The human mind is an amazing thing and the more we learn about it, the more we realize that humans respond to certain stimuli. When it comes to a website, you can use this knowledge to your advantage. All you have to do is determine what you want your site visitors to do and then develop a web design that leads users to that end result. Here are a few tips.
Prime Your Visitors for Action
In this stage, you are basically conditioning your customers to take a particular action when a stimulus is presented. There are many ways to influence consumers with this tactic. For example, one study revealed that it is as simple as the type of music being played. A grocery store experimented with playing music from France and Germany and discovered that wines originating from the same company as the background music sold better.
The same idea was even employed in a restaurant to improve tips. The establishment started including quotes with altruistic overtones on the final check for the evening. As a result, more patrons left tips, and many were very generous.
Basically, the idea with your website is to use words, colors, sounds, images, or anything else you can think of that will encourage site visitors to follow your call-to-action.
The Power of Suggestion
When someone visits your site, they have choices to make. From the homepage, they may choose to take direct action, to click through to another page of the site, or to leave your site. The job of the web designer is to help the user make the choice you want.
For example, if you offer 3 package deals, you may highlight one by placing it in the middle, making iit a different color, and saying something like “our most popular selection” or “best value.” This draws the eye and suggests a particular option to a consumer who may have been unsure of which deal would be best.
Speak Plainly
Especially when it comes to copy, the mistake we often make is assuming the user knows everything about our site that we do. When a person first reaches your homepage, he may not even know what it is your company does for sure. Be certain that even the heading leaves no doubt about what service you are providing.
By applying a few of the above tactics, you can reduce your bounce rate and increase your conversion rate.