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Website Design: Design For Your Audience
Often times we run into websites where companies have made the mistake of designing for themselves instead of their customers or clients. Seldom are the owners of the website a good representative sample of the actual users. Research shows five specific behaviors that need to be taken into consideration in website design.
• People skim
• People move in a non-linear fashion
• People are impatient and have a short attention span
• People show function-based eye movement
• People have limited cognitive resources
The fact that people skim shouldn’t come as a surprise, especially when we consider our own behavior. We skim the newspaper when looking for articles that peak our interest. The same is true when we’re reading the Internet. You can avoid this problem by staying away from long blocks of text, especially on the home page. Other good ideas include using subheadings and breaking your text into smaller chunks. When possible use bullets or numbered lists to make your point. In long paragraphs you can bold the keywords to draw attention to the important points.
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When we say that people move in a non-linear fashion, we mean they don’t always land on the home page of your website. They choose to navigate your website in a manner that best suites their current needs for information. Because of this behavior, it’s critical to have easy navigation on every page. Not only does this navigation need to be easy, but it needs to be consistent throughout the website. If you skip this step you’ll find that your website visitors will often times leave without finding out what you have to offer.
While studies vary on exact numbers, most point out that people have a short attention span and are impatient when surfing the Internet. Some studies suggest that you have up to eight seconds to catch people’s attention. Other studies indicate you have as little as three. This further supports the need to use subheadings, bullets, numeric lists, and bold keywords. This is also where images and video come in. A wise man once said, “An image is worth a thousand words.” I would say that if an image is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand images. Strategic use of images and videos can greatly enhance your user’s experience and drive their behavior when surfing your website.
There have been many eye movement studies conducted over the years. Through all these studies, one conclusion seems to be predominant. When visitors arrive at your website they use function-based eye movement. Simply put, function-based eye movement means users scan the site looking for navigation and other “functional” areas of the site. This is important to note because over 95% of websites have the navigation either down the left-hand side of the site or across the top. Placing your navigation in nonstandard places could cause your visitors to leave shortly after arriving.
Website design should be partially based on the limited cognitive resources of your visitors. People can only take in and process so much information. If you want your message to be communicated, it’s important that you not overload users with complexity or nonstandard organization of your website. In other words, make things obvious. Make the website self-explanatory. Be consistent in your use of color, layout, font, and navigation. Most importantly, your design should reflect your brand and match your content.
In the end it’s all about simplicity. Your website should communicate a clear and direct message. Your navigation should be down the left or across the top. The website should be easy to use and understand. The website design should be consistent throughout. You website appearance should be attractive and attention getting without going over the top. Remember you are designing the website for your customers not for yourself.
Jeff McEachron
VP Internet Operations
Henry Russell Bruce Advertising Agency
Follow me on Twitter @jeff_mceachron
Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffmceachron
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