Inbound marketing focuses on attracting customers through content that addresses the specific needs of a potential client. Your website and its landing pages are inbound marketing tools that help to increase conversions.
Driving traffic to your website is difficult enough in today’s noisy web environment, and keeping people there is even harder due to short attention spans and busy lives. Most consumers are seeking convenience and instant gratification.
When a potential client visits your website, you have about 12 seconds to attract their attention. Sadly, during this 12 second window, many will lose their potential customers. It’s not because the product or service was inadequate- the culprit is website clutter.
What is website clutter?
It’s hard to know where to focus your attention on an overwhelmingly cluttered web page.A website is considered cluttered when it has too many page elements, and the elements distract attention from the important information on a web page. Some of these elements might include ads, navigation menus, or graphics.
Typically, cluttered websites don’t have enough white space, which results in a design that is overwhelming and makes it difficult for readers to find the information they seek. The confusion caused by website clutter will cause users to abandon your site.
Why is it important to reduce clutter?
Website clutter will decrease your conversion rates and bounce rates. In her blog post about white space and website design, Hubspot blog editor Karla Cook asserts that “today’s website visitors are content-scanners. They scroll quickly, skim posts, and get distracted by busy layouts trying to accomplish too much”.
If important calls to action are lost in a busy page, or your visitor can’t immediately find the information they are seeking, they will exit the site. Your website clutter will cause you to lose money, whereas de-cluttering and optimizing your website will increase conversions.
An abundance of unnecessary graphics, images, or other elements (especially ones that require flash or JavaScript) can reduce the speed at which your page loads. If the page trying to be accessed is not loading fast enough (or at all, if they have a slow broadband connection), visitors will instantly move on from the website, because the need for instant gratification and satisfaction is not met quickly enough.
This will negatively affect your placement in search results. That is why it is essential to have web pages that are optimized and de-cluttered to avoid unnecessary page loading time.
The good news is reducing website clutter will help increase conversions. By reducing website clutter, your webpage is more aesthetically pleasing, visitors have better access to important information, and your page flow is more defined, which helps lead visitors through and to the end of your sales funnel.
How do you know if your website is cluttered?
Determining whether or not your website is cluttered can be accomplished in a few different ways. An easy method of user testing is to contact about 10 people—this could be family, friends, coworkers, professional contacts—and ask them for their honest, immediate thoughts upon entering the site.
There are also options like the FiveSecondTest, which presents testers with a screenshot of your web page for five seconds, then asks them to recall details about the page. The less cluttered the page, the easier it will be for people to remember the most important details. This usability testing site offers levels of accounts ranging from free to pro.
Another tool that can be used is Chalkmark. Similar to the Five Second Test, Chalkmark shows test participants a screenshot of your web page. Before the test begins, you set typical user tasks for the screenshots, and the participants are asked to complete each task.
Rather than asking questions, Chalkmark records the first click made by the test participant. Then, a heat map is generated to show you where users became distracted from the task. The site features free to enterprise level accounts.
Each of these methods is designed to not only help you determine whether or not you have site clutter, but also to give you insights on where necessary changes can be made to reduce clutter and increase conversions.
So, how do you reduce website clutter and increase conversions?
- Prioritize. Identify your main site elements, like colors and text. Ensure that you limit the amount of colors and fonts utilized. Two to three of each should suffice. Make sure your social icons are noticeable, but don’t distract from the main page content. Look at your layout and ensure that there aren’t features like sidebars that distract from your main content. Then, determine the main message you want to get across on each page. Set page goals, and only include information and graphics necessary to help achieve those page goals.
- Organize. Make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for with relevant drop-down menus. Keep them simple and hierarchical. Make sure your call to action links are noticeable and link to relevant pages. This will help to increase conversions.
- Minimize. This is the most important means of reducing clutter. The key to attracting the attention of your visitors to increase conversions is simplicity. Minimalism is your friend. Accentuate the main features of your page, like your calls to action and descriptions by utilizing white space. Get rid of any unnecessary graphics, audio, or ads on your webpage that don’t directly link back to the page objectives. Remove redundant links. Choose clean, simple design. Simpler designs are more aesthetically pleasing, and they are easier for mobile phones to display.
- Choose mobile, responsive design. Ensure your website adjusts to different sizes of screens. Nearly half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. Simpler designs display more nicely on mobile than cluttered designs. If your website is cluttered on a larger desktop screen, it is sure to look extremely cluttered on a small mobile screen. When in doubt, keep it minimal!
Bonus: Top Web Design Trends of 2023
It’s important to keep updated on the direction websites are going to avoid having an out-of-date, cluttered website. Here are some top trends in 2023:
- Fun animated cursors that engage a viewer
- Lazy loading helps increase speed of your website by only loading content as users scroll
- Chatbots that assist with simple questions and customer service
- Accessibility features like high-contrast colors and clear alt attributes on pictures
- Engaging, interactive features like quizzes and calculators
- VR is great in eCommerce to help a customer visualize the product in their life
- Geometric, Art Deco stylistic choices are a popular aesthetic
- On the flip side, organic and fluid shapes also look great
- Small animations adding movement to a page
- Mobile web design with buttons placed in an easy spot for the thumb to reach
So what are you waiting for? Dive into your creativity and strategy for the website of your dreams in 2023! 🐢
