When it comes to getting the most out of your website, looking good isn’t enough. A beautifully designed website is nice to have, but if it’s not bringing in leads, then it’s not doing its job!
Your website should be a magnet for potential customers, turning visitors into leads and growing your business. Here’s why a lead focused website design is so important and how to prioritise this in your website’s layout and functionality.
Why You Need a Lead-Generation Focused Design
Build a great first impression
First impressions count, especially online. When someone lands on your website, they make up their mind about your business in a matter of seconds. Everyone is aware of scam websites and fraud, so customers are straight away making judgements about whether they trust you and what to use your website.
A great design helps to make that first encounter a positive one by showcasing your professionalism, showing reviews and helping visitors understand what you’re all about right away. From the colours you choose to the structure of your pages, every design choice should help visitors trust you. If they feel they’ve found a reliable, professional service, they’re more likely to stay on your site and explore further and turn into leads for your business.
Creates a user experience that keeps users coming back
A lead-focused design doesn’t just look good; it makes navigating your site simple and frustration free. This lack of stress makes users more likely to come back to you over a competitor that has too many pop ups, no clear navigation and they hated trying to use their website.
It’s all about removing any obstacles in their path and making it as simple as possible for them to find what they’re looking for. By focusing on user experience, you’re helping visitors avoid frustration, encouraging them to stay longer, and increasing your chances of turning them into leads. A great website feels intuitive to use and should gently guide users towards taking action, whether that’s filling in a form, signing up for a newsletter, or buying something.
How to prioritise lead generation in design
Creating a lead-generating website isn’t as simple as sticking a “Contact Us” button at the top of the page.
A successful design involves thinking about what will help users feel comfortable, informed, and encouraged to take the next step with you. While the design itself will vary between industries, there are a few common principles we always keep in mind.
Make sure your website works on as many devices as possible
It’s common knowledge that most people browse the internet on their phones, but desktop browsing is still a good chunk of most websites traffic. With iPads and tablets still being popular devices you need to take these devices into consideration when designing too.
If your site doesn’t look and work great across most common devices, you risk losing a lot of potential leads right off the bat.
A responsive design adjusts itself automatically to look its best on any screen size and this is what we always recommend to our clients. As well as going with a responsive design it’s important to make sure that your images load well, buttons are easy to tap, and text is easy to read on smaller devices. Also make sure that your design translates well to smaller screens, make sure animation doesn’t prevent mobile users from using the website and that your text is so large you have to continuously scroll for far too long to get to the next step.
Have clear call to actions (CTAs)
You want your visitors to know exactly what you want them to do, whether that’s signing up, booking a call, or downloading a guide. Customers can very easily become frustrated or bored when trying to find the next step on a website, once they get frustrated you can guarantee you’ve pretty much lost them to a competitor.
CTAs should be clear, concise, and easy to find. Try to use language that tells the visitor what to expect if they click: “Get Your Free Quote” or “Download Now” lets people know exactly what’s on offer.
When we say easy to find, we don’t just mean that they’re all over the page. Make sure they work with your design and stand out in the example below. The version with colour shows how easily the buttons can go from lost to clearly visible.
Plus, be smart with colour. Keep things consistent and on brand to avoid making the page look cluttered and messy. Make sure you’re thinking of contrast so buttons don’t get lost on bright or dark backgrounds for best results.
Use animation and video subtly to avoid overloading visitors
Animation and video can be fantastic tools for grabbing attention, but they need to be used thoughtfully. Visitors might be intrigued by a well-placed video or animation, but too much movement on the screen can be overwhelming and distracting. Having too much happening all at once can not only put users off but impact typical page performance and for those with poor internet connections, can even prevent your page from loading properly.
Stick to subtle animations that guide the visitor’s eye or a short video explaining your service. Always make sure any media on your page enhances the experience, rather than competing with it.
Create simple forms that don’t frustrate users
When you’re aiming to turn visitors into leads, forms are one of your main tools. But if your form is complicated, too long, or hard to complete, people will abandon it. Keep forms short, asking only for the most important information. You can always ask for more details later!
Make sure the form is easy to fill out on mobile devices too; nobody wants to struggle with tiny form fields or awkward buttons. A simple, user-friendly form will make it easier for people to engage with you, moving them one step closer to becoming a lead.
Fine tune your design for better results
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are perfect websites. You can think you’ve got the perfect design but for some reason your audience just doesn’t engage with it. That’s why once you’re website is live we recommend reviewing your user journey through heat mapping and recording software. This process is what we typically refer to as conversion rate optimisation.
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the process of analysing how users interact with your site and making adjustments based on those insights. This removes the guess work, personal preferences and assumptions and gives you real customer data on what they think about your website.
This process ultimately might involve testing different button placements, changing the text on your CTAs, or tweaking the layout of a form to see what performs best. IT all depends on what your data shows.
CRO is all about making small, data-driven improvements that can lead to more conversions over time. If you’d like to know more about this, speak to our team who’ll be happy to answer your questions and show you how we can help.
Bring in the leads with a design that works for you
At the end of the day, your website should be one of your most powerful tools for generating leads.
With a design focused on creating a strong first impression, enhancing user experience, and optimising for conversions, you can turn casual visitors into valuable leads. It’s all about keeping things simple, clear, and inviting, so that visitors feel comfortable taking the next step.
If your current website isn’t delivering the leads you need, it might be time to consider a redesign or going through to conversion rate optimisation process. We specialise in website design and conversion rate optimisation, working with you to identify friction points and improve every part of the user experience to help you get more sales and revenue from your website.
Ready to see how we can help your website work harder for you? Get in touch to learn more about our services and start transforming your site into a lead-generating machine.
Mon, 25 November 2024