Looking for an explanation for your website’s high bounce rate? Low conversion rate? Poor engagement? It could be due to cognitive overload — making your visitors’ brains work too hard. Here’s how to reduce cognitive load on your website to improve user experience and boost your business.
Business owners can learn an important lesson from Nike’s latest showing at Wimbledon. Mainly that “just do it” should never supercede “just think it through”. In this case, that means designing products with the end-user in mind; which, in the world of web design, comes in the form of user testing or user experience.
So you dropped a few grand last year on a new website. You also paid for a domain name and some web hosting, both registered in your name. Congrats! You are now the proud owner of a website. Or are you?
There is an old saying, “If you build it, they will come.” Even if this were true (it’s not, but), even if they come, you still need them to buy! When it comes to your website, having one is only the first step. The second step is getting people there. The third step is where conversion optimization comes in.
So often, when working on websites or landing pages, the client adamantly states, “We need to get all that above the fold.” I’m always curious if they’re saying it because they’ve heard it was an unbreakable rule, or if they have specific data to support their request. It’s important to know that “above the fold” alone is not a magic bullet for a successful page.
I came across a discussion on an online forum where a business owner was complaining that he spent all of his hard-earned money on Google AdWords yet saw nary a profit. He blasted Google, which (merited or not in other cases), I wasn’t convinced was the real problem here.