Psychology and Web Design

Designing your ecommerce site plays a big role on whether or not potential customers stay on your page. With major factors such as uptime, speed, device translation, search engine optimization, and more exist to solidify the foundation, what makes customers stay? 

The Nudge Theory 

Nudge theory in behavioral economics, is the idea that by shaping the environment (your web design) one can influence the likelihood that an option is chosen over another. Nudges are more likely to entice customers to make a certain choice and, therefore, behave in a particular way. It’s important to note down that when writing, we offer things as a gentle suggestion, rather than it being mandatory. 

Visuals

Humans are visual creatures. Appealing to the senses is the best way to initiate contact with your consumers and doing that can be through the use of the following:

People and Images 

The majority of purchasing decisions done on ecommerce sites are impacted by visuals. Ecommerce takes place online, through the use of mobile devices, tablets and laptops. Making use of your website basks in the idea of using the spaces and texts, but most importantly using well-lit images and videos that offer a feel to the product or service your business offers.

Think of including images and videos with faces. People’s attention is more likely to shift and respond to faces. People connect on another level when other people are involved, more so than just a company. A company without people feels distant. However, a company showcasing the founders, team, or even customers offers a connection that goes far along. Statistics show that 50% of online shoppers depend on images to decide their purchases. 

Color Scheme 

The Psychology of Color plays a vital role in web design, by creating a strong brand, boosting sales and leading visitors to specific pages or actions. Color, a universal content, helps communicate directly with the subconscious minds of customers. Color is known to have an impact on emotions and decisions. As evoking emotions and decisions as colors are, the subtext behind them may differ from one culture to another.

Yet the fact remains, every color contains certain characteristics and through the use of color psychology one would be able to create the best result for their ecommerce store. Here’s an example: famous apps and sites such as Twitter and Facebook use the color blue. Blue is considered to be the popular choice and favorite color since it is associated with peace and security. 

Trigger the Emotion 

Onset first impressions matter and through the use of different colors, you are able to trigger the desired emotion. Understanding what appeals to your gender and demographic are important, more so which emotion you will evoke out of your customers if you blend these colors in an ecommerce store. 

Make note that a lot of your customers have varying experience, whether they are related to online stores, or their online personal, individual experiences. You may never know what they went through, but offering them comfort and knowledge based on a soft color scheme, allows for the chance of connection.

Story

Businesses always have a story to why they started. Whether it be the lack of a store existing to support certain needs, or because of certain limitations of pre-existing businesses, people want to know. Having a personalized, “About Us” page allows your customers to feel like they’ve formulated a bond with you. 

Giving certain impressions and feelings to your customers nudges them to purchase any of your products or services, since they can relate to you. With the visual aspect appealing to your customers’ psyche, you’ll  be able to sell your products and services in no time.

Here are some statistics on Psychology and Web Design:

• It takes customers 1/10th of a second to formulate impressions regarding people, and web sites are no different. 
• A beautiful and well-designed site is preferred by 59% of customers 
• Color draws 39% of web users than any other visual element. 
• Most mobile users expect the site to lead within 3 seconds or less. 

Psychology and web design play hand-in-hand to offer you an ecommerce store worthy of potential and existing customers to boost your sales in no time.