When it comes to the decisions you make about the design of your website, it is your customer’s experience that plays the #1 role in the process. Asking the simplest question: what is the purpose of the final web design version your site will use makes one realize that it is the user response you are after. A positive one, to be exact – as a part of your overall marketing and SEO development. And since there are ways to affect your website user’s behavior by making well-thought-out choices of what your website will look like, putting some of the psychological principles of UX web design into practice will quickly prove to have a beneficial effect on providing a seamless web experience. Moreover, it will instigate a desirable action from your prospective customers.
UX web design and its workings
Has having an eye-catching and enticing web design not been as fruitful as expected? It is actually not an uncommon mistake, according to providers of internet marketing services. This is why understanding the essence of UX web design can be fundamental. If you want website users to respond in a positive manner, take their way of thinking as well as emotions into account.
- How does glancing at your website make the users feel?
- Where do their eyes go to immediately?
- How long does it take for your website visitor to understand the message you are trying to convey?
- Is that message clear enough?
These are some of the more important questions to think about in order to facilitate establishing a connection with your brand and, consequently, making an action towards purchasing your product or service.
Naturally, there are different strategies to be applied, depending on the type of business you run. There are, however, several psychological principles of UX web design that are applicable whether you are looking for a way to improve your moving company web design, or are present in an entirely different industry.
1. Hick’s Law – The Burden of Choice
This particular psychological principle is based on a fact that when deciding among multiple choices – the greater the number of offered options, the longer it will take for a person to make a decision. Fewer options mean less time to make a choice.
How does this principle affect UX web design improvement?
Provide your customers with the information they need, but do not go overboard. This is one of the important traits of modern marketing today. If your website has too much going on, it will likely confuse the users and waste precious time. Make an effort, on the other hand, to simplify and clarify the information you are providing – and it will take website visitors considerably less time to make a decision and take action.
2. Aesthetics and Perceived Usability
There is a widespread phenomenon that somehow attractiveness is connected to usability. This makes users perceive more aesthetically pleasing web designs as more effective. This somewhat illogical bias that goes in favor of attractiveness is actually quite common – and applies to many more areas of life, not just web design.
Even if it is not even remotely true, users tend to connect the aesthetics with usability. How can this psychological principle affect your UX web design and improve your website value at the same time?
Make sure your website is attractive enough and users might even overlook its functionality issues (those that are perceived as minor, of course). Your message should be simple and clear, but make it please the eye, as well.
3. Cognitive Load and its effect on UX we design
Cognitive load is the product of the attention and memory one needs to focus on completing a certain task. Similar in notion to the abovementioned Hick’s Law – the more you offer, the more you burden the users. How does it affect UX design? Numerous page elements and requests, as well as overly striking web design, may cause website users to feel an increased cognitive load. Draining the attention of your website visitors will definitely have a negative effect on the UX. So how can you decrease the cognitive load by using web design?
- Do not overstimulate users with your website layout.
- Use design options that do not demand too much attention.
- Decrease the number of clicking and scrolling actions the user has to make in order to find crucial information about your brand.
- Eliminate all actions that can be deemed as unnecessary through careful consideration on your part.
- Keep the users engaged by giving them clear information, orientation, and instructions.
4. Von Restorff Effect
This principle is most commonly known as The Isolation Effect. It states that among numerous similar objects, people are most likely to notice and remember the one distinguishable from the rest.
In order to use it properly, your website should showcase the most important notions in a distinct manner. If your moving business website contains a CTA box, it should be visually distinctive. There are ample ways to do this. From changing the color, size, shape – to carefully choosing the exact position of the CTA field.
Make sure you remember the other principles while applying this one. Emphasize, but do not distract or overstimulate.
5. The Delight of Anticipatory Design
There is significant data to suggest that users are predisposed to create a positive attitude towards a design that makes them feel understood. This is a notion called “anticipatory design”. Simply put, you should put an effort into understanding exactly what it is that your customers need before they actually need it.
Numerous aspects of web design can follow this psychological principle. However, it is necessary to have a substantial understanding of the browsing habits of website users in order to put the anticipatory design into practice the right way. Using a tailored moving company CRM platform, as well as analytics platforms can be of great assistance.
Once you have a better insight into their browsing behavior, you can provide your users with what they need the second they need it. Anticipate their needs and use that knowledge to predict the exact time and place to make the CTA box visible – this seemingly small step can make or break the final purchase decision.
Visuals dominate but content is still king
Even though the importance of visual content is indisputable when it comes to promoting your brand and your business, the message is still within the lines of the website content. By maintaining the quality of content on your website, you will strengthen the efforts made to improve user experience.
Start improving the UX web design of your moving company website today
UX web design is a concept that draws its roots from both behavioral and cognitive psychology. Understanding how the human mind functions and using its patterns to create an effective web design strategy is the essence of successful user experience. Consider the ways in which these psychological principles of UX web design can be applied to improve your website as a part of your moving company business plan. Promoting your brand properly and helping your website visitors get a clear message will provide more leads and upgrade your company image.
