ‘exclusive’ to you is always going to make someone feel special.
If you would like to understand more about using the right wording on your website, get in touch with our website designers today.
Make it easy to get in touch or buy
Once a visitor has decided to use your services or buy from you they are still likely to give up if they can’t easily find out how to get in touch. Make the buy button or the contact us button stand out so it can’t be missed.
Get in touch
Converting website visitors is a skill. If you would like to understand more about how to design a website that converts visitors into customers get in touch with aprompt today by calling 01249 448 139 or email Kirsty on webdesign@aprompt.co.uk
