Design / Usability

Email this article Printer friendly page

Why Good Graphic Design Is Vital to Site Success Todd Follansbee - Dec 17, 2008

The Stanford Web Credibility Project (http://credibility.stanford.edu) found that 47% of users make buy decisions based upon the site itself. This implies that if the site is professional in appearance and supplies the essential information in a clear and complete manner, nearly half your customers will be comfortable making the buy decisions without further off-site research.

The 10-Second Window

In our testing experience, when customers are searching for products or services across a variety of sites in a competitive market, decisions about a site's professionalism are often made within 10 seconds of viewing the home or landing page. In this brief time customers gather a surprisingly broad range of impressions including: company size, product range, product offering, brand, and often price. They demonstrate emotional feelings of connection or dissatisfaction, as well as feelings of anxiety and/or comfort. They often decide if they are in the "right place."

Small business sites often underestimate the importance of a good graphic look and feel. Sites often exhibit unprofessional graphic design, yet site owners wonder why so many shoppers abandon the site. A graphic designer I know who recently completed the redesign of an e-commerce site, found that the new design resulted in nearly doubled pageviews, time on site, and purchases. Good graphics can make a big difference.

If you're in doubt about the effectiveness your present website look and feel, user test your site on passers-by. Ask them to view your site alongside competitor sites. Ask probing, open-ended questions about their impressions and feelings. This will give you a good idea of the impression your site creates to visitors.

What a Graphic Designer Should Accomplish

Here's what you should expect a good graphic designer to accomplish:

• Select an attractive, comfortable color palette which engages -- and even addresses colorblindness.
• Include attractive product shots that are large enough to reveal important elements along with informative, benefit-focused captions.
• Deliver a value proposition or branding statement in the initial eyepath.
• Present simple and effective navigation which shows what viewers can expect to find.
• Drive the eye path to the important calls to action.
• Optimize all graphic elements for fast loading and contribution to conversion goals.
• Keep the page simple, clean, and effective.
• Insure that viewers can "get it" in 10 seconds or less.

Good graphic design is too important to your success to risk an amateur look and feel. Unless graphics is in your blood, bring in a graphic designer to help get your site right. However, in your quest for a designer, make sure your designer pays more than lip service to site usability. Good graphic designers may charge $100 per hour -- the price of a decent plumber in New England. That may seem expensive, but great graphics translate to increased sales. Make the investment.

Todd Follansbee is founder of WebMarketingResources.net. He is a usability and persuasion consultant who has been testing user behaviors on web sites for over 10 years. His methodology for improving conversions recently won a top ten award in Entrepreneur Magazine. For a limited time, Todd is offering a special small business one hour site review and consult for only $125. Improve your user experience and your bottom line. For more details visit here. http://www.webmarketingresources.net/reviewoffer.html