People always say never judge a book by its cover. But let’s face it, we always do. The cover is the first thing that catches our eye and perks our interest. It sets up the tone and theme of the book and gives us a hint at what to expect before even reading a single word inside. That first impression is everything. 

With brick & mortar businesses, that first impression is the curb appeal. If the storefront is run down, old or just plain shady looking, the customer is most likely going to skip that business and opt for the business that has kept their storefront fresh, clean and updated. If you’ve ever watched 20 minutes of HGTV, you’ll know this to be true.

And the same goes for the interwebs. Ms. Beaverhausen will judge a website by its design as soon as she arrives on the page. She will give it a good old fashion once over, scrutinizing the quality of the site, how well it was put together and how current or old the site is. If it’s not up to par, she’s going to bolt. 

Now you might be thinking, Ms. Beaverhausen isn’t a designer, what could she possibly know? Well, a lot actually. She has taste, and she has become accustomed to a certain standard of living on the interwebs. She’s been wined and dined by the likes of Facebook and Google and now expects every site to be of the same quality. 

How do we know this is what Ms. Beaverhausen expects? Well, according to research conducted at Stanford University’s Persuasive Technology Lab, they found that 75% of internet users most commonly evaluate a business’s credibility by its website’s design. They also found that 46% of people would leave a website before even reading the site’s copy if they found it to be too shady. 

That means that you are most likely to lose almost half of your visitors and potential customers purely based on your website’s design alone. This type of judgment on a business’s credibility is especially true for e-commerce sites. If a customer feels your online store is outdated, they will assume your security and payment gateway are also outdated and will be less willing to hand over their payment information. That could equal thousands of dollars in business.

Ms. Beaverhausen clearly finds value in well-designed websites. Of course, with that being said, a new coat of paint and some pretty pictures on the walls aren’t going to impress her either. You have to have the perfect combination of quality design, mixed with winning strategies proven to draw in Ms. Beaverhausen. And if a website is designed well enough, she won’t even notice those strategies are in place.

Overall, establishing your business’s credibility with a good first impression is key to your online success. The goal is to win over the ever so judgemental, Ms. Beaverhausen with your website’s curb appeal, so she’ll stick around long enough to hear what you have to offer.