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Don Norman once said that “the goal of design is people.” If your design does not attract people, then it needs to be revised. UI/UX Design can turn website views into engaged users, paying customers and a virile online community, but if the interaction is tacky, the design is not as good as it is supposed to be.

What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

Conversion rate Optimization is a systematic and sustainable method of increasing the percentage of visitors who perform a task on your website or Application. The key explanation is that it is a sustainable effort you put into your website, which means there is always room for more ideas; thus, it is a continuous process.

When you go to the market, you notice sellers of similar products beside each other. Conversion is like going to two or three different stalls to engage with them and see the shop that offers what you want. 

A buyer is moved to buy the experience they get from the seller. 

How convincing is the seller? 

How welcoming is the seller? 

Do you get a sample of the product? 

No one will buy from a rude or impatient seller. Good sellers know how to care for potential customers until they buy.

Bring the same thing to your website. 

How convincing is it? 

Which feeling does it emote? 

Can your users get a peek into what they are paying for? 

How does each element respond to them? 

These questions are important to know whether your website is a rude and impatient seller or a kind and empathetic seller.

CRO starts by identifying the problem or objective that needs changes or optimization before starting a plan. Once the problem is identified, it is much easier to determine which action to take and how to measure growth over time. 

Out of the variety of methods to increase your CRO, interaction design is a big deal and should be the focus. This blog will give you insight into how to make better interactions to drive CRO.

What is Interaction Design?

Interaction design is the bridge between UI and UX. It takes visual information from the interface and translates it into elements that respond to a user’s action. Interaction design (IXD) is a specialized field of UX design focused on creating engaging interactions between users and products, services, or systems. It’s about designing how users experience and navigate a product.

There is a model of Interaction design that classifies interaction with dimensions. These dimensions should be adhered to to create a mind-blowing experience, allowing the user to pay for the brand’s value. This model was proposed by Gillian Crampton and updated by Kevin Silver.

1. Words (1D)
2. Visuals (2D)
3. Physical Objects (3D)
4. Time (4D)
5. Behaviour (5D)

All of these dimensions are independent and interdependent for a fulfilling experience. A website filled with only written instructions will bore many readers. The same applies to a website with only images and graphics that will not provide clear information to the users. Imagine a button with no CTA; it’ll just be there for display.  

Types Of Interaction Designs

Interaction design (IXD) can be categorized into different types based on their focus and application in a design.

1. Mobile Interaction: Mobile interaction creates intuitive interfaces for mobile and smart devices. It’s about understanding how users interact with these miniature devices and designing interfaces that feel natural.

Mobile interactions involve tapping, flicking, swiping, gestures, and voice interaction. Mobile interactions should be used for quick and fast navigation to spur the user into action.

 

2. Desktop Interaction: This focuses on interactions on larger screens. The interactions come in bigger sizes and functionalities that differ from mobile devices. You can hover around an element on desktop devices, but it might not be so for mobile devices.

This is why designers and everyone involved in the product cycle should know the kind of interaction suitable for content. A desktop design should focus more on big and lengthy tasks for convenience, which leads to higher conversion.

 

3. Visual Interactions: As the name implies, these are interactive elements the human eye can see. They are the basis of every design; a blank sheet won’t mean anything. Visual interactions include text colours, shapes, images, etc. The fact that these elements exist doesn’t mean humans can interact with them.

For example, a long text without the function of scrolling or a button that doesn’t lead anywhere wouldn’t mean anything to the user. Visuals in designs not only attract attention; users are supposed to use them to perform a task, and only then will conversions be guaranteed.

4. Voice Interaction: This interaction engages the users, prompts them to do something, or provides information through audio communication. It came about because of the need to increase accessibility to technology. 

Voice interaction has become a part of our daily interactions, from surfing the Internet to playing music. Incorporating voice interaction will increase conversion because it requires less effort from the user.

 

5. Micro-interactions: These are subtle but valuable interactions in a design. They include animations, hover effects, and subtle sound cues that provide users with feedback and enhance the overall user experience.

Why Is Conversion Important For Your Design?

You may be wondering about the involvement of design and marketing, but you need to understand the structure of a website or an app is directly responsible for how people respond to it.

• It is a success metric: Conversation rate shows how well your product is doing. A high conversion rate indicates that users are having a nice time with your product. On the other hand, a low conversion rate means something is up.

 

• It increases ROI: A high conversion rate validates your investment, whether in terms of time, money, or human resources. Every business owner is thrilled to see that users are taking action and paying for the product. Since high conversions are paying off, there will be little to no need for intensive marketing effort.

• It builds trust for potential clients: You will have figures to show potential clients and investors willing to scale your brand. You can justify the resources you used on your design and how it increased sales, leads, or user engagement. This will give them something to hold on to while partnering with you.

• Designers will focus on Good UX: If you have a shop, do you force the customer to buy or create an environment where the customer feels encouraged to buy? Once you understand that a good UX forms part of CX, your effort will be geared towards creating a good user experience. Conversion helps you understand why UX is a solid part of branding and marketing efforts.

• Gives your brand an edge in the competition: Conversion helps you identify where you stand and areas for improvement to create a user journey that stands out from the competition. 

How To Make Interaction Designs That Convert

It is easier to learn how to make interactions that improve user experience, ultimately leading to conversion since you understand the benefit to your brand.

Understand the problem and User’s Need

The beginning of every design is knowing and understanding what you are designing for and why. Users don’t often know how to articulate their problems, so user research helps us get to the core issues. Their responses give insight, which leads you to create solutions rather than focusing on features. Your solution should integrate interactions perfectly into their workflow or day-to-day lives. 

Another aspect of research is that you get to prioritize the solutions from the most important to the least important. You can now tailor those solutions to ensure they greatly impact conversion. 

For example, if the most important solution for a banking app is a simplified account transfer process, it is a higher priority than adding investment options. As the designer, the focus should be on making transfers easier, like transfers with a mobile number, beneficiary options, etc. Then an option to invest can come after every transfer is made.

Use elements that increase Speed

After understanding the problem and identifying a solution, the next step is to focus on speed. Speed makes a difference between customers going from website A to B. If you have the best solution but it is very slow, users won’t come back to use it, even if they finish the initial task. 

The point is to focus on finishing the main task as soon as possible, so any features or actions that distract users from doing so should be avoided at all costs. The technique that can help with conversion when you have many features is progressive disclosure. It is a design principle where you only present the information users need at a specific stage in their journey.

Optimizing your website or app for speed involves reducing unnecessary heavy graphics or using image compression techniques, minimizing code bloat, and leveraging efficient content delivery networks (CDNs) for less loading time.

Your CTA is the Dragnet

 

Have you seen how a dragnet works? The net passively collects a large number of fish within its path. Once the dragnet is pulled in, only the desirable fish are kept, while smaller or unwanted ones might be released.

Your CTA should be bold and strong enough to capture and retain users’ attention. It should not blend in with the background. Use contrasting colours and actionable text with clear fonts. Your text should contain a sense of urgency, like “limited time offer,” to drag your users to convert.

As much as you are looking towards conversion, you should be careful not to be aggressive with the copy. The copy should be in alignment with your target audience. For instance, if there is a dragnet with big holes, we’ll assume that the target is a big fish, not tiny fish. Whether your copy is two words or five words, it should resonate with your target audience so your design won’t come off as a spam tool.

Combine UX and Copywriting

Interaction with users works well when good UX writing guides the users through a design. It focuses on clear, concise language that provides essential information and guides users through the interface without being too promotional. 

On the other hand, copywriting engages users, brings out the value of a design and persuades them to do something. For conversion to take place, there should be a fusion of copywriting, so in essence, the copies should perform two main functions:

• Solve the user’s problem.
• Nudge them to take action!

For example, let’s see how a checkout copy will look like for an e-commerce website.

UX Writing: Enter your billing address

Copywriting: Get your package in 2 days if you enter your billing address now!

UX and Copywriting: Enter your billing address to complete your checkout now

 

“When you are a writing or changing a microcopy, make sure you are convinced of what you are writing in order to convince your users” —- Saurav Mishra

Always consider Mobile Designs.

According to SEMrush, the percentage of website visitors with mobile devices was 81% higher than that of visitors with desktop devices in 2023. This shows that mobile devices are now the main means of access to the internet, and as a service provider looking at conversion, your design should have a mobile option. 

A higher percentage of your target audience will use their smartphones to complete tasks on your website, so consider a highly responsive design or a mobile app to make it convenient for them to do what they want. 

Use Micro-interactions

In interaction designs, small details make a big impact. Micro-interactions are little elements that don’t serve a big purpose, but those big solutions will not function well without them. They provide feedback on user actions, which makes the user feel informed at every point—for example, a progress bar for loading a file or a ding sound for order confirmation.

Micro-interactions are subtle but provide an emotional connection with the user. If the design responds to their action at every stage of a user journey, it makes them want to do more. For example, Paytm provides a text after payment saying, “This transaction took less than 4 seconds.” It is tiny text but points out the value of always trusting them as the fastest online payment method.

Try A/B Testing

A/B Testing is a result-oriented technique that allows you to compare two versions of a solution to gauge how well users respond. After you have tried improving the quality of your design solution with Good CTAs, micro-interactions, or Responsive design, you should come up with variations of your solution that include those tips to give your users the option of which works best for them. It is like a 2FA for securing your users’ interest.

 

How A/B Testing Works

1. Choose an element/feature to test
2. Note down your KPIs
3. Create a different version of that element
4. Split your audience into two(Random sampling is advised)
5. Analyze the version with your business KPI
6. Implement the highest-performing design

 

A/B testing works for dilemmas in designs. For example, if a brand colour is Red and White, the landing page is white, and it seems just okay to make a CTA button Red, but Red could denote a danger sign for the user, so an A/B test for the CTA can help make the right decision for the users.

“There are some things to take note of when it comes to using Interaction to increase conversion. Do not assume the audience are techsavy, understand the intent of the audience and lastly, know their demography. All of these will help you design interactions and microcopy that will lead them to take action” — Saurav Mishra

Conclusion

Interaction design is no longer a luxury but a necessity for every brand that wants results. You have to understand your users, tailor your solutions to their needs, and gauge the solutions with conversion to see how well interaction is doing. 

Whether as a designer or B2B/B2C brand owner, learning is always essential. You have to keep yourself updated to understand the industry and see how users respond to services in the industry. One book that can help you is Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with user data and reiterate until you achieve the desired results. Are you ready to watch your conversion rate go up like never before? Your design can be the major investment you need to make. Send a message to us, and let us take it from there.

FAQs About Conversion Rate for Your Business

1.How can I ensure my CRO efforts are ethical?

Your CRO efforts should be geared towards satisfying your users, not manipulating them into actions with flashy deals or other incentives that won’t last. Make your value proposition sustainable and retain your customers.

2.What are the latest trends in CRO and interaction design?

Some of the trends include:

• Personalization
• Voice navigation/ Voice search
• Chatbots/VAs
• Accessibility