Studies found that there are 1,295,973,827 websites in the world. The competition is fierce out there. Therefore, in order to convert website visitors into qualified leads and loyal customers, you need to invest in solid website design.
Namely, when they land on your website, users will take a few seconds to judge it. In fact, statistics say that it takes 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion about your website. If the page speed, website architecture, or design features do not meet their needs, they will leave your website without converting.
To avoid that, you should focus on providing seamless user experiences. To generate more leads, you need to appeal to the users at each stage of the sales funnel and help them take the desired action faster. That is why you need to simplify your website and focus more on the minimalist design that appeals to wider audiences.
Here is how designing a minimalist website can help you generate more leads and boost conversions.
Improving Website Navigation
No matter if they already know what they are looking for or they are browsing through your website for the first time, most of your visitors will first go to the navigation bar. And, if they cannot find the desired content fast, they will leave your site dissatisfied. Google says that 67% of searchers will kick your website when dissatisfied with its navigation. This will directly impact your lead generation efforts and conversion rates.
That is why you should keep website navigation simple and intuitive. Classify your website pages under logical categories and subcategories and choose informative names for them. Reduce the number of categories, as you do not want to overwhelm users. Apart from the traditional dropdown menu, you could choose a far simpler and more responsive hamburger menu that works both on desktop and mobile devices.
Apart from the navigation bar, you should add alternative search functionalities, such as a search box or filtering options. They help users find the right brands and products faster, especially if they already know what they are looking for.
Telling Brand Story and Improving Brand Recall
To inspire today’s customers to convert, brands first need to gain their trust. For starters, focus on building a consistent, memorable, and trustworthy brand that stands out. No matter if a user lands on your blog, product page, app, or social channels, you want them to recognize your brand immediately. Above all, you want to communicate your brand story easier and inspire searchers to convert faster.
One such example is Reportz. To emphasize the benefits of their software and tell their story in a linear and economical way, the creators of this digital marketing reporting tool use authentic icons on their website. They hired Infostarters to help them build a consistent visual identity through tailor-made web icons for their website. By decluttering their website and harmonizing the textual and visual content on their website, they manage to send the right message to their audiences, without overwhelming them. Above all, a lot of whitespace helps users focus on the most significant content on the page and remember their brand elements, such as logos, colors, or animations, faster.
Guiding Users Is Easier
When wanting to convert website visitors into qualified leads and, preferably, paying customers, you need to guide them through different phases of their buyer journeys. However, you should never expect them to know what pages they should visit or what links to click. It is your job to help them find the right content.
This is where clear, informative, and persuasive calls-to-action step in. They tell visitors what to do next, emphasize the benefits of signing up, and evoke users’ fear of missing out. Precisely because of that, they need to be extremely easy to find and prominent on the page. For starters, make sure you use contrasting colors that are pleasant to the eye. For example, if your page background is white, a blue, orange, or green CTA button will immediately grab users’ attention and inspire them to click.
Netflix is one of the best examples of using CTAs effectively. They choose a red CTA button that matches their logo color and adapt their messaging to users’ expectations. Namely, they first emphasize that users can cancel the subscription anytime and then, ask a user to “Join Free for a Month.”
Minimalist website design will also help you keep your users focused and convert them faster. It requires eliminating all unnecessary elements from your website pages. Every feature, link, button, image, ad, or piece of content, should serve a particular purpose. Otherwise, you should remove it.
Boosting Website Speed
Website speed is one of Google’s most significant ranking factors for a good reason. It indicates how optimized your website is and whether it meets the needs of your visitors. Namely, as your online competition is growing, the tolerance level of your website visitor is decreasing. Most customers expect your website to load in less than 3 seconds, otherwise, they will choose not to convert and leave the site immediately.
Unsurprisingly, good website speed goes hand in hand with minimalist design. Just think about it. The more design elements you add to your pages, the more time they will take to load. When combined with persuasive CTA buttons and valuable and engaging content, fast-loading pages will enhance user experiences and help you generate more leads and conversions.
There are many ways to test your website speed. For starters, you could use tools like Google Page Speed or Pingdom Website Speed Test. Apart from the information about your page speed, these tools will also provide actionable tips on how to improve your site speed.
Over to You
These tips and examples prove that minimalist design plays an immensely important role in your lead generation strategy. It gives you an opportunity to create a memorable brand and increase brand recall. Above all, it engages users and keeps them focused.
A minimalist website grabs users’ attention, persuades them to convert, and stands out. To convert, every element on your website, from graphic design features like logos or illustrations to the navigation bar, needs to be planned and added strategically. Only then will you be able to improve users’ satisfaction with your website and convert them into qualified leads.
How do you use minimalist design to generate leads? If you have any additional tips or suggestions, we are listening!
Photo by Boxed Water Is Better on Unsplash
