5 Stats That Prove the Importance of Web Design

According to Adobe, “38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive.”

First impressions are everything online and you need to make a good one quickly. Your visitors will have decided if they like what they see or not within 0.05 seconds!

The design, copy, and layout of your site have to make visitors want to stick around long enough to find out more about your brand and your goods and services offered. That’s the only way they’ll become customers.

According to The Gomez Report on “Why Web Performance Matters,” “88% of online visitors/consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience.”

Remember a moment ago when we said first impressions are everything? We weren’t lying (we wouldn’t do that to you).

Visitors frustrated with their experience on your website do not become loyal customers. They need to like what they see on your site and, perhaps more importantly, find what they’re looking for with ease. Your navigation must be simple and easy to follow with clear and obvious Calls To Action (CTAs).

According to Stanford’s Web Credibility Research, “Judgements on a company’s credibility are 75% based on the company’s website design.”

Your brand and consumers’ opinions of it extend to the appearance of your website.

If your website is not aesthetically pleasing, with the content visitors are in search of, they will find those answers elsewhere (AKA your competition).

Your website design is another piece in the trust puzzle. And like an edge piece of a puzzle, one of the first places people will start is your About Us page. Don’t hide it from visitors. There’s a reason that page is always one of the most trafficked on any website.

According to an eye-tracking study conducted by Missouri University of S&T, “Users spend an average of 5.59 seconds looking at a website’s written content.” 

We’ll pour one out for your content writers. People just aren’t spending a lot of time with the words on the page.

How can you combat this?

The answer is a tactic called progressive disclosure. The idea is the set up your website so that the most important information is upfront, with your navigation directing visitors to additional information as they need or want it.

Think short subheaders and blurbs, with “Learn More” CTAs that direct them to a specific product or service page.

According to GO-Gulf web development, “70% of small business websites lack a CTA on their homepage and across their website.” 

We’ve touched a bit on CTAs and this stat hammers home the importance of them. If you’ve got them on your website, you’re already ahead of most of the competition.

CTAs will steer site visitors in the right direction, get them to take the action(s) you want them to take, boost your conversion rate, and make sure your website is serving its purpose.

The old saying goes, “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Most of your site visitors haven’t been to your site before, don’t know where to find what they’re looking for or if you even have the answers. Your CTAs will guide them in the right direction.