Introduction
Conversion rates in tech are a product or service’s ability to get a user to complete a desired action. This could mean a sale, newsletter sign-up, or any other action that is deemed a key performance indicator. For example, signing up for a subscription, becoming a registered user, returning to a site, sharing a post, or using a specific function on an app can all be considered conversions.
This article will discuss the impact UI and UX design have on reaching your desired conversion rates and creating a successful product.
What is User Interface and User Experience, How Does it Improve Conversion Rates?
User Interface (UI) refers to all the screens, scroll bars, images, graphics, and text you navigate through while using your device. The term ‘user interface’ has been around since the inception of the computer screen. During the personal computer’s retro days, this meant mainly keyboards and mouses, but ever-evolving technology has led to the modern smartphone and other touch screen gadgets. This paradigm shift in technology has birthed new meanings to the phrase.
Today, well-designed UIs can take users’ experiences to new heights. Because so much of our lives and commerce takes place online, UIs that are able to catch attention and draw users in will stand out above the rest and improve highly sought-after conversion rates.
Conversions rates are the percentage of visitors that engage in a wanted action - a click, donation, sale, or sign-up for instance. Strategically designed UIs can improve conversion rates by giving the user a clear path to the end goal, whatever that might be.
What is UX and How Does It Improve Conversion Rates?
UX stands for user experience and therefore covers a lot. Although very similar and often confused with UI, UX deals more with interaction design and information architecture than looks and aesthetics. In more technical terms, UX is concerned with the way people feel while using the product or service.
Think of UX like a fine dining experience. A great experience might include quick service speeds, a variety of menu options, and easy interaction with staff that will keep you returning again and again. Outside of the restaurant business, these qualities also make for a great digital UX design. The only difference is that in the digital world, returning patrons are conversions.
Optimizing UX has the ability to quickly enhance conversion rates. After all, UX deals with the whole experience from beginning to end, so of course, there are countless opportunities to hook conversions along the way.
A Strong First Impression
Your UI provides the first pivotal glance at your service and the value it has to offer. As such, a strong first impression is undeniably imperative to reaching conversion goals. So what’s the best way to hook readers in?
First, have a clear design process. There exist countless websites that allow for the creation of mockup UIs to try out different concepts and ideas.
Go old fashioned and plan out designs using paper and pencil. There are no rules when brainstorming concept ideas but make sure not to skip this step - winging UI design might lead to difficulties later on.
Next, limit choices. In order to turn visitors to leads, and leads to conversions, users can’t be overwhelmed upon entering your app or visiting your webpage. Providing fewer choices will help steer traffic in the desired direction and help to improve conversion rates.
Keep it simple by it avoiding lengthy or unreadable texts. Information should be quick and to the point, and navigation between pages must be smooth. Avoid text animations or other add-ons that might slow down navigation.
Lastly, be consistent. Color themes, fonts, images, hyperlinks scroll bars, and everything else that falls into either UI or UX should remain consistent throughout the entire experience. Inconsistency can easily lead to deconversions.
Improved Page Speed
According to, recent research nearly 46% of internet users reported slow loading webpages and apps were what they disliked the most about browsing the web. The same number said they’d easily leave a page after just 3 seconds of load time.
Of course, we’ve all been there. Everyone has dealt with the excruciating agony of tirelessly waiting on an app or page to load. We typically chalk it off to the internet connection or maybe the device needs a quick restart. Perhaps it’s best to just try again later? At the end of the day, a user lost to slow loading speeds is a possible conversion down the drain.
Keeping load times at a minimal and page speeds optimal can lead to conversions. The overall UX should be sleek and simple while keeping the user engaged without feeling as if they’re wasting time. UI can be created to improved page speed that leads them to conversion goals rather than to a competitor’s platform. Sure, you might have to give up retinal scans, extraneous visuals, or other alluring clickables, but improved page speed will go far in heightening conversion rates.
If there’s absolutely no way around your UI/UX load time there are several ways to alter the user’s perception of time. Progress bars and percent-done animations will give users a reason to stay. After all, it’s much more feasible for someone to wait for something if they have a visual countdown of the waiting time.
Imagine UI like a series of city streets in an unfamiliar town. The easier the streets are to navigate, the better chance you have of finding your way back home. Turns out the same holds true in web page design. Generally speaking, the more easily navigable the interface, the higher the conversion rate. But which one is best? Aren’t they all the same?
No two navigation bars are the same! Whether you’re thinking about using a top bar, sidebar, hamburger, or hover-activated menu, it’s important to keep in mind that what might work for one app or webpage might not be optimal for another. A platform’s content, style, or industry can heavily influence this crucial decision.
For example, vertical navigation might fit a business portfolio but wouldn’t be choice #1 for a news app or webpage where information is traditionally fixed to the top. To increase conversion rates be sure to look at others in your niche to draw inspiration from.
Website Page Consistency
Consistent website pages feel familiar, and familiarity leads to conversions. UI should be designed in a way that takes into consideration uniformity and regularity across each page on your website or app, and it’s best if elements look and function the same throughout the entire experience. A button, for example, should serve the same purpose and perform predictably on each page.
Layout, colors, typography, style, and visuals also shouldn’t fluctuate from page to page. Variations in these elements can dissuade visitors from engaging in your content. Consistency on the other hand can give users a sense of control and trust, resulting in higher conversion rates.
White Space Increases Conversion Rates
Each webpage begins as a blank canvas. It’s up to the designer to paint the webpage with various elements, from headers to footers, menus, images, graphics, and buttons. Whatever area that is left free of this ‘clutter’ is referred to as white space.
Despite the name, white space can be any color on the spectrum. Blue, red, turquoise, teal, or magenta - it’s all white space. Simply put, white space is any section of your UI that is absent of features. It’s the plain, ordinary part of a webpage that appears void of meaning and lacks any opportunity for engagement. But believe it or not, white space is crucially important to ensure your UI is converting at the highest rate possible.
So how does it work? To quote the age-old saying, less is more.
Take a second and log onto the world’s most visited website, Google. What do you notice? Other than a handful of colorful letters, there’s nothing. It’s literally just white space - and a ton of it. Google’s minimalistic approach to their design has led to tremendous success and exemplifies perfectly how white space can lead to higher conversion rates.
While you might be easily tempted to cover every last bit of your page with fancy design elements, it’s crucial to find a suitable balance between white space and functionality.
High-Quality Images
Attention to image quality is often overlooked when it comes to UI design. High-quality photography and graphics go a long way in setting the mood and tone of the UI and can provide a lasting impression on users and keep them returning again.
It’s best to avoid using stock or watermarked photos in your design as they can negatively alter the user’s perception of your webpage or product. Rather, use a service that offers premium quality images such as Pixabay or Unsplash. Make certain that images are relevant to your story and brand, and avoid using photography that might deter users from the point of action.
Persuasive Headlines to Improve Conversions
If your webpage’s headline can’t grab users’ attention, your competition’s will. Your site or app can be thoroughly researched and include the most cutting edge elements and design features and still fail to lead users past your welcome screen. Luckily, a well-written and persuasive headline can fix this problem. The more persuasive the headline, the higher chance of a conversion.
Boring, monotonous, or misleading headlines can set the tone of your whole webpage and steer visitors away. Consider your headline as a magazine cover. A successful magazine cover typically offers some type of value to the customer. For example, “How to Look Amazing After 40!” or “The Best Time to Purchase Airline Tickets” can help allure in customers. Just as the magazine’s headline is meant to lead to an impulse buy, a web page’s headline should swiftly move the user to another page and get them one step closer to completing the desired action.
Noticeable Hyper-Links
Hyperlinks are much more than just blue underlined texts that change color once clicked on. Nowadays, hyperlinks can take several different forms, including traditional text, buttons, graphics, or bookmarks, and are fundamental to successfully convert visitors.
However you decide to use hyperlinks, make certain they are noticeable and consistent. Hyperlinks are the mechanism that gets users from point A to point B - the road signs to the final destination if you will. As such, they should be clearly written, user-friendly, and attention-grabbing, yet subtle enough not to seem distracting or confusing and lead visitors away from the objective.
Persuasive CTAs
CTA stands for ‘call to action,’ and if your website is communicating steps users must take to successfully convert, your CTAs need to be extremely persuasive.
Fortunately, there’s a science to this. Persuasion is all about tapping into the user’s psyche and providing them with value - something they consider important. For example, which of the following CTAs sounds more persuasive?
"It’s High Time to Declutter vs. Top 10 Reasons to Declutter Your Life in 2021!"
Odds are you chose the latter headline. This CTA works by giving users a pathway to the end goal. In fact, it provides ten pathways to reach the objective, but users only need to act upon one. Similar titles can be found all across the internet, and are especially effective on Youtube and new platforms like TikTok.
Of course, your phrasing might be different, but the principle remains the same. Your CTAs must be persuasive!
Conclusion
UI and UX can aid tremendously in increasing conversion rates. As a matter of fact, it’s highly difficult to create any conversions without well-planned and effective design elements. Through the use of enhanced navigation, the perfect balance of whitespace, clear graphics, and persuasive headings, your conversion rates will undoubtedly exceed expectations and lead to conversions.
