Web design trends and UI/UX are an extremely important aspect of any business now. And having poor design can ruin your first impression on your potential customer. That’s why startups should be keen on making good design a priority.
Breaking Down The Infographic
The changes you’ll have to make for some of these will require a formal web developer, but you can do a handful of these tips on your own if you know some basic HTML and CSS.
Either way, to help you learn more about these 10 tips, and their pros and cons, read the section below.
#1) Age-responsive design
Age-responsive design requires a new layout, format, and even different writing catered to age-groups to be truly effective. This spells TONS OF WORK.
If you have the human resources and monetary resources to do age-responsive design, then I say go for it. Otherwise, just focus on your target market and solving the needs of your customers.
#2) Skeleton screens
Skeleton screens are not a brand new concept. In fact, from my research, it’s been floating around since 2013, if not earlier.
Nevertheless, it’s not easy to implement, but they can be useful for the end-user. Skeleton screens require a good UI/UX designer to develop and there are no simple WordPress plugins to instantly deliver you with this functionality.
It’s true that the faster your website loads, the better shot you have at converting visitors into subscribers or customers. However, you don’t need skeleton screens to do this. Instead, if you focus on decreasing page load times, then you will achieve a similar effect.
#3) Engagement bots
Engagement bots are pretty great if used properly. You have to program your bot well so it doesn’t engage your visitor or user in the wrong way. Can you imagine how it would turn off people if it improperly engaged them?
One example of how you can use an engagement bot is to use it in a specific part of the sales process as a way to see if there are any questions from the end-user. Then you can have a company representative to get back to that person within 12 to 24 hours after it collects the questions.
The bottom line is that if you have the time to put into them, then you’re likely going to see a benefit.
#4) Shopping cart marketing
Shopping cart marketing, or up-selling, isn’t necessarily something that will increase the likelihood of a visitor converting into a customer. But rather, it will increase your sales. It’s a good idea to capitalize on. Would you like to super-size that for just $1.00 more? Upsells are an important part of any business and increasing revenue. If you can do it, you should do it!
#5) Animated calls to action
Animated calls to action can be somewhat easily implementable without hiring a developer if you’re using pre-coded CSS like from this website.
The awesome thing about that post I linked to is that it has all of the code you need to see how the animated buttons are coded and you can see what the animation actually looks like.
#6) Cinemagraphs
Cinemagraphs are by no means new. They’ve actually been around for a couple of years. Some call it a rebrand of what a GIF is, however, they seem to be a little more elegant.
Check out this link from BlazePress that will show you multiple examples of cinemagraphs.
#7) Persuasion videos
Persuasion videos are just a different style of marketing via video than explainer videos. This is becoming more of a trend to do than the basic explainer video. Because, as the infographic mentioned, it portrays more authenticity than animated explainer videos and gives you a better chance to connect with the end-user on a more human level.
#8) Value-based exit overlays
Value-based exit overlays are a fantastic way to increase conversions. Exit pop-ups or overlays are great when you give your visitors some extra incentive to make a purchase, sign up to your email list, or take an exit survey. Some ways to retain your visitor to make a conversion could be by giving them an exclusive guide, a coupon to purchase your product/service, or win a prize.
#9) Death of the homepage
Death of the homepage denotes there are more website conversions when using audience-specific landing pages. Having specific a landing page that asks you to select which audience you belong to can absolutely increase conversions. This works best if you have multiple products or services that span across different audience segments.
#10) Scrolling trumps navigation
Scrolling trumps navigation in some ways. Now, as the infographic mentions, it retains your visitor on a single page so you have a better chance to take the user through a non-interrupted journey that’s tailored to increase the chance of a visitor converting. A great way to enforce this even more, is by implementing page jumps so on your site. So, when a visitor clicks on a section in your navigation menu, it will jump to that section on the same page.
This technique can greatly affect your bounce rate, however. A bounce is defined by a visitor going to a website, making no interactions with it, and leaving your website. Scrolling up and down does not count as an interaction. In order for a user not to bounce, they must click on a button, a video, or another page.
That being said, you should design your website to have multiple opportunities throughout your home page for users to interact through what’s called a click-funnel, ultimately leading to a purchase page that will be optimized to “seal the deal” and get you a sale.
#11) BONUS
Do you want more conversion rate optimization tips?
Check out this article from our friends at Siteoscope which describes 25 more ways to boost your CRO efforts.
Conclusion
Whether you’re part of a startup, a solo entrepreneur, or part of a larger business, the tips outlined above will help you to increase your conversions.
Try implementing a one at a time and see how your results differ from before via A/B testing.
At the end of the day, conversions are what count the most.
