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How To Design A Website That Converts (10 Top Principles To Follow)

Learn how to design a website that converts with these 10 key principles, covering usability, visuals, and user experience to maximize engagement.

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How To Design A Website That Converts (10 Top Principles To Follow)
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To design a website that converts, focus on reducing distractions, maintaining consistency, optimizing structure, showcasing benefits through visuals, building trust with testimonials, and ensuring a seamless user experience. Prioritize clear CTAs and minimize friction to enhance engagement and conversion rates.
Title
How To Design A Website That Converts (10 Top Principles To Follow)
Date
Feb 13, 2025
Description
Learn how to design a website that converts with these 10 key principles, covering usability, visuals, and user experience to maximize engagement.
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Current Column
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Writer
Picture this: You launch your new website and await a flood of visitors. As time passes, you realize that very few people engage with your site, let alone convert.  Even worse, you have no idea why. Sound familiar? If so, you’re not alone. Many website owners are in the same boat. They want to improve their website conversion rate and learn how to design a website that converts. If that’s you, you’ve come to the right place. This article will give you actionable insight into developing a website that converts. By the end, you’ll understand how to create a site that attracts visitors and encourages them to take specific actions that boost your bottom line.
One way to improve your website conversion rate is with testimonials. Customer reviews naturally boost conversions by building trust with your prospects. Testimonial software can help you collect, organize, and display these valuable snippets of information to help you achieve your objectives, such as learning how to design a website that converts.

How to Design a Website That Converts

How to Design a Website That Converts
How to Design a Website That Converts
Whenever a visitor lands on your page, you compete against countless distractions. While you can’t control their Instagram notifications or real-life conversations, you can control how distracting your landing page is.

The First Principle of Conversion-Focused Design

Distractions on your landing page include internal and external links and the number of options you present to visitors. The more calls to action and choices you provide, the more distracted and confused they become. This is known as over choice or analysis paralysis in psychology—similar to feeling overwhelmed by the endless options on Netflix.
Although it would be ideal for visitors to complete every call to action, people can realistically focus on only one at a time. Offering too many choices increases the likelihood that they will exit your website without taking action. To boost conversions, design every element with a unified goal in mind.

Consistency is King

Keeping your brand’s ecosystem homogeneous ensures visitors won’t feel confused or overwhelmed as they navigate your website. Your brand is about the relationships you build with your audience, and every touchpoint reinforces their perception of your business.

Key Branding Principles for a Conversion-Focused Website

  • Consistent Fonts & Colors: Use the same fonts, colors, and styles across your website to create a seamless experience. Stick to two fonts (one for body text, one for headers) and no more than three primary colors.
  • Brand Guidelines: Establish clear guidelines to track colors, fonts, and design elements for consistency.
  • Design Match: Ensure your ads use the same style as your website. Since our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than text, a unified design across ads and web pages makes your site feel more relevant and familiar to visitors.
Maintaining design consistency creates a cohesive experience that enhances trust, improves engagement, and boosts conversions.

Build Structure

Conversion-focused design doesn’t just look high-quality but subtly guides visitors to keep scrolling and taking action. Building structure and creating a natural flow on your website is essential. Balance content in an informative and visually appealing way, making it easy for visitors to understand what to do next.
Building an optimized layout will eliminate the anxiety of a blank canvas and save you from future headaches.

Steps to Build a Strong Website Structure

  • Design Your Information Hierarchy: Instead of blindly choosing a landing page template, decide what elements to include and in what order. List the components needed to support the page’s goal and list them in their most logical sequence.
  • Prioritize Key Elements: Identify the most critical sections and determine how large they should be made.
  • Optimize the User Flow: Examine the layout from a visitor’s perspective:
    • How much content will each section require?
    • Where should images be located?
    • How can sections be visually separated for better aesthetics?
  • Create a Logical Flow: Avoid randomly placing content. Ensure each section adds value and progressively answers visitors' questions, leading them toward conversion.

Showcase Benefits

The saying “Show, don’t tell” applies perfectly to website design. Videos, illustrations, and images help visitors connect with your brand emotionally and convey benefits that words alone can’t express.
But visuals shouldn’t just match your website’s design—they should demonstrate the value of your offer and how it improves users’ lives.

Key Visual Elements for Conversion:

1. The Hero Image

Your hero image is the first thing visitors see, making it the most essential visual on your website. It should:
  • Communicate your offer without needing extra text
  • Capture attention while focusing on clarity and transparency
  • Avoid over-complication—many websites fail by making their hero image confusing

2. Photographs & Images

Photos of real people and objects make your site feel more trustworthy and relatable. When choosing images:
  • Use positive emotions (pride, happiness, love) to create a strong connection
  • Research shows that people-focused images convert better than product-only photos
  • Negative emotions can also be effective when highlighting visitors’ pain points

3. Illustrations

Often used by software companies, illustrations simplify complex concepts and visually explain how a product works, helping boost conversions.

4. Videos

Though more complicated to produce, well-crafted videos can be highly engaging and conversion-driven, demonstrating your offer in a way that static images can’t.

Draw Attention to Key Areas

Attention isn’t given freely—it must be earned. With countless distractions, using colors, fonts, shapes, and patterns strategically can help draw focus to key areas, engage visitors, and direct them toward your CTA.

1. The Role of Color in Design

While no universal rule exists for color choices, follow these principles:
  • Limit 3-4 Colors (excluding images) for a clean, focused look.
  • Dedicate One Color to CTA Buttons—this should be the most eye-catching color.
  • Experiment Beyond White Backgrounds to improve visual engagement.

2. Choosing Fonts & Typography

Visitors skim rather than read, so visual hierarchy is key:
  • Use headers, bold, italics, and color to highlight important information.
  • Prioritize readability—keep it clean and scannable.

3. Designing CTA Buttons for Maximum Impact

A well-optimized Call-to-Action (CTA) button improves conversions.
Button size:
  • CTA buttons and fonts should be twice the size of body text.
  • The button should be the second most visible element after the headline.
Button effects:
  • Use hover effects, drop shadows, or gradients for a more enticing look.
  • Flat designs can use color changes on hover for interactivity.
Button placement:
  • Place one CTA button above the fold (visible without scrolling).
  • Include another at the bottom for those who scroll.
  • If your page is long, add more CTA buttons throughout.

Build Trust With Your Design

When visitors land on your website for the first time, they need reassurance that your site is legitimate and trustworthy. The internet is full of sketchy offers, so designing for trust is essential.

1. Customer Testimonials

Well-crafted testimonials build credibility. Ensure they include:
  • A high-resolution headshot (shoulders visible, smiling).
  • The customer’s full name for authenticity.
  • Multiple testimonials to reinforce trust.

2. Product Reviews

For ecommerce stores, product reviews are key, but they must be authentic:
  • Monitor reviews to remove spam or unfair ratings.
  • Use an automated email to request a review one week after delivery.
  • Offer a discount code as an incentive for detailed, image-included reviews.

3. Instagram Feed & Influencer Endorsements

If a notable influencer or celebrity has endorsed your brand:
  • Feature their testimonial prominently on your site.
  • Embed your Instagram feed to showcase real-time engagement and boost credibility.

Reduce Friction

A well-designed website isn't just about aesthetics—it must function seamlessly to maximize conversions. Any glitches or friction can disrupt the user experience and reduce engagement.

Simplify Your Forms

Nobody enjoys filling out long forms. To reduce friction:
  • Ask only for essential information.
  • Keep forms short and straightforward to improve completion rates.

Improve Website Speed

A slow-loading site is one of the biggest conversion killers.
  • Use GTmetrix to analyze and fix speed-related issues.
  • Optimize images, minimize code, and use fast hosting for better performance.

Make Use of White Space

White spaces are the areas of emptiness in between areas of importance. As such, white spaces give your websites room to breathe and allow your CTAs to stand out. Your website will be highly cluttered and hard to navigate without white spaces. Google’s homepage is the perfect example of how to use white space effectively.
All the white space on Google’s homepage draws your attention towards making a search query. In addition, white space removes distractions and makes it easy for the visitor to know where to look.

Focus on User Experience (UX)

Improving your website’s user experience is an effective way of boosting your conversions. User experience refers to the quality of a visitor’s interaction with your website and how it makes them feel. An excellent user experience means that visitors can efficiently perform their desired actions.

Enhancing UX with Seamless Navigation & Mobile Optimization

Visitors will effortlessly be able to find exactly what they are searching for. As such, the best tip I can give you for user experience is to make your navigation consistent and helpful.
Furthermore, we recommend ensuring that your website performs well on mobile devices. This is because many visitors will visit your website on a mobile device.

Use a Minimalistic Design

Another effective way of creating a conversion-focused design is to use a minimalistic design. A great example of a minimalistic website is Apple. Apple is one of the largest technology companies in the world, but they chose to use a simple and clean design for their website.
Their website focuses on:
  • Short and effective copywriting
  • High-quality product images
  • Potent navigation
  • White space usage

Why a Conversion-focused website is Important

How to Design a Website That Converts
How to Design a Website That Converts
Zero website optimization is not an option. Not if you are ambitious about your business. The challenge of rising to the top of Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rankings is already huge. Web design optimization helps you overcome this seemingly insurmountable contemporary challenge.

Boost Conversions with Smart UX Optimization

Hootsuite, a leading social media management dashboard software, redesigned its branded landing page, which resulted in a 16% lift in conversion at 98% statistical significance. You, too, can optimize your website and ensure that your brand shows up in the top ranks when interested buyers search for the keywords you target.
Once they explore your product or service through your website, they will feel delighted if your user experience is optimized to its full potential using the most efficient survey recipes. Converting them from such a positive state of mind with focused conversion rate optimization is a piece of cake!

Increased Visibility on Search Engines

By optimizing your website for SEO, you can find effective keywords to rank on the SERPs. As more of your keywords start to rank on the Google results, organic traffic on those pages will increase. If you do it right, you can improve the site's visibility and rank on the search engines.

More Lead Generation

Optimizing your website brings traffic to your website and helps convert visitors into prospects and customers.
Through targeted conversion rate optimization, you can create personalized experiences for different visitor types and help them complete their goals on the website. Understanding user behavior is key to generating new leads.

Improved User Experience

Whether it's desktop or mobile devices, users expect an exceptional website experience. Visitors may discover your website while using their desktops, create an account, add some product to the cart, and leave — only to continue on the mobile website.

Enhance UX and Conversions with Website Optimization

Since customer interaction points are scattered throughout multiple channels, creating a streamlined journey experience is imperative. That is what website optimization helps you to achieve by fine-tuning your website across different devices.
Optimization strategies like improving page speed, fixing issues, developing responsive designs, and providing one-touch checkout on mobile and single page checkout on desktop improve user experience and conversions.

Make Data-Backed Incremental Changes

What would you do if your website wasn't performing as intended? Where would you start to make the changes? Doing a complete design change requires much effort, time, and resources. Without any data-backed approach, how would you know if the new design would be better or worse than the original? That is where optimization testing comes into play.
Running website optimization tests, such as A/B tests, lets you make subtle changes to the web page, test them against the original design, and implement the best one. It saves resources and produces data-backed changes to improve conversions. Even if the test fails, you will know what not to execute on the webpage.

Build a Wall of Love for Free Today with Testimonial

Building trust and credibility is essential for improving your website conversion rates. Testimonials simplify the process of building trust and credibility for businesses. Displaying genuine customer reviews on your website helps alleviate buyer anxiety, especially for new and small businesses. Customers want authentic feedback from real people, not brands, before purchasing.

Easy Customer Reviews with Testimonial

Testimonial simplifies the process of collecting and showcasing authentic customer reviews. With our plugin, you can easily collect and display video and text testimonials, import third-party reviews, and create an embeddable wall of love widget for your site. Showcasing real customer experiences on your website will improve your credibility and conversion rates.

How to Measure Your Website Conversion Rate

How to Design a Website That Converts
How to Design a Website That Converts
Conversion rates tell you how well your website converts visitors into leads or buyers. More specifically, your conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who complete a desired goal on your site.

A Simple Guide for Calculation

You can calculate your conversion rate by taking the number of visitors who complete a goal—like making a purchase or signing up for your email list—and dividing that by the total number of visitors to the site. Then, multiply that number by 100 to get a percentage.
For instance, if you had 1,000 visitors to a page on your website and 50 of them made a purchase, your conversion rate would be 5%. In this case, your website is 5% effective at getting visitors to complete the desired purchase goal.

Understanding Conversion Rates Across Your Website

Of course, that’s a pretty simple example. The reality is that you can have multiple conversion rates for different goals across various pages on your website, and it’s helpful to track them all to get a better idea of how your site is performing.
Your conversion rate will also vary depending on the type of industry you’re in. For instance, some websites may have conversion rates as low as 1%, while others can reach 10% or higher. As a rule of thumb, the higher your conversion rate, the better.

How to Measure Website Conversion Rate

Figuring out your conversion rate is easy. All you have to do is take the number of people interacting with a particular piece of content, like a page on your website, and divide the number of conversions by that total. The total you divide by depends on the type of content you want to find the conversion rate for.

What Is a Good Conversion Rate?

A reasonable conversion rate tells you, in no-nonsense terms, the efficacy of your public-facing content. If 6% of your website visitors join your mailing list or make a purchase, your website is 6% effective.

But Here’s The Thing

That's very good. A “good” website conversion rate falls between 2% and 5% across all industries. Industry-specific conversion rates vary quite a bit more.
Some industries, like industrial equipment, have very low-performing websites. Others, like those that sell electronics or business services, tend to have higher average conversion rates. So, if you're inclined to see where you fall, research and ensure you're not comparing apples to cars.

Conversion Rate Metrics to Track

Want to see what conversion rate metrics to track? Below, we’ll cover several conversion metrics to help you gain more insight into your campaigns. You can also check out our list of handy conversion tracking tools. The metrics we’ll look at are:

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

One of the first conversion rate metrics to look at is click-through rate (CTR). CTR measures clicks — specifically, how many people click on links to your site when they encounter them. You can use CTR in email campaigns, paid advertising, or organic search. Remember that CTR isn’t just about how many people visit your site.
It’s about how many people click links to your site relative to how many people saw those links in the first place. So, for an email campaign, it would be relative to the number of people who opened your email. Tracking your CTR gives insight into how effectively your off-site marketing draws people back to your website.

Cost Per Conversion (CPC)

Cost per conversion (CPC) measures how much you pay for each conversion. Let’s say you run a paid search ad for a month. If you wanted to know that ad’s CPC, you would first figure out the total amount you spent on the ad. Then, you would divide it by the number of conversions that the ad drove.
CPC is a great way to determine which marketing materials are worth running and which ones cost you more money than they’re worth. Two different ads might drive the same amount of conversions, but if one costs more than the other, the CPCs will differ.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Return on investment (ROI) looks at how much you’re making back from the campaigns you run. If you wanted to measure the ROI of an email marketing campaign, you would look at how much revenue it’s generated for you and then subtract the amount you spent on the campaign.
Naturally, you want your ROI to be positive because it indicates you’re spending less on your marketing and getting more revenue in return. A negative ROI means you’re losing money on the campaign, which tells you it’s time to put it on pause or adjust the campaign.

New Visitor Conversion Rate

The new visitor conversion rate looks specifically at first-time visitors to your site. Regarding purchases, the new visitor conversion rate doesn’t tend to be very high. After all, they’ll need to take the time to familiarize themselves with your brand before buying anything from you.
But not all conversions are purchases. If you’re looking at email signups, this metric can be handy, helping you see how effective your website is on a first impression.

Returning Visitor Conversion Rate

Conversely, the new visitor conversion rate is the returning visitor conversion rate. As the name makes clear, this metric looks at the conversion rate among site visitors who visited your website previously. Regarding purchases, you can expect this metric to be higher than your new visitor conversion rate.
If, for some reason, it’s just as low, that indicates a problem somewhere on your site. Separating the two metrics is useful because combining them might result in a distorted view of your conversion rate. You may be driving tons of conversions among returning visitors, but combining it with new visitor metrics could skew it toward the low end.

Average Time on Site

Another valuable metric to look at is the average time on site. This metric looks at how long the average user stays on your site from the time they arrive, and it’s handy to view it alongside the conversion rate. This metric gives you an indication of how quickly people convert.
You provide enough information to convert users if you have a high conversion rate but a low average time on site. A high conversion rate and time on site means users may spend more time reading up on your product or service to decide if it’s right. If both are low, users leave quickly without converting, so you may need to adjust to keep users on your website.

Bounce Rate

Leading off the end of the previous metric, it’s helpful to know how many of your site visitors stay on your site. Some people may visit a page they find on Google, quickly realize it doesn’t have what they want, and leave without even so much as scrolling. Your bounce rate is the metric that looks at this behavior.

What Your Bounce Rate Says About Your Website

A high bounce rate means many people abandon your site as soon as they arrive, while a low bounce rate means people are sticking around. If many people bounce, it usually means that your content isn’t what they want or your pages are taking too long to load.
Adjust your website to deliver a better experience and see better results with your conversion rate marketing. Of course, bounce rate could also indicate that people find what they need quickly and then leave — you’ll have to determine that based on context.

10 Examples of High Converting Websites for Design Inspiration

1. Mint: A Clean Design That Makes Personal Finance Less Intimidating

notion image
Mint’s website stands out with its straightforward, engaging design that makes personal finance management simple and accessible. The intuitive interface and effective use of visuals guide users to sign up and start managing their finances efficiently.
From the moment visitors land on the homepage, they are greeted with a clean layout and straightforward messaging about the benefits of Mint. Using testimonials and success stories builds trust and encourages new users to get started.

Key Features

  • Clear, user-friendly design
  • Noticeable CTAs
  • Effective use of visuals
  • Simple sign-up process
  • Testimonials and success stories

2. Discord: A Social Site for a Social App

notion image
Discord’s site effectively highlights its community features, giving users vibrant visuals and straightforward navigation. The clear CTAs encourage visitors to download and join the platform quickly. Discord’s homepage features dynamic content that explains the platform’s unique value, such as:
  • Voice channels
  • Chat rooms
The design is modern and inviting, making it easy for users of all tech levels to start.

Key Features

  • Attractive color scheme and visuals
  • Straightforward navigation
  • Clear CTAs
  • Dynamic content explaining features

3. Rookwood: An Artistic E-Commerce Design

notion image
Rookwood impresses with its artistic, elegant design showcasing its handcrafted ceramics. The site’s detailed product descriptions and beautiful imagery help convert visitors into buyers. Each product page includes:
  • High-quality photos
  • Detailed descriptions
  • Stories about the artisans
Creating a connection between the customer and the product. The easy-to-navigate catalog and seamless checkout process enhance the user experience.

Key Features

  • Artistic, elegant design
  • Detailed product descriptions
  • Beautiful imagery
  • Stories about artisans
  • Easy-to-navigate catalog

4. Skillshare: An Educational Site That Makes Learning Outcomes Clear

notion image
Skillshare’s website presents its educational offerings with a clean layout and compelling value propositions. The easy sign-up process and engaging course previews drive high conversion rates.
Skillshare highlights popular courses and showcases user reviews, which help prospective students decide to enroll. The site’s design focuses on learning outcomes and the platform's benefits, making it clear why users should choose Skillshare.

Key Features

  • Clean layout
  • Compelling value propositions
  • Easy sign-up process
  • Engaging course previews
  • User reviews

5. Warby Parker: An Online Eye Glass Store That Gets It

notion image
Warby Parker, the trailblazing eyewear company, has redefined how we shop for glasses and sunglasses. Their sleek, user-friendly website is a masterclass in high-converting B2C design.
With straightforward language and bold CTAs, visitors quickly understand the benefits of using Warby Parker. The site’s design ensures that information is easily accessible, making it simple for potential customers to explore their offerings.

Key Features

  • Straightforward language
  • Bold CTAs
  • Virtual try-ons
  • Simplified checkout process
  • Easy-to-access information

6. Glossier: An Aesthetic Site That Captures Attention

notion image
Glossier’s website captures attention with its modern design and easy-to-understand explanations of its automation solutions. Glossier, the beauty brand born from a blog, has become a powerhouse in the direct-to-consumer space.
Their website is designed to convert casual browsers into loyal customers through its engaging and personalized approach.

Key Features

  • Modern and aesthetic design
  • Easy-to-understand explanations
  • Interactive elements
  • Social proof
  • Use of videos and graphics

7. Bite Toothpaste Bits: A Green Design That Sells Zero-Waste Toothpaste

notion image
Bite Toothpaste Bits’ website is eco-friendly and modern, reflecting their sustainable ethos. The precise value propositions and engaging product descriptions encourage visitors to try their zero-waste toothpaste.
The site also features customer testimonials and a straightforward purchasing process, making converting visitors into customers easy.

Key Features

  • Eco-friendly design
  • Clear value propositions
  • Engaging product descriptions
  • Customer testimonials
  • Straightforward purchasing process

8. Viral Loops: A Clean Site for a Complicated Product

notion image
Viral Loops’ site effectively communicates its referral marketing solutions with a clean, professional design. Detailed case studies and clear CTAs encourage businesses to try their software. The site’s layout emphasizes the ease of integration and the growth potential, helping visitors understand the benefits quickly.

Key Features

  • Clean, professional design
  • Clear CTAs
  • Emphasis on ease of integration

9. SEMrush: A Hub of Useful Marketing Information

notion image
SEMrush’s website is a hub of digital marketing resources featuring detailed tool descriptions and success stories. The engaging content and free trial offers encourage visitors to sign up and use the platform. The site’s design is informative and user-friendly, effectively guiding visitors through its tools and features.

Key Features

  • Detailed tool descriptions
  • Success stories
  • Engaging content
  • Free trial offers
  • User-friendly design

10. Jumix Design: A Portfolio Website That Draws You In

notion image
Jumix Design’s website showcases its web design and digital marketing expertise with a visually appealing, professional layout.
The portfolio section and user testimonials build trust and attract new users. The precise value propositions and contact options make it easy for potential customers to reach out and start a project.

Key Features

  • Visually appealing design
  • Professional layout
  • Portfolio section
  • User testimonials
  • Clear value propositions
  • Easy contact options

Build a Wall of Love for Free Today with Testimonial

How to Design a Website That Converts
How to Design a Website That Converts
Testimonials simplify the process of building trust and credibility for businesses. Displaying real customer reviews on your website helps alleviate buyer anxiety, especially for new and small businesses. Customers want authentic feedback from real people, not brands, before purchasing.

Easy Customer Reviews with Testimonial

With our plugin, you can easily collect and display video and text testimonials, import third-party reviews, and create an embeddable wall of love widget for your site. Showcasing real customer experiences on your website will improve your credibility and conversion rates.
  • Conversion Optimization Strategy
  • Conversion Optimization for Small Business Website

Written by

Damon Chen
Damon Chen

Founder of Testimonial

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