7 Tips for Designing a Website That Converts Visitors into Buyers

A potential customer forms a first impression of your website within seconds. And design influences 94 percent of this impression — so make it count. Without a strong website design, you’ll lose potential customers before they read a single word. 

Whether you’re launching a new website or revamping a current one, these seven principles can help you improve your website’s rate of converting visitors into customers. 

1. Design for Visual Hierarchy.

Since you only have a few seconds to grab a person’s attention, show the most important information first. 

Often, this is a large heading with a unique selling proposition — a brief statement explaining what your business does and why it matters. It’s usually followed by supporting text or images with more details on the product or service and a call-to-action, or CTA. 

Visual hierarchy uses design principles to direct a person’s focus, prioritizing what they see first, second, and subsequently.

To design a website that sells, keep these principles of visual hierarchy in mind: 

• Size: Generally, people notice larger elements first and view them as more important.
• Color and contrast: Bold, high-contrast colors call attention to CTA buttons and headings.
• Spacing: White space makes elements stand out. Grouping elements closer together shows they are related.

2. Add Trust-Building Elements.

You must build trust to get website visitors to share their email, make a purchase, or take any other action. Overall design and branding influence whether someone views your website as trustworthy, but social proof is even more powerful.

More than 99 percent of people read reviews before making a purchase. High-converting websites mention them and also include these trust-building elements:

• Company logos: Include a banner with logos of companies that use your product or service. If you’ve worked with recognizable brands, people are more likely to trust you simply through association.
• Customer testimonials: Go beyond simple star-rating reviews and include customer video testimonials. They are more authentic and help potential customers imagine themselves using your product.
• Case studies: Build trust by including at least three case studies outlining the problems you solve and how you achieve results. 

3. Stay On-Brand.

Strong branding also builds trust and makes you stand out from competitors. 

Before designing a website, conduct competitor research. How do your competitors position themselves in your market? What’s the look and feel of their site? Make a note of the colors, font, and other visuals they use, then ask how you can differentiate your brand from theirs.

Also, consider how you want your audience to feel. For example, bold colors and playful, rounded fonts make a brand seem friendly and casual. Many details go into developing a memorable brand. To stay consistent, use brand guidelines that document tone of voice, logo, colors, and other branding details. 

4. Build Mobile-Friendly Designs.

Over 64 percent of website traffic comes from mobile devices. A mobile-friendly design not only makes it easier for users to navigate your website but also impacts your bottom line. According to industry analysts, mobile-friendly sites have 40-percent higher conversion rates. 

Tips to design a mobile-friendly website: 

• Leverage responsive design so elements adjust to different screen sizes.
• Adjust your navigation to a hamburger menu.
• Compress images, videos, and other visuals to load quickly.
• View your website on devices with different screen sizes, such as a phone, tablet, and desktop monitor.  
• Test mobile site speed and experience with Google’s PageSpeed Insights. 

5. Use High-Quality Visual Content.

The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is even more true in web design. High-quality visuals grab attention, establish credibility, and influence buying decisions. 

More than 65 percent of people are visual learners, and the brain processes images faster than text. Instead of relying on text alone, include product photos, videos, illustrations, animations, and other visuals. 

If you’re selling a physical product, show it in action. For example, beauty and wellness company Jolie features high-quality product photos and videos alongside user-generated content of customers using its shower filter. 

Business-to-business and software-as-a-service companies like design platform Figma use visuals to show product features and benefits or to explain sign-up processes. 

6. Create Clear and Compelling CTAs.

The ultimate goal of a website is to convert visitors into customers. To drive action, you need a clear, compelling call to action that tells visitors exactly what to do next.

A webpage ideally should have no more than one or two CTAs. Too many confuse and distract visitors from taking the action you want.

Compelling CTAs typically have one or more of these characteristics: 

• Specific: CTAs like “Try free for 7 days” or “Take a 2-minute quiz” are direct and tell users exactly what to expect. 
• Actionable: Most common CTAs, like “Add to cart” or “Sign up now,” are actionable. 
• Emotional: An emotional CTA describes a feeling or aspiration (“Get clear skin now” or “Enjoy healthy meals — in 20 minutes”).
• Convincing: A convincing CTA addresses user hesitations about buying a product or sharing their information (“Sign up — no credit card required” or “Buy now, 30-day free returns”).

Creating a sense of urgency around CTAs also increases the chances that someone will take action. To add urgency to your CTAs, consider adding:

• Countdowns for limited-time deals.
• The number of products left.
• How many people have purchased already.

7. Remove Friction

Friction is anything that prevents or hinders a user from completing a desired action. When someone experiences friction on your website, they are more likely to abandon it. Removing friction improves overall user experience and conversion rates.

To reduce friction, follow these best practices:  

• Reduce page loading speed to under one second.
• Simplify your sign-up process into one or two steps. 
• Limit the number of fields on sign-up forms.
• Keep important pages in the main navigation and one click away from the homepage.

When used in tandem, these seven design tips will increase your website’s ability to catch visitors’ attention — and turn browsers into buyers.

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This article was written by Entrepreneurs' Organization from Inc. and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.