Great design makes an incredible difference in how people see your company, your services and your products. Creating marketing materials for your business shouldn’t just be about making something attractive or “pretty” – the design is much more important than that. Why?
Because great design influences behavior and gets people to do what you want.
That’s why supermarket chains spend millions of dollars testing shopper behavior to determine how and where to arrange products so customers will buy more. It’s also why brick-and-mortar clothing stores are paying heightened attention to how their shelves, racks and stores appear to consumers (who are buying an increasing amount of their clothes online).
Here are three areas where great design plays a major role in influencing consumer behavior and shaping your brand:
- Color
Colors help communicate meaning and convey feelings. In fact, the field of color psychology is all about how different hues determine human behavior. Color is powerful and influences perceptions that are not always obvious.For example, orange, red and yellow are warm colors that help convey a sense of urgency and push customers to make decisions. Ever notice how most of the major fast-food companies use red in their branding? These companies want you to come in, order your food and go. Fast. And they’ve brought that goal into their brands:On the other hand, blue is connected with reducing stress, creating a sense of calmness, trust, relaxation and order – which is apparently the goal of many social media platforms, as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Tumblr have all chosen shades of blue for their logos:
With that in mind, it’s worth considering color when crafting your message. What story are you telling? A good design firm will use color to help you convey your story and set you apart from your competition. Take a look at your competitors’ websites. What color themes do they use? What message are they sending?
- Website Navigation
When was the last time you visited a website and left because you couldn’t find what you were looking for in the menus? Or because the shopping cart process was too confusing and you couldn’t figure out where to go? You’re not alone. If your website is hard to navigate, you make it hard for people to find what they want, and they’re likely to leave. Great website design uses clean, easy-to-follow menus so ALL your visitors can find their way around – not just the computer-savvy ones, and not just the ones using older desktop computers. Your navigation should be friendly on all browsers, devices and operating systems. In fact, in a recent survey by HubSpot, researchers found that being able to navigate easily was the MOST important thing customers looked for when visiting a site:
- Clarity
As stated earlier, graphic design is not about creating things that are just nice to look at. Great design gets your point across quickly, while providing clear visuals that explain to your visitors what your business is all about. Of course, good content plays a major role in what people DO on your website, but first impressions are key – and they’re fast. Recent research on user behavior showed that it takes less than one second for users to form an opinion about a website, decide whether or not they like it and whether they’d stay or leave. When it comes to your website, the simpler and cleaner the design is, the better conversion rates you’ll have and the less likely it will be for people to leave without meeting your goals of buying a product, signing up for your newsletter, contacting you, etc.Bottom Line: By employing great design in your website and other marketing materials, you’ll be able to better build your brand, tell your story and increase the influence you have over your visitors.
Need help designing your website or marketing materials to get better results? Contact us today.
