Using an image slider is a powerful way to boost engagement with your visitors and improve conversion. Discover why it’s so effective.
This is part 2 of a 6-part series on increasing sales through your website by improving its look and feel.
What 80% Of YOUR Visitors See (You Should Make It Count)
Have you ever heard of the term ‘Above The Fold’?
It refers to the section of your website that shows BEFORE you scroll. Thus, the fold is the point on the screen where you need to start scrolling.
The part of the screen your visitors see first.
Remember that a new visitor decides whether to stay or leave your website within the first 2s so this ‘above the fold’ area is critical because it might be the only part of your website that they’re patient enough to see!
Why is this ‘Above The Fold’ So Important?
Web psychologists have conducted innumerable experiments to see how users behave on a website and do you know what they have ALL found?
That content placed above the fold still grabs 80% of our attention!
Why is this so important?
It tells us that we have to EXTREMELY careful what we place here since it is the most valuable area on your website.
What Does This Mean For You?
Firstly, I want you to think about what is THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTION you want your site visitors to take?
Secondly, I want you to check that there is a strong call to action ‘Above The Fold’.
Thirdly, I want you to check that this prime real estate is as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
Content above the fold grabs 80% of our attention, make sure your prime website real estate is awesome!
So what should you be doing ‘above the fold’?
You should be engaging our users here and one of the best ways of doing that is with an image slider.
Are You Engaging Your Users? (3 Amazing Tips That Work)
Remember when the internet was young and websites were ‘static’?
They just presented the information in a simple and ugly text format. a bit like an old telephone directory. Nothing fancy.
How boring!
Well we’ve come a long way since then and users want an interactive experience. They want to see movement. They want to see creativity.
They WANT something that engages them.
So how do we engage visitors?
These Three Things Engage Visitors
- Exceptional Images.
- Movement
- Change
Think about it. Great images just inspire you and make you want to look at more of them.
Movement just catches your eye and you can’t help but wonder what comes next. You’ll even stick around to see what happens next.
Change ensures that regular visitors are engaged, since if it always looks the same the don’t really need to look closely as nothing is new.
These are the three things that keep your users happy and engaged so that they spend more time on your website.
3 Things that hold a visitor’s attention: exceptional images, movement and change!
Can you think of what incorporates these 3 aspects? The answer is easy. Image sliders of course!
So now that leads me to my next point.
Is Your Website Boring? (Most People Make This Mistake)
When did you last refresh your website?
What about the time before that?
Remember that if your business is successful it will keep and maintain it’s customer base.
so your customers who return to your website always see the same version without any changes.
What kind of impression on your customers does this leave?
What Most Businesses Do?
They only refresh their look and feel every few years. Is this you?
Imagine walking into a boutique shop and it had the same layout from 3 years ago? Maybe it’s still got old Christmas decorations up!
You can immediately tell the difference between a boutique shop and a Chinese thrift store, just by the window display. The one regularly refreshes their window display, while the other set up their display when they open and never change it.
I sometimes wonder if the items in the window display of various thrift stores have been there for more than 10 years!
What kind of impression does this create?
In the same way, many top end websites regularly change out or tweak their image slider. By changing the image slider, it can give a new look and feel and keep people engaged.
So that begs the question, what do you want people to think about your company when they visit your website?
I don’t think this is the message you want to be sending.
Now I’m not talking about a complete overhaul, just a little change here and there, or something to show your visitors that there has been some change since they last visited.
It forces them to look closely at your content again, since subconsciously they’re trying to find what’s different.
What About Google? Do They Care?
You might think that it’s fine to have an older looking website, but did you know that Google tracks this?
Every time the Googlebot visits your site, it checks for any changes.
A yearly website refresh is a great way to get Google’s attention and get customers back on your site!
Not a major change, just a tweak here and there. Change an image out for a new one. Add a new item to your menu.
What Do You Think…
Happens when Google finds your site the same without any changes year after year?
They might assume that the site is not maintained, it’s outdated, ‘boring’, and may not even rank you as highly.
So this means, that less people even see your site and Google rather serves up the exciting ‘new kid on the block’ in the search results.
Is this what you want?
This can all be avoided by freshening up your site every so often.
3 Quick Tricks To Get Maximum User Engagement
I realise that a ‘website refresh’ sounds daunting but it really doesn’t need to be! It should be quick and simple and affordable.
Let’s take a quick look at 3 parts that when combined can have a MASSIVE impact.
PART 1 – Above The Fold
I showed you that 80% of a users attention is ‘Above The Fold’.
PART 2 – Attention Grabbing
I showed you that you need:
- Great Images
- Movement
to really capture peoples attention.
PART 3 – Regular Updates
You need regular change to your website.
Bringing The Parts Together For Maximum Impact
For maximum impact I suggest combining all three parts.
MAX IMPACT = (PART 1) x (PART 2) x (PART 3)
MAX IMPACT = (Above The Fold) x (Great Images AND Movement) x (Regular Changes)
You’re probably asking how do you do this without spending a fortune? We also asked this question for a long time before we came up with an affordable solution.
One of the best ways of doing this is with an interactive slider since it meets all the criteria for capturing people’s attention.
It’s above the fold, contains great images and movement and it’s easy to update and change!
Ideally you’d like a different slider on each major page of your website that you want to capture attention on, but we understand that it might not be suitable for everyone.
Want To Fix This?
Remember our shop example how they keep changing the layout? Well, they don’t always re-arrange the shop to create a feeling of change, it’s mainly their front display window that they regularly change to keep people interested.
It’s the same with your website. Sometimes you need to change various page layouts, but mostly a simple change at the top of your homepage slider is enough to create a ‘fresh’ feeling.
If you feel like your website needs a little boost, take a quick look at our ‘Interactive Slider App’.
In fact, if you want to see how these powerful sliders work have a look at our various apps! On each app we’ve created a unique interactive slider to capture attention and communicate key aspects of a app.
Go on, browse ‘All Addons‘ and then for each app check the interactive slider out to see what I mean.
Including an interactive slider on your website is a great way to get your visitors’ attention: https://bit.ly/1B4NNsN
As always, if you have any questions just pop us a mail or contact support and we’ll help.
What’s Next?
Read our next article in the website optimization series:
Optimizing Your Website Navigation for a big Conversion Boost
