Psychological research isn’t the kind of thing you would expect web designers to utilize, yet it’s likely one of the most important tools in their pockets for creating websites that acquires great results. Since the primal days of the Internet, psychologists have always been conducting various researchers to find out how the human mind interacts with different websites. Results from these studies show important information on how website owners can effectively use psychology in order to improve traffic to their respective sites.
How do they do it?
Here are some things worth taking into consideration when you make your own website:
Integrating Image Captions
In an analysis that looks at the psychology of ads, it was discovered that captions under images are instinctively read by online visitors. That is because when people see a certain image, our eyes would naturally gaze down to see the caption. Image captions are also catchy to most visitors because information is actually being emphasized, making it quicker and easier to read and remember.
Because people usually browse instead of fully reading a certain content in a web design, integrating relevant information in an image caption is a guarantee that your message will be read by the online visitors. Various web designers are continually using creative ways to place important text under images (and sometimes in the image itself) so visitors will read calls to action which will then increase the clicks to other pages within the site.
Bigger Headings
Drawing a lot of visitors to your website is the first step towards increasing traffic throughout your site. A certain study found out that big headings acquire the attention of the viewers. Aside from that, site visitors mostly look at the headline first when determining whether to stay and browse the rest of the site.
That behaviour alone is the reason why web designers utilize larger and bolder typography to highlight calls to action, products, and other elements that the site owners would want as the main focus. Also, big headings provide visitors with a clearer perspective on what your e-commerce service or business is all about, which establishes trust between you and your potential customers.
Less Is More
This technique is really applicable when it comes to building traffic to your site. The ‘less is more’ rule can be applied to products, options, calls to action, and services. A study conducted by a psychologist in Columbia University show that the more options are given to the visitors, the less likely they are to pick out any of them.
Online visitors are more likely to stay on a site, make a purchase, refer it to others, and even take part in a call to action if there are only a couple of options in hand. In psychology terms, this reaction pertains to the human brain’s “safety choice.” Now, from a web designer’s perspective, a minimalist design with only a couple of calls to action, a few places to click, and a simple but functional layout will most likely improve the traffic behaviour on a website.
Use Shorter Width Text
If your website visitors are exiting the site right after they have arrived, the reason for that might have to do with your content’s column width. A behavioural study at the University of Reading shows that online visitors perceive narrower column widths of text are more approachable and inviting than wider ones. However, the study also found out that most people read wider columns faster, but there’s a better understanding of information when the text is presented in shorter columns.
Web designers are constantly challenged with making this criterion just right for the visitors. Line breaks that are too long are tiring to read, making it too short can sometimes be awkward and distracting. One solution most designers are doing in order to achieve an effective mix of these two is by starting out with shorter columns of text where an understanding of the message is most essential, and gradually going longer for the secondary messages. Images and other media elements are also strategically integrated in order to create a natural flow of the content.
Try these techniques to further improve your web design and build traffic to your website!
