Workshop
Keep copy short and punchy and focus on value.
‘Most people interacting with web copy are reading the headline and scanning through the rest, so simplicity is key. Make your headlines speak to the user and not to the brand – by saying “Find your perfect next shoe” instead of “We sell great shoes”.’
Highlight user social proof, bringing it in at almost every step of the customer journey.
‘Inject it into your copy and work it in right away. Use numbers and quantitative elements. For example, if you have a lot of reviews, instead of saying “hear from our customers”, try saying “10,000 mums love us because...”.’
Make sure the purpose of call-to-action buttons is crystal-clear.
‘When someone clicks on one, they [should] know exactly where they’re going. Limit the number of buttons within the same view. The more choices you give someone, the less they actually do. Sprinkle them in with a bit of repetition, especially on mobile where there’s more scroll.’
Use fonts and colors wisely.
‘You want people to be able to read what you're saying. Try using simpler, highly legible fonts and high-contrast colors. This also makes your site easier to find as Google’s search ranking takes accessibility into account, too.’
Embrace GIFs.
‘Showing a four-to-five-second loop of someone interacting with your product allows customers to get a better feel of how it works. That said, GIF formats can be quite heavy so save them as .mp4 videos, which are smaller, making your site quicker.’
White space is important.
‘It helps focus the eye and ensures the most important elements are positioned in a way to draw attention. Avoid having an unbalanced page, where one area has white space and everything is crowded together in another.’
Don’t overlook site speed.
‘While you might need technical assistance with code minification (the process of removing unessential characters from your code to make it lighter), you can make sure images are saved as the right file type and size (too big = too slow), and installed plugins that aren’t used are removed.’
A version of this article was published in the Courier Weekly newsletter. For more useful stories, tips, tricks and simply good advice, sign up here.
