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Typically, Dr. Wilson explains, you design or redesign a website by starting with your home page, then work your way down to sectional pages, product pages, the landing page, and your order system.

But, if you want to design a website that offers maximum return, you need to “turn that model on its head” according to Lance Loveday, co-author of Web Design for ROI.

There is a neat trick you can do with word choice on your registration page explains Lance, it takes no more than a few minutes to do, but can increase sales by up to 50%.

Watch their 7 minute chat about designing with a focus on return on investment, then take a look inside the book. Chapter 8, Forms, talks about the issues unique to online forms, and then details how to design them–to get the best bang for your buck.

In a recent survey, The Code Project asked the question:

How important is a company’s website to your decision to use their product?

14.2% said not very, or not at all; 85.8% said somewhat important to very important.

That being the case, why do companies spend so few resources on their website, when simple changes can bring as much as 300% ROI?

If we take a step back and look at the way people have shopped in the past - offline - retailers gave little thought to the shopper experience; aisles were narrow, lighting poor, signage an afterthought.  Most retailers believed if they had a great product; people will buy.

Didn’t quite work that way…

Researchers started studying behavior of shoppers and found that the look and feel of a store greatly impacted sales.*  Savvy retailers quickly realized the potential ROI of simple changes to design, layout and signage, and began transforming their stores based on the new data.  Not only did they benefit with increased sales, these early adopters quickly moved ahead of their competitors.

The online world works similarly and one of the biggest misconceptions is: If you have a website, they will come

That doesn’t quite work either…

Sure, they might come - if you spend enough time and money driving people to your site.  But, will they buy?

We have five copies of Web Design for ROI to give away to readers that give us the best examples of a small design change they made to a site, that resulted in increased leads/profits.  Please reply in the comment section below.

* See Paco Underhill’s Envirosell for more information on shopping behavior, or read his book: Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping