The first 5 seconds
Everybody wants to be different. Everyone wants to be better than their competition. Every person is different and perceive interfaces differently. Customers and designers spend a lot of time and money trying to strike the right balance and sometimes ignore some of the basic principles that appear simple but often get lost in the jargon.
The indexed web contains a staggering 13.43 billion pages. If you are into zeros, that’s 13,400,000,000 pages. Now that is crowded! If you are a young website looking to shine in the crowd, the experience of the first 5 seconds becomes critical.
Thought
As UX designers, we do our big song and dance routine around user goals, business goals, user research, experience maps, personas, use cases, information architecture, interaction design, visual design, content strategy, responsive design, social integration, typography, usability, psychology, globalization, localization and any other such design, ism, ology or tion out there.
For those who don't know what all that cool sounding stuff is… it’s the stuff designers strive to make your crowded digital lives a little easy.
After following this process which we all do and should do, if your user is not going to get what you are about in 5 seconds, then you are doing something wrong.
It may not be the end of the world for your site but it definitely helps if something this basic is addressed early as it does not take rocket science to fix! If you are not doing this at all, well… never mind.
Theory
A landing page is not about how much content it has, it is about what that content is, what it conveys, and how it is perceived. A landing page should communicate everything you as a business or as a person are trying to say as clearly and directly as possible. This could simply be achieved by the use of simple conversational language and tone or relevant high quality images. Sounds simple but yet we don’t see it often enough.
This is not something that may not apply to large well-known brands though personally I don’t think such an approach can be harmful. If you’re user understands you and what you are offering quickly, you’ve already made a connection, you’ve already strengthened your recall value, and you’ve already begun a relationship.
A lot has been said and written about design patterns for websites like fully loaded content, infinite scrolling, video tours, etc. While this is important, for new sites, identifying what to say and to say it simply is as important if not more.
How
1. Be Honest, Direct & Conversational.
Use a style of language that your customers understand. There is no point in being cocky or over creative if you’re message is going to get lost. Choose something that works for all. Talk to your customer in their language while being honest and direct.
Design every page as if it were your landing page. With search results getting deep, users might reach a deep linked page and any of this would and should apply to all the pages albeit with a varying degree.
2. Choose the right font at the right size for your headline.
Choose a right balance between the amount of content and the font type and size. The world is trending towards a style of ‘designed type’. Apart from it being readable, choose a font that renders well across different browsers and devices. Headlines are the single most important element apart from the logo and call to action. Ensure that is easy to scan and remember.
3. Use high quality and relevant images
Use high quality images. Good quality images always induce a feeling of premiumness if I may. Take a look at the square and nest websites and you’ll know what I mean. Showing real world use of your product can go a big way in influencing your user. If you sell, flowers, show great images of them in real spaces. Example: Winward. Get creative, think Pinterest and Instagram.
4. Use videos (that work on all platforms)
A lot of designers and content creators are using videos as a way of communicating their offering. If done well, then is a great way of introducing new users to your service. A well done video goes a long way in converting a new customer. Example: Dropbox.
5. Try the 5 second test.
A good resource is available here. Try it, its pretty addictive and will give you a whole new perspective on how simplicity in the message becomes crucial. Its free to take tests. Take a few and learn for yourself.
Examples
Here are some sites that do a good job in clearly representing themselves in a clean language and presentation.
Conclusion
Your users are the only thing that should matter. Not you, not your boss, not your client, not your friend. Communicate to your users in their language so that they trust, love and remember you. Almost like “Love at first site” (Typo intended).
Jatin Shah
UX Architect at Aditi Technologies
