When it comes to Websites, First Impressions Matter
Great design gets customers to trust you and stay on your website. Poor design creates mistrust and makes people X out of your website.
In Google’s Research Blog, a Senior User Experience Researcher explains why users love simple and familiar designs when it comes to websites and why your website needs to make a great first impression. This article explains that in less than 50 milliseconds users get an initial “gut feeling” about a website that helps them decide whether to stay on a website or click “back” and go to another website.
A website’s first impression depends on two critical factors:
1. Simple Design: website design should not have a busy or complex layout
2. Familiarity within Business Industry: website design should look like other authority websites within your specific industry.
Another website design study showed that users access the reliability of a website not on its’ content but on its design. A whooping 94% of study participants cited design related issues when doubting the reliability of a website and only 6% of participants said that content related issues were taken into account for a lack of trust when it came to the website. This study clearly shows that website design and not website content plays a much larger role in the credibility of your website to visitors.
Top 5 website design elements that cause mistrust to a user:
- Busy or complex layout
- Pop-up and animated advertisements
- Small text that is hard to read
- Boring design
- Slow website loading time
In summary, the most important thing to remember when it comes to your website design: Keep your website design simple and familiar. Consumers have a fixed idea of what a website in your industry should look like and will expect your website to fit into this category. If you go for an unconventional layout or something overly creative, people are less likely to like your website or stay on it.
