To say your website has to make a great first impression on your visitors is an understatement. A whole 38% of users will leave a website if they find it unattractive.

Just like a poorly designed website can affect user experience and hurt your bottom line, a well-thought-out design can improve your SEO rankings and increase customer satisfaction.

Here are 9 simple ways to make the most of your website design, and a boost in conversions will follow.

Keep It Simple

Simplicity is the golden rule of web design. You don’t want your customers to jump through hoops when navigating your website or placing orders. A user-friendly design is always intuitive, clean, and simple.

One of the ways to take the stress out of a user’s experience is to limit the options. The decision time increases with the number of alternatives. Known as Hick’s law, the rule is widely applied in web design.

Airbnb masters simplification by breaking down the booking process into easy steps. A user lands on a sleek web page with just a few fields to fill in and moves further with options gradually added at each step of the way.

Image source: airbnb.com

Do Not Test Users’ Patience

With growing site speed expectations, a slow website performance can kill conversions and damage your bottom line. As many as 40% users will abandon a website if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds, which means you risk losing almost half of your potential leads even before they have a chance to convert.

To avoid that, make sure you squeeze every drop out of your website performance. For example, if your site is image-heavy, it will probably be slow, too. Optimize the uploaded images to reduce their file size and increase your website speed. TinyPNG is one of many tools to give you the desired result.

Make Your Website Responsive

In a mobile-first world, laptop and mobile searches have surpassed desktop browsing, and the number of users choosing to surf the Internet via their smartphones is constantly growing. If your website is not mobile friendly, you can lose a significant share of your potential customers to a more savvy competitor.

Building a dedicated mobile app may be an expensive endeavor, but a responsive web design can be a cost-effective solution that would allow your website to perform equally great across multiple devices. Since 2015, Google has been using mobile friendliness as a ranking signal, so making your site’s pages mobile-friendly will help your search rankings.

Leverage the F-pattern

In a 2006 eye-tracking study, NNG discovered that web surfers often read, or rather scan, web pages in a particular way — the F-shaped pattern. Starting at the top-left corner, we move horizontally, return to the left and move down while scanning for the points of interest, and swipe to the right again.

So, instead of forcing any sort of behavior on users, use this pattern to follow the natural visual flow and strategically arrange your content around it. Place your call-to-action button where your visitors are most likely to focus on it.

Image source: tutsplus.com

Do Not Underestimate Whitespace

Often underrated, whitespace — or negative space — can be a powerful design feature that helps you draw attention to the web page elements of your choice. Whitespace allows you to declutter the website, which means that the user will not get lost or frustrated trying to find the necessary information.

This is a great conversion-centric feature as it helps you put the emphasis where you need it and convey your message better.

Image source: Tinker

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Do you know how long it takes an online visitor to form a first opinion of your website? Less than two-tenths of a second. In other words, a user may decide to stay or to leave your website within a tiny fraction of time. And you need a killer first impression to convince your visitors that you are worth their time.

Our brain is wired to process visual content much faster than any other type — it identifies images in just 13 milliseconds. Here’s your chance to tell your brand’s story in a compelling and highly engaging way — with videos, pictures, and infographics.

Use the Right Colors to Your Advantage

A shocking 85% of buyers say color is the primary reason for their purchase. Color psychology claims that colors can have a profound effect on our emotions and mood, which translates into our behavior.

The key to leveraging the power of colors is to identify your website purpose and align it with the right color scheme. Paypal, the global FinTech Company, uses blue to communicate trust and dependability. The high-end brand Chanel goes for black and white to evoke the sense of luxury and sophistication.

Image source: Chanel

Give Your Website a Human Touch

Using human faces is another winning design strategy rooted in our ability to explore the world by looking for familiar things. We easily relate to faces as to something familiar, and savvy designers use this element to build a relationship of trust and connection with users.

A human face is also a compelling way to describe your product by visualizing the emotions it raises — with minimum words needed. And if you cater to a specific demographic group, put the faces of your target audience for superior user engagement.

Image source: East India Comedy

Let Others Speak

Social proof can become your ultimate conversions booster. The concept that people are likely to follow the actions of the masses is not new. How often are we guided by IMDb rating when choosing a movie to watch?

There are plenty of ways to incorporate social proof into your website — testimonials, positive reviews, case studies, and awards. Even shares and likes can be leveraged to your advantage — the more you have, the more credibility you get from your visitors.

Image source: Hubspot

Wrapping Up

A good website is much more than a pretty looking web page. Designed with conversions in mind, your website can be a powerful tool that drives customer satisfaction and increases your revenues.

Olga Ezzheva is a Technology Writer at www.oxagile.com, a provider of software engineering and IT consulting services for SMEs and Fortune 500 companies alike. You can reach Olga at olga.ezzheva@oxagile.com or connect via LinkedIn.