Before upgrading your company’s website and filling it with industry jargon and stock photos, it is important that you put yourself in the seat of your target consumer and scan through each page to see if it seems chaotic to you. Is there a wealth of information on each page with no space in between making your eyes go blind? While it is important to provide facts and statistics so that your potential customers have full detail on what your company can offer, there are ways to convey the information visually by modifying the style in which you lay that information out.
The human attention span varies from person to person. Keeping that in mind, it is important to remember that the majority of potential consumers who visit your website, have already decided how long they want to spend on your company’s website before they land on your homepage. A recent study conducted in the U.S. lead by Pew Internet demonstrated that a reader’s attention is diminished when there is too much clutter on a web page.
So what is the best way to grab your potential consumer’s attention when structuring your website? Here are a few tips on how to reach your goal to unclutter your website and increase your conversion rate:
1. Make sure you have a sufficient amount of bandwidth on your website’s hosting package. This will allow your pages to load faster especially when using components such as apps, videos, large pictures, and java script to name a few. The faster your page loads, the better chance of engaging the viewer you will have. According to Inc. Magazine, 43% of customers watch online videos when researching products and services.
2. You want the quality of any image or video that you upload to your site to be top notch. The images should have a professional element. Poor image quality can be reflective of your brand. It may seem trivial, but consumers do relate what they see on your site to how good or not your product(s) or service(s) are. Just the same, the quality of your design should contain modern formatting and styles. You should update the design of your website from time to time as well to keep up with website trends.
3. You can engage your viewers by adding interactive features on your site that stand out. Perhaps you want to add a survey with questions that let your potential customers know that you are interested in what they have to say. Another great form of interaction is an open conversation thread such as a blog that will allow you to increase your consumer outreach. Promotional giveaways are always a great way to ensure someone’s attention. Everyone loves a free gift!
4. All of the content on your website should be relatable to your consumers. Many companies make the mistake of creating content that is too difficult to follow. The wording should easily hit home to a wide variety of potential customers. Remember that not everyone’s vocabulary has the same capacity. Depending on your industry, your consumer’s reading manner may range widely.
5. How you structure your website content is integral to your conversion rate. The reading material should have the ability to be easily scanned by the human eye. You also want to keep key features of your products or service at eye level towards the top of the page. Use bullet points or graphs as well to provide a visual effect to the information you are trying to convey.
6. Now that you have built your site around the science of attention span, your next goal would be to accomplish the goal of turning your viewer into a new customer or client. A great way to ensure a conversion from a “window shopper” to an actual customer, is by providing immediate customer service. Live online chat services are ideal for these cases. This will provide your customer service department the ability to assist viewers with any questions or concerns about your products or service, and then finally offer to place the order for them or schedule a follow-up call. You want your target consumer to feel like they will be helped just as quickly as their first interaction with your company each time they interact with you. The sentiment is equal to walking into a department store and having a customer service representative assist you with your sale immediately.
You want your potential customer’s experience on your website to leave them fully informed and ready to purchase your products or become a client for the services your provide. Ideally you want to test the experience by viewing each section of your website as if you were a potential customer or client. Then mentally rate your experience upon completion. Did you get a good feel for the offered product(s) or service(s)? If so, job well done!
