A compelling message for all website owners.

Here's a small task that should provide you with interesting results – open your website and read the very first line and/or look at the very first image.

What are your first impressions?

Do you stand out from the crowd or does it look a bit too much like many other websites out there? Is it responsive? – i.e. does the information reflow to fit mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones? Does the very first line of text that you read effectively capture what your company is all about? Is the use of imagery stunning or just a little bit dull?

Does any of this really matter? Well that depends on the value you place on your website and the role it can play in building your business.

It has been well documented that visitors to a website will form an impression on the quality of the site within a 20th of a second. That's correct – a 20th! This was from a study by Dr Lindgaard which appeared in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology.

Anyone looking up this study will find that it dates back to 2006 but we feel that it is still as relevant today as it was back then.

Here's what the BBC had to say about it:

The researchers believe that these quickly formed first impressions last because of what is known to psychologists as the ‘halo effect’. If people believe a website looks good, then this positive quality will spread to other areas, such as the website's content. Since people like to be right, they will continue to use the website that made a good first impression, as this will further confirm that their initial decision was a good one.

As websites increasingly jostle for business, Dr Lindgaard added that companies should take note.

"Unless the first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors,"

she warned.

This is interesting research and great advice in our opinion. It's also central to the Stage One work (audit, research, planning, messaging and vision) that we deliver for all the websites we work on.

We view these as critical stages to ensure people don't leave your site as quick as a blink.

For more information on our Website Department contact:
iain@artdepartment.co.uk