Everyone talks about getting conversions through their website, but what does that actually mean?
Technically, a conversion includes, but isn’t limited to the following user actions:
All of these actions count as conversions, and can be boosted with strategically crafted graphic design.
Your website is a critical part of your sales funnel and is therefore something to put time and effort into optimizing.
An optimized website will get more conversions, and this article will explain how you can achieve this goal with graphic design.
Your web visitors are literally wired to respond to visual marketing campaigns. This doesn’t just include ads and sales pages. It includes everything about your website, from your main menu to your header, logo, sidebar, and footer.
About 20% of the brain is wired for vision, and the human visual system interacts with about half of the entire brain.
Human eyes process two-thirds of all electrical impulses that fire in the brain. And the brain doesn’t even process everything consciously.
Plenty of visual stimuli are processed without conscious awareness. This means that your visitors will be affected by all of the visuals on your website, not just the “main attractions.” That’s some serious power.
There’s a reason color has been a main component in marketing strategies for decades. Color is essential in the design world, and it’s not just about choosing combinations that look good; colors elicit specific emotions.
You’ve probably heard about color psychology – the concept that different colors have the power to create different moods and feelings. It’s true, and you can use that to your advantage to increase your conversions.
According to data published by the University of Winnipeg, 90% of snap judgments about products are made based on color alone.
That’s huge!
Although people do have personal preferences, and color psychology varies between cultures, there are some tried-and-true associations you can rely on in your marketing strategies.
For example, the color blue tends to foster a sense of trust. If you want people to take you seriously, you can influence that feeling through the color blue.
Similarly, there are certain colors that influence people to click on buttons with a simple CTA like “download,” “add to cart,” and “buy now.”
You can use color psychology to support just about any outcome you want, but it will take time to get it right. You have to get the right color, but also the right color combinations. For instance, just because red elicits a feeling you’re after doesn’t mean it will work when you’re also using purple. Separately, red and purple can be powerful, but they aren’t an ideal color combination.
Use split-testing to get your colors perfect. With split-testing, you’ll be able to change one element at a time to see how well your new color performs compared to the previous color. The key is to only change one thing at a time.
Color is perhaps the most powerful way to influence your website visitors and that’s why brands spend so much money to create perfect logos.
For instance, Facebook and Twitter’s blue logos appear simple at first, but they were well thought out and tested.
To see the power of color in action, check out these examples from CrazyEgg.
Stories are always better with images. That’s why children’s books have large images and only a small amount of text, and picture books are entirely made of images. Although kids love stories with images, adults do as well.
The stories you tell on your website will always be better supported with visuals alongside your text. For example, say you’re building a traditional long form sales page to sell a digital download. You’re going to include a handful of testimonials and of course, your own story. Visuals will make your sales page convert better.
When building your long form sales pages, you’ll probably use the following types of visuals:
All of your visual components are important, but you’ll need to pay special attention to some elements more than others. For example, your testimonials will be more believable and influential when accompanied by a real photo of the person who wrote the testimonial. Text-only testimonials aren’t as effective because the people don’t seem as real.
Have you noticed that buttons depicting icons are more attractive than plain text? Maybe you haven’t noticed because it’s an automatic response to click buttons with icons and you don’t think about what you’re doing. Either way, icons are a highly effective way to emphasize text and encourage clicks that translate to conversions.
Icons are essentially symbols, and symbols convey massive meaning in a compact space. For example, trophy and check mark icons are popular because they convey a feeling of success.
You’ve probably seen sales pages that use green check marks instead of dots for a bulleted list. This type of imagery sends a positive, affirmative message to visitors the whole time they’re reading the list. This can help influence visitors to agree with the points made in the list, which can increase conversions. The key is to know enough about marketing to know where to place your “buy now” or “add to cart” buttons so that you can get people to make a purchase when they’re nodding their heads in agreement.
Infographics are an interesting visual phenomenon that really deserve more attention. When created professionally, an infographic can convey a large amount of important information at-a-glance. For instance, you can fit plenty of statistics and factual information on an infographic.
Infographics are especially influential in generating conversions because they’re more interesting than plain text and will capture attention from visitors who are simply scanning your content.
Try these ideas for using infographics to generate conversions:
What makes infographics powerful is the combination of important information and visuals.
A good infographic will have a layout that guides a reader’s eye from top to bottom, and utilizes a good contrasting color combination.
Naturally, you can use color psychology with infographics for optimal results.
People like clicking buttons, but only when those buttons look appealing. When you put a call-to-action (CTA) on a button, it needs to be visually perfect. For example, the size and shape of the button matters, as does the position, the text, typeface, color, and CSS elements like a drop shadow.
When you want a CTA button that converts, you’ll need to plan out every element intentionally and split-test your buttons to improve them over time. Now that you can use CSS to create some stunning buttons, it’s not so hard.
If you’ve never intentionally created a CTA button, check out Smashing Magazine’s collection of examples and best practices. You’ll see examples of effective buttons properly placed, along with buttons that compete with surrounding elements for attention. Part of understanding what to do includes understanding what not to do, so be sure to also pay attention to what doesn’t work.
Photos of people can increase the perception that a visitor has connected with your company. For instance, when you publish photos of people facing left or right, they’re facing away from the camera and no connection is made. However, when you publish photos of people directly facing the camera, your visitors will perceive those images as eye contact, even if only virtually.
This experience is brief, but it creates a stronger connection between you and your visitors, which in turn, can support more conversions. The key is to not use stock photos with random people because they won’t have the same effect as a genuine photo taken just for your website. If you need to convey something through an image with a person, hire a professional photographer to take a custom photo for your site.
If you need graphic design on a regular basis, you may want to consider using a graphic design subscription service. However, these services are expensive. To get your money’s worth, you’ll need to consistently order a lot of designs every month.
The other option is to hire a professional graphic design team to create custom graphics as needed. This is usually the more affordable option in the end because you won’t feel pressured to order graphics you don’t need in order to justify your monthly subscription expense.
Are you looking for a graphic designer to create beautiful images for your website? Would you like to work with a designer who can take color psychology into consideration when creating your graphics? We can help!
At Dev.co, we offer both website development and graphic design services with a fast turnaround time. Contact us today to learn more about our professional, affordable design services.
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