Maximizing Conversions: Small Business Web Design Best Practices

Your small business needs conversions. It brings revenue. Each conversion helps the business thrive. The business landscape is competitive and every small business wants more customers. There are several ways to increase the conversion rates for your small businesses. One of the best ways is to convert users into customers through your small business web design.

Remember, users take 0.05 seconds to make a first impression. 94% of these first impressions are design-related. Yes, web design affects your conversion rates that much. It’s a simple analogy. The more good first impressions you make, the more visitors become customers. 

You can apply these web design practices to maximize conversion rates. 

Optimize Web Design and Layout

KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is the most popular and effective practice for web design. It appears that the simpler it is to take action for users, the more they will take. Some novice developers tend to clutter the web design with too many animations or text. It makes visitors confused. 

That is why implementing a visual hierarchy is important. You can use Fitt’s Law to implement a minimalist web design. What is Fitt’s Law?

It’s just a fancy way of saying: 

“Place the most important things in the most accessible part of your web design so that users can access it easily” 

Some developers implement layouts using a Z pattern or an F pattern. It just depends on the web design layout.

Also, optimizing the web design includes using the white space(or as it is called, dead space) efficiently. It is the space between your elements, text, or calls to action. 

You can get an idea from the Netflix web design shown below.

It is simple, clear, and effective. 

Enhancing Speed

Faster experience matters. According to a survey by Google, a one-second speed improvement in loading time would result in 27% more revenue. The reason is that people do not like it if a page load time is more than 3 seconds. 

Your business will generate more revenue since faster load time decreases the bounce rate(people clicking away from your website). 

Here are some ways that can improve your web design speed:

• Compress images to reduce the file size.
• Use caching to access the most accessed data on the website.
• Use only necessary HTTP requests to minimize the loading time.
• Use a content delivery network(CDN) to reduce latency.
• Remove any unnecessary graphic design elements.

           Speed optimization is essential, especially in the e-commerce niche. 

Maintain Mobile Responsiveness

Today globally, 58.33% of traffic comes from mobile. When this much traffic comes from mobile phones, having a mobile responsive web design is mandatory. Maintaining mobile responsiveness increases your chances of conversion significantly as you will have a wider audience. So, how do you get a mobile responsive web design?

• Calls to action should be in the accessible part of mobile design.
• Icons should not be too small and there should be space between them.
• Keep your text clear and concise since you are on a smaller screen(Mobile).
• Make sure your web design is easy to navigate on the mobile phone. 

Social Proof

Testimonials show credibility and trust. Your web design should include testimonials or other kinds of social proof. Testimonials are also important because 92% of people read reviews before purchasing a product or service. Also, websites that have testimonials tend to increase revenue by 15% to 20%.

Types of Social Proof that you can leverage:

• Positive reviews
• Ratings
• Testimonials
• Case studies
• Prominent social media mentions

Calls to Action

Calls to action are a mandatory endeavor. Most developers or business owners hesitate to offer calls to action. They just do not want to look like a salesman selling some shady product. There are two mistakes that people often make:

• Forgetting to add clear and compelling calls to action
• Adding too many calls to action

Business owners should understand why they should offer clear and compelling calls to action. Placing calls to action is important because if you do not ask visitors to take any action. Visitors are less likely to act themselves, and you will be leaving money on the table. 

But how giving too many options is not a good thing?

Here come the psychological and probabilistic aspects of selling a product:

“As the number of options tends to increase, the probability of customer buying lowers.”

It is a direct relation. So, do not ask to join your newsletter or social group or suggest a plethora of different products a customer should buy in a single space. That is too many calls to action at once. It makes customers scratch their heads and dries your revenue river. Simply avoid giving customers any mental friction. 

Color Palette

The colors of a web design can set a compelling environment for visitors. Colors are emotion carriers. That is why you should select colors that convey your brand to the audience. The best colors for a web design company, a law firm, or an e-commerce platform store that sells women’s hoodies will all be very different. 

It’s a similar process to designing a logo for your business. Ask yourself:

• What is unique about my business?
• What image or color would represent this?

To be most effective, you should understand which color represents what type of emotions. Even if you are working with a professional web designing team, it is beneficial for communicating your ideas about the brand. 

The call-to-action buttons can have prominent contrast to make them noticeable to customers. 

Conclusive thoughts:

It is often disheartening to know that a business owner spends tons of effort to generate website traffic through SEO (search engine optimization), social media, or email marketing, only to have a low conversion rate. Therefore, the mentioned practices are a must-have to increase the number of conversions through your small business web design. 

You can also contact a professional web design company to give you a free consultation on your web design.