Simple Design Tips to Grab User Attention

Simple Design Tips to Grab User Attention

We are busy building websites that could rule the web, which happens only if these websites satisfy the desires of users and search engines. In fact, nowadays, advancements in technology make it easy to build websites within no time, regardless of whether you have the required expertise or not.

For instance, if you are using WordPress for designing a site, you can use theme builders, such as Elementor, and with this, you can design your site using mere drag-and-drop functionality and a little customization. In a few steps, your site is ready to go live. However, Though sometimes, for a non-technical person it would not be easy to fix bugs or other concerns that might arise due to an intrusion, which is unpredictable and can happen at the least expected time.

No matter whether you seek professional assistance to build your website or set it up yourself, with a little help from your team – what actually matters is whether it has the power to attract, engage, convert and retain your users. When on a website, a user’s attention span is short – very short. Monitor your users’ attention span and you would realize why your conversions are declining or not happening.

It would be great if we start thinking like our user and from the profit perspective – which cannot be ignored. Your users are here for a particular reason, so bless your user with what they need because only happy users convert, keeping in mind that they will leave sooner. Certain design tactics when implemented will help users to skim through the content and acquire most of the information in the shortest time possible. For the best SEO results, you must make use of both content and design strategy in an effective way. Now, it is the designer’s job to ensure that they make their design good enough for users to gain the essential information while they are on the site for a short period of time – compelling them to stay on longer. We will take you through some of the tips to help you with this.

Less is More

An overcrowded design is definitely not your user’s pick. How about a design with lesser elements? Wouldn’t it be easier for your users to read and scan through quickly? Minimal design aims at cutting out all extras, reducing everything to a design, which focuses mainly on function. This ensures that all the essential elements and effects are streamlined in a standard way, ensuring that an elegant user experience is offered.

Here is an example to understand this better: a user is looking for a book that is much in demand and all the copies on major sites, such as Amazon, have been sold out. And let us say that the user finds details of a website, via an alternative medium such as social media, regarding where they can find this book. Now, the user immediately clicks through to reach the website, where they are expecting to find the copies of the book.
It is important that the website either gives them appropriate directions on where to find the book or they get hold of the book once they reach the site to keep the ongoing interaction intact.

In this scenario, a website that intends to save the user some of their precious time will display the book copies with a ‘buy now’ button. This will allow the user to get hold of the book that they wanted so badly and if it is less fussy, the happier your customer would be. In fact, the next time, they will think of reaching out to the site in the example above before checking all other options – only if the first time left a great impression.

The focus should be on minimizing information overload,  which will help users to arrive at wiser decisions instantly rather than having to skim through the entire content before understanding what they are expected to do.

Here are some tips to ensure that you are doing great with less:

    • Simple navigation with a few choices eliminates the confusion
    • Implementing easy-to-read and simple fonts is important when the users try pushing their way through the content in a glance
    • Amplifying the contrast between elements ensures that call-to-action (CTA) will stand out among the others
  • Conversion elements – such as forms or carts – should be easily accessible, whenever required

Ensure that all the essential features and functionalities are available at all times while getting rid of clutter.

Visual Content can Accomplish What mere Text Might Usually Fail at

Why not utilize the visual elements of your website to your advantage? The visual elements, including images, have the power to drive user attention and stay etched to their memory, when content might fail to.

Visual cues, such as images and videos find a way into the reader’s memory and these will stay there for a long time. Undoubtedly, a beautiful visual that appears inviting would be clicked through. Experts say so!

Content is king and always will be. But there is more to make sure that your content is crowned the king.

You might have placed a lot of content on your website, thinking that all of this content is relevant to the reader. But you know what your reader has no time, they will leave in no time. It is always the first few seconds of their arrival, which are the magical moments, when you need to grab their attention and this can be accomplished with some beautiful visuals.

Use some interesting images and videos that will drive user attention the moment they land on your website.

If you Cannot Get Rid of Complexities, why not Break Them into Parts

For instance, a lot of content that runs into a single paragraph might not be easy to understand for a person who has the least idea about a new product, which was launched recently. However they are on your site mainly because they couldn’t find the relevant information elsewhere but on your site. So now, this person knows the related information is here on this site and decides to read it. However, the content is in itself complex – which means the user won’t stick around to even scan through the content.

Infographics or even breaking down the content into smaller pieces and exhibiting the content in a storytelling frame will help users to understand the content better as they move from one part of the content to the next. Jamming the entire content that comprises long sentences into a single paragraph is not an ideal option if you want to get your users to read through it.

We also recommend using ‘read more’ links, parallax scrolling animation, and card-style blocks to get users read through your content as these techniques help to break down the complexity of the content.

Simple Forms are People’s Choice

As we discussed, the best way to ensure that the design appeals to the user is by eliminating all the unnecessary stuff that creates a lot of noise. This applies to your forms as well – the simple and precise your forms are the more they appeal to the reader – make sure your forms do not request a lot of information apart from the ones that are actually essential.

Checklist for ensuring your forms are crisp and clear:

    • Request only the necessary information, such as name and email ids – keep it easy and simple – this would ensure that the user does not feel insecure about their privacy, which is usually a concern when a lot of personal information is requested.
    • Ensure that the forms can validate data so that users will be notified if they have made any incorrect entries.
    • People feel uninterested to type information, but you can save them of the gruesome task of typing by providing checkboxes and buttons on the forms, wherever possible one of the best options for mobile users.
  • It is always best to avoid requesting redundant information such as type and number of a credit card – the type can be identified from the card’s number.

Give them a form that is clear and easy – they will respond with the information you need. Check out 46 Form Design Best Practices

Breathe Life into CTAs

We decided to keep the design as simple and easy it could get. But what about the CTAs? Where do we place these so that it will catch the user attention? Above or below the fold?

It doesn’t matter whether you place the CTA above the fold or below the fold – the focus should be on ensuring that the CTAs are visible and appealing enough for your user to click through it.

Ensure that your CTA is bold and compelling, and stands out from the rest of the design.

It is always ideal to use bright colors for CTAs and also enlarging it would be an ideal option so that people don’t miss it out. Next, it is important to include text in the button that tells users what they are expected to do and what happens next when they click through it.

Make sure that all changes are reflected when your site is accessed via mobile devices as well.

In short, CTAs should be unique and eye-catching, and capable of compelling users to click through.

Content Writing and Editing – Seek Expert Help, if Need be

Content is one of the most important aspects of any website – but does it actually relate to the design of a site?

Yes, it does. A number of websites are blindly copying content from a competitor’s site. Some may change a word or two here and there, while some might reword the entire copy obtained from the competitor,  which is not what your users are here for.

Users are on your site for the content – if the website design does not have a content copy that is not free of grammar errors and spelling mistakes, and deviates from the actual topic – then users leave as soon as they are on the site.

So it is important that there are no grammar errors, spelling errors, and should be logical and meaningful. If you do not have a content writer to help you draft the content and are left with no option but to write it yourself, then it would be ideal if you could get someone to read through the content. This will help identify if there are any understandability issues or lack of clarity or any other concerns.

There are a number of tools, such as Grammarly, which are available online. You can use these to eliminate spelling and grammar errors.

Consistency is the Key

It is important to maintain consistency across the design. It would be great if you could bring about consistency across the actions and interactions among the elements throughout the design.

For example, no two buttons should look different – be it their size, color, font or how they operate – maintain consistency across all instances. This applies to other elements of the design, such as forms, links, icons, and even social media buttons.

Ensure that this kind of consistency is maintained across headlines, images, and others.

This gives the user an idea about how every element of your website is expected to work as they move from one page to another.

Users have zero patience in the short span of time that you have ensured that your design is capable of mesmerizing your user, getting them to skim through the content.

This is important to attract, engage, convert, and retain your users.

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