With website redesign accounting for around 70% of the enquiries we receive, we already know that perception is everything. A poorly designed website can have a significant impact on how potential customers perceive your company. But, Canadian researchers have found that users form first impressions of web pages in as little as 50 milliseconds.
Take the test yourself; browse the Before & After’s in our website redesign portfolio to see just how powerful online perception can be (and how the design of a website can influence your judgement of each company).
In the time it takes to blink, a user will make an instant judgment of a websites ‘visual appeal.’ As first impressions lead to instant judgments on credibility and usability, creating a fast-loading, visually appealing site is vitally important to help websites succeed.
Dr. Gitte Lindgaard told Nature, which reported the research Lindgaard published in Behaviour and Information Technology, that her colleagues “believed it would be impossible to really see anything in less than 500 milliseconds.”
Led by Lindgaard, Researchers at Carleton University in Ontario wanted to find out just how fast people formed first impressions. A number of tests were carried out, such as testing users by flashing web pages for 500 msec and 50 msec onto the screen and then having participants rate the pages.
Results were consistent between participants at both time intervals, although the longer display produced more consistent results. But, in as little as 50 msec, participants formed judgments about the website design and images they glimpsed. Known as the “halo effect”, that first impression carries over to judgments of a websites other characteristics, which include its usability and credibility.
Lindgaard spoke to websiteoptimization.com about her study. She said: “There are lots of other reasons that affect user satisfaction…. The data we have just published only speak to the speed with which people decide upon an image being shown to them. People decide very quickly how much they like a web page.”
The research carried out by Lindgaard shows that reliable decisions about your website can be made in as little as 1/20th of a second. This instant emotional judgment can sway any subsequent judgments made after further reflection. Although your website may have superior products and services, an initial negative impression from a poor or slow web design can steer customers towards your competition. Everyone gets one chance to make a first impression, so make it count.
Contact our award-winning website design team to see what they could do to ensure that your first impression is a good one.
To read Lindgaard’s interview in full with websiteoptimization.com, click here.
