Web design Your website has a split second to impress: what the research says
Studies show people judge a website in a fraction of a second, and that simple, familiar designs win. What that means for a small business site.
People decide whether they like the look of your website before they've read a single word. That isn't a guess. It's been measured, more than once, and the findings are worth knowing if you run a small business, because they tell you where to spend your effort.
The 50 millisecond study
In 2006 a team led by Gitte Lindgaard at Carleton University in Ottawa flashed web pages on screen for just 50 milliseconds, a twentieth of a second, and asked people to rate how appealing they were. Those snap ratings closely matched the ratings people gave after looking for longer. The paper, published in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology, concluded that web designers have about 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression.
“Web designers have about 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression.”
Lindgaard and others, 2006The researchers also pointed to the halo effect. Once someone has a good first impression, they tend to judge everything after it more kindly. A bad one works the other way: a visitor can leave before they ever find out what you offer.
Simple and familiar wins
In 2012 researchers at the University of Basel and Google looked at why some sites make a better first impression than others. They showed people screenshots of real websites for as little as 17 milliseconds and tested two things: how visually busy each page was, and how much it looked like a typical site of its kind.
The sites people liked most were the ones that looked simple and familiar. Busy pages were rated as less attractive even when the layout was a familiar one, and unusual layouts were rated as less attractive even when they were simple. Clever and different didn't win. Clear and expected did.
Looks are part of trust
A larger study from Stanford University in 2002 asked 2,684 people to judge how credible real websites were, then sorted the comments they wrote. The comment that came up most often was about the look of the site: design was mentioned in 46.1 percent of them, more than the information, the structure or the company behind it. People say they judge a site on its content, but in practice the look is the first thing they use to decide whether to believe it.
What it means for your website
None of this means a website has to be fancy. If anything, it says the opposite. Here's how I'd put the research to work on a small business site.
Cut the clutter
One clear message on the first screen, plenty of space around it, and no more than two fonts and a couple of colours. Every extra banner, badge and slideshow makes the page busier, and busy pages make a worse first impression.
Don't reinvent the layout
Logo at the top left, menu along the top, a button to get in touch where people expect to find it. Familiar layouts feel easier and more trustworthy, so save the personality for your words, photos and colours rather than for where things sit.
Make the first screen do the work
Say what you do and where, show one strong photo of real work, and put the next step in plain view. I've written more about this in what your small business website needs on the home page.
Keep the look consistent
The same colours, type and photo style on every page, and the same as your van, your leaflets and your social media. A site that matches the rest of the business looks planned, and planned looks trustworthy.
Make it load quickly
If the page is still blank when that first glance happens, the first impression is a blank page. Use sensibly sized images, avoid anything that holds up the page from loading, and check it on a phone using mobile data, not just on your office wifi.
Try a five second test
Show your home page to someone who doesn't know your business for five seconds, then take it away. Ask them what you do, where you work and how to get in touch. If they can't answer, the page is asking too much of a first glance.
What the research doesn't say
These studies measured how appealing and how believable a site looked, not how much it sold. A good first impression earns you the next few seconds of attention. Your words, your work and how you treat people still have to do the rest. But you can't win a customer who has already pressed back.
If your website isn't making the first impression your business deserves, that's what I design: simple, clear Squarespace sites built around your brand. Have a look at the services or get in touch.
Sources
- Lindgaard, G., Fernandes, G., Dudek, C. and Brown, J. (2006). Attention web designers: you have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! Behaviour and Information Technology, 25, 115 to 126. Reported by Nature.
- Tuch, A. N., Presslaber, E. E., Stöcklin, M., Opwis, K. and Bargas-Avila, J. A. (2012). The role of visual complexity and prototypicality regarding first impression of websites. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 70(11), 794 to 811. Summary from Google Research.
- Fogg, B. J. and others (2002). How do people evaluate a web site's credibility? Results from a large study. Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab for Consumer WebWatch. Consumer Reports.
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