Web design can be complicated to figure out but with a little help of psychology, anything is possible. This article summarises the key elements of web design through the lens of psychological insights.
Homepage
This is the page that most of your website visitors will see. Make sure it stands out and makes a good, positive impression on visitors. You know, first impressions are crucial. This is also the case on the World Wide Web. The layout of the website should be transparent and clear, the colors should be carefully chosen. Make sure the text is written clearly and properly spaced. You should note this on all subpages where the text is located. Don’t reveal everything on the first page, as this will reduce the chances of visitors exploring your website.
Use phrases that will motivate the visitor to spend more time on your site. You know how phrases like “mysterious content” affect you. “Unravel the secret with one click“… We are all curious by nature, so it is right to take into account this psychological factor of the average user on the first page. However, to make each visitor feel as important as possible, address them in person. Imagine finding yourself on a website that touches your soul on the first page? Wouldn’t you pay much more attention than normally? Remember, good website design can change a new user into a long-lasting stakeholder.
However, in order for the visitor not to be motivated only the first time they visit you, make sure that something new is happening with your web design all the time. The possibilities are enormous. You just need a little imagination.
However, in order for the visitor not to be motivated only the first time they visit you, make sure that something new is happening on your website all the time. The possibilities are enormous.
Headlines
Immediately after the home page, headlines will attract the most attention. They should be designed to convince the visitor to stay on your side. From a psychological point of view, the most impressive words are: easy, discount, secret, action. Make sure these words appear in the headlines. However, be careful not to make the title length too long, as visitors will lose interest. And your efforts will be in vain.
We humans love simple things, more and more. That is why it is sometimes right for you to take a step back and think about how you work. After all, psychology is something that works on all of us. Plus, the title should briefly describe what’s next so people don’t waste time reading something they don’t enjoy. Just like you.
Copy
Once you attract visitors to your website, you need to convince them to buy your products / services. The only and most powerful weapon you have are texts. Make sure your products / services stand out as something special, something the customer just has to have.
From a psychological point of view, people like when they can negotiate the price, they like to feel involved. Make sure that your web design enables them to have different pricing choices, providing your customers with a sense of agency on your site. This will gain you a long line of potential customers who will spread the good word about you to the ninth village.
Otherwise, if you just mention that your price is lower than the competition, you will be one step ahead of it. However, to make the purchase safe, tell them that the offer is exclusive because it is only available online. I’ve said the purchase like this many times before, so I can say the thing works. Personally, what convinced me the most was that they mentioned on the website that there is a limited number of products. And because I really wanted the product, I didn’t hesitate, even if it was just a marketing joke, that’s what efficient web design can achieve.
But to make your visitors trust you even more, offer them a bonus. If they buy one product, they get another for free. If you pay 2, the third one travels for free… Using psychology in the right places guarantees you more sales.
Experiences of others
Testimonials from other customers who have already bought from you have the greatest role in sales from a psychological point of view. Because people trust something we already know or have seen with a friend, it is a tool we must not forget. This had a big impact on current visitors when they were choosing between competing companies. We have already introduced you to video content in previous articles, which will take up a large part of Internet marketing. This time, however, we have served you with the first hint of what to record in the first place.
Experimentation in Web Design
The best data are those that we obtain ourselves, i.e. our own data. It shows us how visitors behave on our website. It is very important to perform online experiments (A / B tests). We need to set up a classic way of experimenting (50% of the test and 50% of the control group). Additional data will make it easier to link optimization and innovation, as optimization will no longer be based on assumptions but on obtained data.
According to Ton Wessling, experiments are not only important for short-term earnings, but necessary for the long-term growth of the company. The more experiments you make, the better you will be at optimizing. Which means you’ll be working on data-based optimization measures and making it easier to come up with ideas to increment growth.
If it used to be that big fish would eat small fish (big companies eat small ones), today we have come so far that fast fish will eat slow fish. Companies that are able to turn around quickly (test and change) will dominate slow companies.
Conclusion
It makes sense to consider psychology at all levels of life, even in web design. We are spending more and more time on the world wide web, more and more sales are happening online, so it is right to consider it here as well. However, since the Internet requires a lot of testing from us, it is right that you also test various techniques. We will never find the one right recipe because there is none. But we can always focus on the process and be consistent in our efforts to be better with each iteration.
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