Strategic Design Is the Key to Increasing Conversions

Too often do we see people design artistically instead of strategically. What they do not realize is that, by doing so, they are neglecting one of the most effective ways to improve conversion rates.

They judge a design by whether it “looks good” and whether they personally like it. They focus on making it “pop” or look “slick”. When instead what they should be doing is throwing all that out the window and making strategic decisions that are goal and solution-oriented.

It is not enough for the design to be beautiful – it needs to tell a story that helps you solve a specific problem. To achieve this, it is a vital necessity to set aside time at the beginning of the design process for strategic considerations.

Whether you are designing ads, websites, or product packaging, this is an incredibly important step that too many teams skip.

Having worked on and tested countless strategic design and conversion optimization strategies, we’ve collected some of the most valuable points you should consider before starting your design.

What is the purpose of the design?

The strategic design process requires interaction and cooperation between the organization as a whole, between both marketers and designers. While the two departments can easily come to a consensus about the design’s use – “the design will be used as the image for a Facebook Ad” for example – it is necessary to dig deeper.

Keep the following questions in mind:

• What is the core function of the design?
• What feelings and moods do you want to evoke?
• Who is the target group and what is its relevance?

Answering these questions will give your team a good foundation to better select the right images, colors, and fonts. By recognizing an image’s function and target audience, you gain the understanding and relevance necessary to increase user engagement. And the promotion of the right feelings and moods paves the way for future conversions.

Create memorable experiences or get drowned out

The digital age has created a bottomless well of opportunity and connected countless advertisers and designers with billions of people. However, this increased competition has also created a lot of noise that you need to cut through. Your competitor’s website is just a few clicks away, and the next ad is just below yours.

You have to stand out.

There are millions of beautiful designs, lost in the dark recesses of the internet. Beauty won’t cut it. But connecting with viewers and providing smooth customer journeys (all things you can achieve by designing strategically) will create experiences people remember.

Strategic design is not just important for your conversion rate

It also plays an important role in the price you pay for your traffic. On platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Google, the price you pay per ad impression or click is based on a number of parameters, several of which are impacted by design. For example, the more people interact with your ads on Facebook, the less you pay. The better and more strategic your design, the more people will interact with your ad.

The same is true when Google and YouTube determine your search engine rankings and ad prices. The more time people spend looking at or interacting with your content, the higher it ranks and the cheaper the price per click becomes.

Strategic Design is more than just visual

A business where the majority of your traffic is generated through searches needs to provide visitors with significantly different content and journeys than if most of its visitors came from Facebook ads. This is partly because SEO requires a certain amount of text to be presented on your website. Facebook, on the other hand, does not have comparable requirements.

But what accounts for a much larger difference is the mindset and knowledge of the user clicking a link to your website. Someone visiting your website from a search result is already interested in the topic of your website. They wanted to find out more about a product, service, etc. in your field and clicked on your website after seeing a headline and a description. Not to mention expressing actual, concrete intent by searching for something relevant to your business.

They are already much warmer to the content of your website than someone visiting it after being shown an ad on Facebook based on criteria you yourself picked.

This difference means that the customer journeys of the two visitors will be very different – they will have different needs and expectations. Your design needs to address these, not just visually, but also by providing the right information (and the right amount thereof) at the right time for each of the two visitors.

They won’t both be satisfied by the same setup, content, and design.

Key Takeaway

Strategy and design go hand in hand. Before you start designing, taking the time to develop a strategy is a must.  Figure out what the purpose of your design is, who the target audience is, and what context the design will be used in.

Only then can you stand out and increase your traffic and conversions.

Recommend Reading: Why do Online Shoppers Leave Without Paying?