Neuro what? Neuromarketing is another term for consumer psychology. The field of neuromarketing is analyzing what makes a person say yes or no to a product, service, person, or place. If you’re interested in this topic, I can highly recommend Brainfluence by Roger Dooley.
Many business owners are focused on their product or service, and how they can sell it to their ideal customer. But if we study how to sell, shouldn’t we also pay attention to what makes someone buy?
What if I told you that your customers are not making a decision based on your product or service? It’s actually what it does for them, that makes them decide. We all have out dreams and goals. We also all have our pain and struggles. The decision to buy is easily made when your product or service clearly brings someone closer to their dreams and goals, or when it takes away their pain and struggles.
When it comes to website design, taking into account the principles of neuromarketing are critical if you’re looking to increase conversions. Let’s have a look at 3 common neuromarketing mistakes that many business owners make, and how you can make sure that your website has these aspects covered.
1. Overlooking Cognitive Load
When you present your business online, it’s understandable that you want to provide as much detailed information as possible. You want to convince your visitors that your business and product or service is the best choice out there.
But the fact is that most people hate to read. Especially anything that is more than a few lines of text (yes, like this post!), requires effort and concentration. In these times of short-form content and countless snippets of information whirling around online, you want to make it as easy and comfortable as possible to inform your potential customers.
An overloaded website with too much information, complex navigation, or distracting elements can easily overwhelm a visitor. This will lead to decision fatigue and reduced engagement, and they will bounce off your page quickly.
Instead, the solution is to streamline your website content so that it is ‘easy on the eye’, simplify navigation, and highlight key information. Clear visuals are essential, as are concise copy and well-organized layouts. These will provide a smooth user experience and encourage retention and engagement.
2. Neglecting Emotional Engagement
Emotions play a huge role in consumer decision making. Earlier we said that the decision to purchase a product or service is based on what it can help someone achieve. This can be to get closer to a goal or get away from a certain pain. Why is this? Because of how it makes someone feel. When you want to achieve a goal, usually you want to feel a certain way. For example, you want to feel accomplished, proud, respected, energetic, intelligent, wealthy, etc. When you want a solution to your pain, you want to get rid of the feeling of for example feeling depressed, underappreciated, unimportant, ugly, poor, etc.
Your visitor’s emotions when they see your website play an important role in how they behave. If your website lacks emotional appeal or fails to connect with your visitors on a personal level, it may not result in a memorable and positive user experience. In other words, if it’s boring and doesn’t trigger a feeling, your visitors will click on the next website on the Google search result list.
What your website design needs to prevent this and capture loyal customers is emotionally resonant visuals, great storytelling, and clear brand messaging. The use of colors, images, and language should evoke the desired emotional response. With these design aspects in mind, you can build a real connection with your website visitors that will lead to engagement and action.
3. Ignoring the Neurological Response to Visuals
We already mentioned visuals and their importance in how the visitor experiences your website.
Your visuals – images but also colors, layout, fonts, and animations – make up the first impression that a visitor gets. If they immediately overwhelmed or irritated,then of course this will be remembered as a bad experience and they likely won’t come back.
With all the DIY website builder options out there, many small businesses will attempt to put together a nice-looking site. But often they are also unaware of the science behind a professional website that performs well. Visual aesthetics and neuromarketing principles are critical here. To attract your ideal client, throwing together a few nice stock images just doesn’t cut it.
What to do then? In professional web design, what should be prioritized are visually appealing design elements that align with the brand and target audience. Understanding that the colors, fonts, and imagery have a psychological impact. Often, web designers even conduct A/B testing to assess the neurological responses of users to different visual elements on a website.
Conclusion
Addressing these challenges requires a holistic approach that integrates neuromarketing principles into the design process. Regular testing, feedback collection, and staying updated on neuromarketing research can help you create business websites that effectively engage and influence their target audience. Of course, hiring a professional webdesigner helps and will get you ahead of the competition that is not aware of the mistakes mentioned in this article.
Have you found this article helpful? If so, please let us know in the comments!