Is Your Website Built on B.S.?
If it’s not, it should be.
I know what you may be thinking…
Isn’t authenticity and trustworthiness the foundation of a strong online presence? Absolutely. The kind of B.S. I’m talking about is built on all of that.
Surprised? It’s probably not what you think.
I’m talking about Behavior Science. And it’s the foundation of every great website.
Without infusing good Behavior Science principles into your site design, your website will hurt you rather than help you. The bottom line is people will leave your site, even if they want to work with you. If people don’t quickly understand what you do, who you serve, and how you help, they won’t stay.
Know how long you have to get them to stay? About 8 seconds.
That’s not much time.
In web design circles, many of the principles of Behavior Science are built into UX or user interface design. As someone who spent years in psychology, I dove deep into behavior design… learning why people do what they do. In marketing, it’s the difference between your business staying in business, or closing your doors.
I’d like you to stay in business. You may have problems on your website you’re not even aware of, even if your site was designed by someone else.
So let’s look at some of the most common barriers on your website without following good Behavior Science principles.
Friction
Simply put friction is anything that gets in the way of people doing what you want them to do. This might look like:
Missing CTA’s
Buttons that blend in
Pop-ups
Long contact forms
The harder you make it for somebody to act the less likely they are to do anything. They will find your competitor, even if they have an inferior product or service.
Not making it easy
We are all hardwired with an easy button.
Our brains need to conserve energy and brain power for all the decisions we have to make each day, about 35,000 conscious ones! Don’t make people make another one.
If people have to work hard to make a decision, they won’t make one. While this principle is similar to friction, it shows up in the process required to work with you or the lack of clarity in your copy.
This can look like:
Copy without enough white space
Too much copy and information
A color scheme or animations that are distracting
Too many CTA’s with different words and options
The top priority for your website is to make it easy for someone to say yes. Scaled back websites often outperform complicated ones, even if they look cool.
Assuming people know what to do
Behavior scientist BJ Fogg puts it this way… we have to help people do what they already want to do.
If people make their way to your website they’re looking for help. They want to do something, usually meaning they need to solve a problem.
They need answers
They need a service
They need a product
They want help.
Give it to them. Make it very clear and very simple. Always include a CTA above the fold, repeat the same language on the CTA, and offer a simple 3-step plan for people to work with you.
It’s amazing to me how often I visit a website, even for well known brands, and the CTA is missing. It should live in the hero section of your website, which is the top of your site people see before they scroll your website.
No matter how big your brand, a pretty design can’t overcome a lack of clarity.
Want a short B.S. check-up for your website?
Here are some of the common culprits that prevent people from choosing you over your competitors:
Pop-up buttons
Text that’s too dense
Not enough white space
Colors that are distracting
Animations that look cool, but are distracting
Missing called action button
Call to action buttons that say different things
Broken links
Dead end page
Poor mobile design
So let me ask the question again… is your website built on BS?
If your site needs some changes, most of them are simple and and don’t require a lot of effort on your part to change them.
One of the reasons we’ve been fans of StoryBrand for so long is that their 7-step process aligns so well with good Behavior Science principles. It’s why every website we build is designed around this framework, because we know science shows it works.
Head to your website and make those updates. But if it’s more than you want to tackle, we are here to help.
We’re experts in BS. And we can sprinkle just the right dose in yours.
