Nothing happens by accident. This is so true for User Interface (UI) design. Every element of design on any website is deliberately positioned to boost website conversions. Studies show that 53% of mobile website users will leave after 3 seconds. You don't want that to happen to your website. That is why you must leverage UI design to reduce your bounce rate and boost your website’s conversion.
The effort you put into the UI design of your website determines whether users will convert to customers or bounce off your website as soon as they get there. This is why you must be deliberate about leveraging UI design to grow your website conversion. Read on to learn from our Webflow SEO agency how you can boost conversions with your UI design.
User Interface (UI) design has to do with designing the appearance, feel and interaction of a digital product. UI design uses different elements to create interfaces that are visually appealing and smooth to navigate.
This process covers three major aspects, namely:
There have been many debates on the difference between UI design and UX design. While some say they’re basically the same, others claim they’re distinctly different. One point all parties agree about, however, is that they are both related.
User Interface (UI) design has to do mainly with cool design and the aesthetic aspect of a product while User Experience (UX) design is about the overall experience of the user. While UX design deals with the total experience of a user from beginning to end on a product, UI design focuses on visual touchpoints and interactivity.
There’s a process for UI design. While different teams may follow different processes, the principles and end results are the same. Find below the basic steps in UI design.
The first step in the UI design process is to understand the design problem to be solved. The design team needs to understand and define the problem before starting to design. At Red Shark Digital, our Webflow SEO expert team works with the design department to collaborate on problems that developers can fix with UI design. Design briefs are commonly used here. These briefs have all the details of the design project.
There is nothing new under the sun. What you’re aiming to design has most probably been designed by other teams. Usually, design projects improve on products that are already available. Look for similar products and see how they have been designed. Note the good aspects as well as the aspects that need improvement. This will give you ideas for the project.
This is where you decide what your screens will look like. Consult the user journey to ensure a smooth flow of screens. Also, consult the user flow. The user flow is basically interactions between screens as the user continues in their journey.
Next is to create sketches and wireframes. Here, each Webflow SEO expert on the team develops ideas and the team discusses them. Eventually, the right sketch for each screen is agreed upon. After this comes the wireframing. Wireframes are also known as low-fidelity designs.
Mockups, or high-fidelity designs, are next. Research best practices for UI mockups to help you design great mockups. This will include all your previously defined UI elements. Your mockups should look like what you expect the final pages to look like. Prototype your mockups and send them for usability testing. After effecting changes from the usability testing (if any), you’re ready for hand-off.
Hand-off is when you hand over the finished design to the development team. In some cases, before handing it over to the design team, you will present your design to stakeholders or the entire design team. Here, you will receive feedback and might be required to redo parts of the design.
There are many principles guiding UI design. Practicing them will help with website conversion. Here are a couple of fundamental principles that our Webflow SEO expert team uses as a guideline to developing stunning sites.
Simplicity is one of the core principles of UI design. When designing, don't get too carried away with creativity that you forget usability and simplicity. While aesthetics are good, usability is the main reason for the interface. Complicated designs confuse the user and distract them from performing the main functions required of them.
Make user interfaces consistent. This involves making use of the same design elements like color, terminologies, icons, screens, menus, buttons and commands. When your design has various styles, colors, fonts and other elements, a clash happens, often leaving the user confused.
Your users have used other products and they’re familiar with how interfaces work. You don't want to disrupt this experience. This is why you have to consider predictability while designing your UI. For example, users are used to having the menu at the top of a page. It’s best to leave it there to make usability easier for the user. Putting it somewhere else might destabilize the user, and that’s not what you want.
Feedback is essential as a user journeys through an interface. This leads them to their goal, making them know when they have accomplished a task or alerting them when they’ve taken a wrong action. Feedback can be given verbally or graphically, such as when a tick appears on the screen to let the user know their intended activity has been completed.
Call-to-action (CTA) buttons are important when it comes to boosting website conversions. They determine whether your visitor will convert to a customer or not. The shape, color or words of certain CTAs can put off the visitor and bounce them off your website. Research best practices for designing higher converting CTAs to know how to craft ones that will lead to conversions.
The information you put on your website, as well as how you put them, affects your conversion rate more than you know. Lumping a mass of words is not reader-friendly and might send your visitor jumping off your website as soon as they land. Instead, our Webflow SEO agency recommends arranging short pieces of content in batches to make it readable. Also, make use of bullet points and bold highlights; they easily grab the user’s attention.
If your website is choked, with words filling everywhere, it’s a sign your website needs an upgrade. When you put sufficient white spaces around words, it improves the user’s focus and gives them an overall better user experience. Well-distributed white spaces make it easy for the user to navigate a website. This makes them want to stay longer on your page, increasing the chances of conversion.
Colors play a vital role in website design. Using the right combination of colors for your website grabs your user’s attention, making them attracted to your website. Don’t choose colors carelessly. Be deliberate about your color combination. Factors to consider when choosing website colors include branding and the purpose of the product.
Make good use of contrast to distinguish between all your design elements. Doing this will increase your website conversion. For example, set CTAs apart so that they draw attention to them as soon as the visitor gets to a page. Use different fonts and colors to do this. Also, let headlines be different from sub-headlines. These contrasts captivate the visitor and make them want to explore your website, boosting conversion chances.
We all know how captivating images and graphics are to any design. Leverage this to improve your website conversion. People generally get more drawn to pictures than words. Engagement is greatly increased when visuals like pictures, GIFs and animations, among others, are used on a website. The more engaged your visitors are, the higher the likelihood of conversion.
Loading speed optimization is usually the job of engineers. However, a good UI design helps to reduce website load time. For example, getting rid of unnecessary features that complicate the user journey helps speed up the website. When the user is able to navigate the website quickly, their journey is smoother and their chances of getting converted are higher.
Taking deliberate actions in your UI design makes a world of difference in website conversions. To leverage UI design in boosting your website conversions, you must understand what UI is all about, the processes involved, the principles guiding it as well as ways you can use it to improve your website conversions.
Standing on existing UI principles like consistency, simplicity, predictability and feedback gives you an edge when it comes to converting visitors to your website. Ways to leverage UI design for increased website conversions include having a clear and captivating CTA, making your content clear and concise, using white spaces effectively and leveraging colors efficiently. Start implementing these actions and see the difference in your website conversions. For more useful UI tips you can practice when creating SEO-optimized sites, visit our Webflow SEO agency news page.
Moyofade Ipadeola is a Content Strategist, UX Writer and Editor. Witty, she loves personal development and helping people grow. Mo, as she’s fondly called, is fascinated by all things tech.