We’re going to take a break from the dry and technical to talk about something that is at the very heart of good web design: grabbing the attention of potential customers and getting them inside your site.
If your home page does this and does it quickly, you’ve won an important battle. Your conversion rate, if you are indeed offering what someone is looking for, is virtually guaranteed.
WHAT MAKES A GREAT HOME PAGE?
It’s about getting your message across through images and words. The right images and the right words will connect with your audience. Key is having information about who you are, what you offer, and how you can benefit your customers. We’ve already discussed that in some detail. But just as key, and too often missing, is your emotional message.
WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL MESSAGE?
It’s been proven that if your message evokes an emotional response in someone, the information will likely be retained longer, sink in deeper, and be remembered better.
An emotional message contains NO information about what you offer. It is simply a key word or short phrase that will cause an emotional reaction. It should be related to what you offer, but does not describe it. These reactions might include intrigue, excitement, or identification.
Examples from some of our recent clients include:
Infinite Possibilities
Inspiration
Revolutionary
Succeed
A Bright Light
Unlocking
Transforming
As you can see, none of these words or phrases describe what the site owner is offering, but they evoke an emotional reaction. Even the words “On Sale” is an emotional message, as we all well know!
Your potential customer doesn’t really care at first glance exactly what you do or how you do it. They only care about finding what they are looking for. And you want their response to be, “THAT’S what I’m looking for!”
HOW DO I CREATE MY EMOTIONAL MESSAGES?
1) Think about what your customers, clients, listeners or readers have said about what you gave them. How did they FEEL about it?
2) Think about what you said when you were talking to someone about what you offer, and they reacted in some way. What was the word or phrase they reacted to? What did they say?
3) Think about the words connected with the benefits of what you offer, the problems you solve, or the pain (huh?) you address. Do the words or phrases cause an emotional response in you? Have you noticed them causing a response in others? Good.
4) Write all of these down and then distill them into the most powerful two or three words or phrases. In another article, we’ll talk about how to choose the right images for your emotional messages.
Need help doing this? That’s what we do. Call us at 646-808-0249 or email me at hello@thirteen.com.
Perry Yeldham, 21Thirteen Design
