Persuasive Web Design Techniques

I’ve been doing some research lately about about the subject of persuasive web techniques to increase conversion for an e-commerce website.

People trust what they see far more than what they hear.The human brain processes visuals 50 times faster than text. It’s much easier to persuade someone into action through visual stimulus than by merely talking to them or providing a text document. The same goes for your e-commerce site.

Before you hope to persuade an audience, you need to know what’s going on in their brain first. Most decisions are snap decisions; for most of the time we humans are working on a quasi kind of auto-pilot.

Malcolm Gladwell stated that “ Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.”

One: Clarity above all
The brain is a questioning organ. When we see something for the first time, the first thing we ask is “What is it?”

Two: Visual appeal
Research has shown that when people look at a website, 96% notice the visual design first. Only 6% notice the content.

Three: Have a strong visual hierarchy
Make whatever is the most important thing on your site the biggest thing.

Four: Keep attention at all costs
80% of attention happens above the fold.
69% of attention happens on the left hand side of the screen.
According to neuroscience, the best way to capture attention is to use overlarge, attractive photographs. Larger than life background photos on landing pages are fantastic at doing this.

Five: One primary action per screen
Think about exactly what each individual webpage’s function is, and make that abundantly clear. Don’t provide too many calls to actions to soon.