In the past century, science has served as an important tool for entrepreneurs and marketers alike. Studies of how certain environments, product offers, and designs can affect consumer decision making have popped up in psychology and business journals across the globe. In this article, I would like to cover a few web design methods that have benefited from knowledge ascertained through scientific research.
Eye Tracking
In psychology labs, a novel technique, referred to as eye-tracking, has uncovered much about what human beings focus on and miss when navigating through websites. On average, people have a propensity for focusing on the top left-hand corner of a webpage. The main sections of the website are a hot target as well. Most people will look towards the home, about us, and products/services pages to make a judgment on what the website is about. So, it can be deduced that web designers should put their most relevant information on these specific pages. Woocom a web design agency in Perth
Colour
Design
Color has also been known to have an effect on how human beings make judgments. Red, in particular, is a good color for call-to-action buttons on a webpage. It has been hypothesized that choosing a color that really stands out will increase the traffic to those pages. It does not necessarily need to be red, but it should not just blend in with the rest of the webpage, because this may cause users to completely neglect the call-to-action button, thereby decreasing the amount of traffic on the website.
A/B Testing
AB-Testing
A couple automated software testing and A/B studies have uncovered that webpage traffic increases when photos of human beings are utilized, as opposed to using graphics and cartoons. Other notable studies have shown up to a 90 percent increase in visitor engagement when inanimate graphics are swapped with photos of humans. These effects may be due to the emotional connection users can feel when viewing another human being.
Decision making can be a very quick process, so it is important to grab the attention of webpage visitors immediately. Studies have shown that, on average, humans make their decision to continue on a website in 3 seconds or less. Thus, it is paramount to clinch users before they decide to move on. Designers must make sure to clearly convey their message in an organized and interesting manner. A good idea would be to include a video on the home page of a website, which activates upon the user visiting the site. Videos have a way of grabbing users that has forsaken the use of words. Its a good idea to use an agency such as Woocom a web design agency in Perth that embraces all these techniques to make your web site modern and up-to date sites that just use text and static images are less persumasive to the viewer.
Familiarity & User Trust
Furthermore, familiarity goes far when it comes to users trusting and relying on products and information from a website. Although it is important to be creative, designers should also bring a sense of familiarity to the patterns and designs used on their webpage. With familiarity comes trust, so it is very important to follow webpage templates that have worked for popular websites in the past.
In summation, there is much to be said about the science behind decision making and web design, but, for the most part, looking to popular websites for inspiration will usually lead to an increase in webpage traffic.
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