Naturally, when it comes to our own websites, we’re partial to being bias. Unfortunately, this can blind us from identifying missed opportunities or features that don’t do the site any favours. The best way to overcome this is by getting someone to look at the site with a fresh pair of eyes and review what they would expect to be greeted with.
Now, this will vary depending on your industry. For example, you would expect an interior design company to display images of their best work. Similarly, you would hope to be directed to a phone number or other means of contact straight away when looking to book a taxi.
With these 5 simple steps, you’ll be able to establish areas in need of attention. Follow them faithfully and you can expect to see a noticeable increase in website conversions and an improvement in your bounce rate.
- Clear message delivery
One of the most important stages to creating a lasting first impression is to make sure that it’s 100% clear what your business offers within the first few seconds of the user landing on the website.
Some of the ways to accomplish this include:
- Featuring images or a video that visually explains the services and products you sell.
- A concise heading or sentence that sells your business.
- Clearly titled navigation headings.
- Highlighted ‘Calls to Action’.
- Instant point of contact
This is especially key if your business provides a self-explanatory service, like our client PSH Environmental. Any users visiting their site are there because they want to hire a skip, therefore, the best approach is to offer a phone number or booking form instantly to ensure these users enjoy an easy experience.
By adding the phone number and contact form to the header of the website, you provide that instant point of contact for the user. This is much better than having them trail through the site and risk the event of becoming distracted with something else.
However, if you are a business that needs to supply further information for the user, consider having an instant point of contact available for the user no matter where they are on the site. This can be in the form of a sticky header that remains at the top of the page no matter where you scroll and navigate to on the site. Or, you may choose to feature a sidebar phone icon that is a constant on the site without covering or overlapping too much of the content.
- Interesting and relevant content
Obviously, this is a given wherever you are on the website, but it’s crucial for the content that features in the visible top section of the homepage when you first land on the site. The aim is to catch the user’s attention and provide them with enough indication that you will answer their questions.
In short, it needs to be an eye-catching, punchy introduction to your business to convince the user that you have what they need.
- Quick loading times
An obvious one really, but often overlooked. If you read our previous Norfolk Chamber blog post, you’ll know all about the importance of fast page speeds. To summarise, slow loading times will result in impatient users. It’s clearly much harder to win over a potential customer and get them to convert if they’re already annoyed with your service and the customer could just leave altogether if they become severely frustrated. Keep an eye on your loading times to issue a quick response to the user’s question.
- Don’t forget your mobile users!
Up to 70% of website traffic comes from users using a mobile device, therefore, the way your website looks and functions on mobile is nearly, if not as important, as your desktop view.
On desktop, the common running theme is to feature a slider banner image or a video at the top of the homepage. It’s a known fact that visual features are easier to digest than written content and is a simpler way to explain your services and products. However, these files are too large to load in quickly on mobile, and if you were paying attention to the point above, you know this is something we’d prefer to avoid. Review whether these features could be hidden on mobile or dropped entirely to avoid losing out on over 2/3 of the traffic that visits your site.
Not unknown to the digital world, but having a mobile responsive website is a must nowadays. For this reason, make sure your website has either been designed with mobile in mind or that a separate mobile design has been created. It’s common for desktop and mobile versions of sites to be a complete duplicate of each other. However, this doesn’t cover any features that simply don’t work on mobile or don’t make sense on desktop.
At Nu Image, mobile and desktop versions of websites are treated entirely separately to ensure users experience the best of both worlds despite the device they’re using.
Ultimately, the first impression users receive from your website will be the deciding factor between whether they continue their journey with you all the way to the conversion stage or if they leave the site and find someone else to answer their question. Contact us today on 01603 859007 if you’d like a fresh pair of eyes to review how your website showcases your business.
