By now, you have realized that you must have a website in order to have a business in the world today. But did you know that the first impression your customer has of your site has a huge effect on their perception of you and your business?

Even though we drill the idea into our kids that no one should “judge a book by its cover,” human nature will tell you that such a request online is impossible. Here are a few statistics that show you why.

A user will judge whether they like your site, and whether or not they will stay on it in .05 seconds.

Because there are so many sites to choose from when a user googles a topic, the user is in the driver’s seat. They don’t have to put up with anything that looks like less than top quality. And if your site doesn’t look like top quality, assumption will be that your product will be the same.

94% of negative feedback on websites is related to design.

If your website uses graphics or design techniques that are outdated, the user will think your site has not been updated, and therefore no longer has relevant information. They may even assume that your business is no longer in operation and will move on. Use modern or universal fonts and pay attention to your aspect ratio.

 

38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive.

You may have beautiful images that attract the user to stay, but if you have any kind of flaw in your design or images, you will lose your potential customer. If one drop menu leads to another, to another, and so on, the user may give up. Especially if they lose their spot after the first box! Or, imagine if the user is directed to the wrong spot. If they won’t spend a full second deciding whether or not they will even visit the site, do you think they are willing to keep trying the same mistake over and over? Probably not.

 

47% will not tolerate more than 2 seconds of loading time on a website.

Nothing frustrates a website visitor more than waiting for content to load. End result? They won’t. They’ll be outta there quicker than you can say, “lead conversion.” This is especially true for the older clientele who have memories of a 26k modem. They’ve already served their time. You may think the solution is for the customer to upgrade their hardware, but we can’t control that. We can only make it easier from our end. Decrease the size of your files. It is possible to have an attractive site without an enormous amount of data involved. Slow-loading websites cost retailers $2.6 billion in lost sales each year.

If given 15 minutes to consume content, two-thirds of people would rather read something beautifully designed than something plain.

This should be obvious. If you had to choose between beautiful and plain, wouldn’t you choose beautiful as well? Would you want to read a big block of text? Of course not. It’s like school all over again. However, that could be exactly what your clientele is looking for. You need to know your audience and design your website around them. But whatever you do, make it look appealing.

Have you noticed a trend with these statistics? Your clients aren’t waiting around. They want your product, and they want it now. Make sure your website will accommodate them, and you will have a much better chance of retaining their interest and your sales.