Web User Experience Design’s Effect On Conversions

Did you know that improving your website’s user experience can have a huge impact on your conversion rates? Although improving user experience affects all websites, the results are most visible for companies that run eCommerce sites. Most online marketing professionals believe that user experience ends at their website’s visual presentation and architecture. In reality, it goes far beyond that.

Improving user experience also means improving the communication with your web visitors, conveying trust and credibility, and delivering relevant content to the right segment of your target audience at the right time. To show the influence web user experience has on a website’s performance, we’ll go through a couple of examples to show how improving different aspects of the design can boost conversion rates. In the first example, Sunshine.co.uk, a British holiday site, increased their conversions and annual revenue by focusing on improving the trust and credibility of their brand. They started by gathering customer data through surveys and testing various elements to improve their conversion rates. They found what was most important to their customers and made it part of their brand. In the sidebar, they promoted the strength of their brand with the headline “Why Use Sunshine?” and promoted various unique benefits of their company. 

In the second example, an eCommerce site selling hearing aids improved conversion by selling in-the-ear hearing aids for search terms such as “digital hearing aids.” Previously, the site owner removed the product due to low-profit margins but when research showed that 50 percent of the market was looking for this type of product, he put them back on sale. The site’s home page design was also redesigned so that visitors could quickly shop for the “type” of hearing aid they were looking for rather than having to sort through various products to see what type of hearing aid they actually were.

Source: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2012/10/10/case-study-ecommerce-website-increases-revenue

In the last example, EA wanted to bring in more registrations for their popular game Sims 3. The company Wider Funnel helped them achieve their goal by changing the way they communicated to potential players. They went from showing demos of what was available in the game to use a straightforward, benefit-driven copy that offered free registration for the game along with several with free bonuses. This resulted in a 128 percent increase in registrations.

Source: http://www.widerfunnel.com/proof/case-studies/the-sims-3-doubles-game-registrations-by-identifying-the-most-compelling-offer

As you can see, user experience design has a significant impact on conversions. It also makes the rest of your website more accessible to visitors. Hopefully, this article has convinced you to finally focus on your website’s user experience if you’ve previously felt skeptical about the results it would create.