Your Website Is Way Too Confusing : Simplify Your Website With KISS Principle

We want our website to be the best. High chance is that we will put a lot of elements into it, and make it cluttered. Unfortunately, people hate complex sites. Your visitors expect a simple, clean, responsive site from you. So, you should strive to present a neat site for the audience.

Let us see the multiple benefits of a simple website.

Scientific Claims

It is claimed by researchers that the human brain is more attracted to simplicity. Especially, when it is the case of website design. People understand the brand message better when delivered in the simplest format.

Simplicity brings happiness

A study was conducted where people were given two objects – one simple to hold and another too complicated to handle. The facial expressions of those people were closely monitored. All of them smiled lightly after holding the simple object. It proved that simplicity subtly elicits happiness in humans.

Simplicity makes thinking better

Humans reason best while reading through simple fonts. But if you give your readers a complicated font style to read, their thinking process will be affected. They may not take that buying decision and click on your CTA. But this is what you wanted. So, use simple fonts in your site.

People spend more money on simple websites

Researchers from Yale, University of Michigan and Stanford conducted a survey to find out where people will spend their money- a simple description or a complicated one. It was revealed that simple ads and websites are more alluring. People clicked on simple descriptions and shopped from there.

Even Google has agreed that simple sites are more successful in business. Visitors take only 50 ms to deduce whether a site is simple or complex. So, right from the homepage, your site should have a simple look.

The best example of a clean site design goes to Google. Its simple layout brings the visitor’s focus to search function.

Simplicity and cognitive fluency

Cognitive fluency refers to the easiness with which you can think of a topic. Simple sites encourage visitors to think more about the brand. As a result, people tend to remember the site for a longer time.

From all the above points, it is clear that a simple site can boost your conversions!

Now you may be wondering how to make your site simple. We would recommend the KISS method to follow.

KISS – Keep It Simple And Straightforward. In brief, this rule aims to simplify the user interface. You should not repeat the same features and elements. Add only those things that are essential, avoid all other stuff. Try to keep a minimum number of CTA in each page.

Now, let us see 13 practical steps to implement this KISS principle

1. No ads on the homepage

Ads contribute to the compl of a site. They block the content viewing experience. So, never ever add commercial ads to your homepage. If your chief income resource is as revenue, then you can minimise the number and keep them at sides and footer of your homepage.

2. Think of removing the sidebar

We are making the site simpler by deleting the unnecessary elements. The sidebar can be one of them. Use analytical tools to find out whether the sidebar is receiving optimum clicks or not. If your visitors are ignoring it, then no need to keep it there. Remove it off and declutter your site.

3. Simplify your homepage

The homepage makes the first impression and represents your business. Only this page guides visitors forward into the sales funnel. So, it’s designed has to be impactful. And a simple layout does the job nicely! The most important is the main CTA and navigation keys. They should be represented in clear and bold fonts.

4. Focus on one goal in your above the fold region

Above the fold area of the homepage attracts the most attention. You can reap benefit by focusing on a single goal here. First of all, ask yourself this simple question- What I want my visitors to do first? The answer would vary from business to business. Some would want people to take the free trial or read the blogs. Once you got the specific answer, highlight it. Make a bold heading and place it in the centre. So, people would directly click on it without getting distracted. You can also keep a menu button aside. This would provide more options to click on.

5. Limit the options to click

All the websites have menu buttons on the header. The number of these matters a lot. Ideally, you should have a maximum of 7 options to click.

Look at the Spotify website. It displays only 4 navigation keys. The lesser the number, the simpler will be your site.

6. Use ample white spaces

White spaces are a great tool to bring attention to the main CTA. It doesn’t mean you have to use white colour only. You can put a beautiful background image that has no texts on it. So, the customer is relaxed and puts attention to important texts only. White spaces minimise distractions and make the site elegant.

7. The architecture of the site should be logical

The webpages on your site should be arranged systematically. You should give a clear navigation menu on the home page. The user should not face difficulty in finding any info about your business.

8. Don’t use drop-down menus

Dropdowns are generally used to save space. But if the dropdown has a huge pile of info, it would cover a large space when opened. It may annoy the user. It is recommended to not use drop-down menus in your design. If required, minimise the links you serve in it.

9. Minimise the choices

If you are promoting top products on your home page, minimise their number. Less number of choices better encourage a buying decision. Follow this trick in the product page as well. Despite giving a lot of search results, show the most relevant options.

10. Minimise the colours used

It is better to use a mixture of 3 colours on your site. Don’t use a bundle of colours as that would make the site look messy, unprofessional.

11. Use heat maps

Heat maps indicate the buttons of your site which are most and least clicked. You can get a clear picture of what your visitors are ignoring. Now, delete those elements and declutter your site.

12. Be image-centric

Pictures depict a thousand times better than words. You can add demonstrative pictures and infographics on your site. They would make your brand message more effective and simple to understand.

13. Do user testing frequently

You are in the journey to enhance your site. Here customer feedback works like a golden tool. So, use advanced tools and gather customer feedback. Then work upon it and improve your site design.

Conclusion

So, these were the 13 practical steps to implement the KISS principle. These would make your website simple, elegant and worth visiting. People spend longer time on simple sites and make more purchases. Now, visit your site and take the first step towards simplicity.