Have you been wondering why visitors are not spending much time on your website? Do you get consistent website traffic but struggle to convert the visitors into customers? A high bounce rate is one of the most significant conversion killers.
Bounce Rate is basically the percentage of visitors who enter the site and then leave before converting. Your website should be appealing and engaging. Only then will the visitors stay long enough on it and take the actions you want them to take.
Having a poorly designed website causes businesses to lose potential customers which has a negative impact on their bottom-line. Listed below are the 10 effective Web Design tips to improve the bounce rate of a website.
1. Optimize Your Site For Conversions
Conversion optimization or Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is simply a process of increasing the percentage of visitors who take some desired action when they visit your website. For conversion optimization, you first have to know what to optimize and who to optimize it for. You should start thinking of CRO when your website starts attracting visitors consistently.
There are a lot of best practices out there but it is you who has to figure out what your customers respond to and what drives results for your business. Check out this video to know about the 5 Steps for Conversion Optimization.
2. Use a visual hierarchy.
One of the most important principles behind good website design is Visual Hierarchy. Visual Hierarchy is the order in which the human eye perceives the information that is displayed. Basically, Visual Hierarchy describes which elements capture the user’s attention and draw their eyes most.
There is no “correct” way to build a concrete hierarchy. To stay on top of the game, web designers must invent new and unique methods.
3. Include social share buttons.
The content you post on your website should always have social share buttons allowing readers to easily share the content on social media without having to leave your website. This helps you with brand awareness without contributing to the bounce rate. The more links you have on social media, the easier it will be for people to come to your site.
4. Use colors and fonts effectively.
People can’t read what they cant see. Always use colors on your websites that are in contrast with the background. Make sure that the colors you are using make sense together and complement each other.
Similarly, Fonts can play a significant role in the appearance of your website. Too many different fonts can confuse the reader. When we talk about Web Designing, it is recommended to use Sans Serif fonts since they are easy to read. Serif fonts may be fun and more ornamental, but they should be used only for headlines or branding,
5. Use Eye-catching Images and Infographics
Using too many images on a website can be overwhelming and can distract people. We recommend you to invest in high-quality product photos for your website in the long run. Low-resolution images on a website can ruin the chances of gaining customers. It is better to use a few high-quality images on the website rather than loading it up with low-quality images.
Also, organizing your website information onto attractive Infographics can make your website captivating.
6. Include testimonials or reviews.
“If people like you they will listen to you, but if they trust you, they will do business with you.” – Zig Ziglar
The quickest and most effective way to build people’s trust in your brand is to include authentic and honest reviews or testimonials from your current or previous customers on your website.
According to research by Spiegel Research Center, Nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase. To keep your visitors on your website and to build trust, always include testimonials and reviews on pages that are easy to find and navigate.
7. Add a blog.
If your website does not have a Blog, you should strongly consider having one. Blogs not only boost your opportunities, but they can also help in improving your bounce rates. You need to make sure that the content on your blog is relevant to the visitors and your target audience and should provide some value to them. Blogs can also be easily shared on social media, boosting your chances of increasing website traffic.
8. Simplify navigation.
A complicated navigation system often makes visitors flee from the website. Ensure that the navigational aspects of your website like the main menu and search bar are easily noticeable. Don’t try to do too many things at once. Overwhelming users with too many choices can actually have the opposite impact of what you originally intended. They may become confused and decide to exit your website altogether.
Keep it clean and simple.
The most common website practice which is recommended is to keep the company logo visible in the top left corner of the page. The logo should be clickable and should redirect the user to the homepage. This helps the user to easily return to the homepage no matter where they end up on your site.
9. Make the layout responsive.
We mention this almost every time we talk about the best practices to be followed for a website. According to Statista, more than half of the global web traffic comes from mobile devices. That’s why websites need to be mobile friendly and mobile responsive. If your website is not responsive, it would look extremely cluttered and unorganized on the mobile and tablet. It would result in a bad UX/UI experience for the user which would, in turn, lead to the user leaving your website.
10. Testing and Ameliorating.
This goes without saying. The only way to check whether the changes you have made are working out or not is to test it out. As you test, some changes will work and some will not. You can try split testing or time comparison test. There are various models of testing that can help you determine which type of changes have a better chance of success.
Final thoughts
To ensure that you avoid common website mistakes, the services of a professional Website Design company should be employed. Modern consumers have become more demanding and don’t settle for less. That’s why you need to provide them with a pleasant and engaging online experience.