“You never have a second chance to make the first impression.” The web is a particular market space. Consumer behavior differs to a large extent from offline behavior, even though real world’s best practices can be extremely useful for optimizing our online user experiences.
One specific difference between on and offline attitudes is the speed with which users tend to switch between locations. The ease of browsing to alternate websites allows consumers to quickly navigate to and away from your digital platforms.
As online marketers, we spend significant time and effort on optimizing the user encounter on a variety of levels. Especially when a website has e-commerce functionality, we continuously try and test to figure out ways to increase conversions.
Most likely, we will be concentrating on the infamous checkout funnel. But have we ever thought that in the very first seven seconds of our user experience we can make substantial gains?
The mere goal is to have users stay, instead of drifting away.
One of the keys in having users stay and hang out in your digital flagship a little longer is the golden seven seconds rule. Psychologists, as well as writers and even seminar leaders, established that, in general, we have merely seven to seventeen seconds to make a first impression. It is within this crucial and limited timeframe that others form an opinion of you and your brand.
From a digital marketing perspective, the golden rule is that the first seven seconds of a user’s visit are essential to the user’s decision regarding whether he or she should stay or move away to another location (i.e. competitors).
Key terms for success in this endeavor are relevancy and engagement.
Knowing this, it should be a priority to create User Experiences that hook users from the very start. Obviously, the emotional connection to the brand’s presentation is an important factor for people to feel involved. However, globally, to begin, three very simple primary questions should be answered in the first seven seconds of your website’s experience to engage the users for whom the digital platform was created.
WHERE AM I?
Do we clearly communicate the brand, and is our design sufficiently distinctive and in line with our brand identity for users to instantly notice that they are actually on our website?
Also, with brands launching micro-sites parallel to a digital flagship, do we obviously convey whether people find themselves on our main brand website (on the homepage or a deep link) or on a certain campaign website created to inform and engage people for a specific and particular initiative?
Your first goal is to make people feel oriented. The answer to the question “where am I” should be instantaneous.
WHAT CAN I DO HERE?
Easily describe actions and functionalities for users to understand what they can do. It sounds childishly simple, but oftentimes we see that things such as too much information blur out this essential knowledge of what we can do on a website.
It is even recommended to randomly or periodically stress a single utility on the homepage of your brand’s website to avoid “competing objectives.”
Create an easy to understand landing page to quickly drive familiarity with “what to do and how to do it.”
WHY SHOULD I DO IT?
After having answered the two first questions, every element on your website should be concerned with an answer to why someone should do it.
For example, why should a user buy from your website? With fashion and luxury brands putting great effort (i.e. advertising, shows, etc) into answering the question of “why people should buy from the brand,” you might want to consider focusing online on the answer of “why people should buy from your digital flagship” to increase the number of online buyers and truly leverage your digital sales channel. That would be a strategic objective.
BE CLEAR
Through copy we are tempted to beautifully tell our story with poetic vocabulary and smooth sentences. And even though it remains important to get the story right in the minds of our customers, we should carefully consider this approach. Because, especially in the first few seconds, clarity is of utmost importance to encourage people to stay and interact.
– This article was largely based on the findings of Marketing Experiments.
Photo Credits: Steve Mercer
