Maybe this has happened to you. You’re at a networking event, a trade show or just happen to be talking to someone when they hand you their business card. You look down and instantly you have some type of reaction. Sometimes it’s positive. Other times, it may be negative. What prompts that reaction. Simple. The design. When it comes to engaging potential customers, it’s important to understand why good design matters.

You can have the same type of reaction online. Haven’t there been websites that you couldn’t click off of fast enough? Your website is often the first impression a potential customer has of you and your business. You have only a few seconds to capture a visitor’s attention. Make those seconds count. Speak to them through good design.

There’s an intrinsic value of good design

Good design could be the tipping point, the factor that determines if you make a sale or lose a sale. Having a well-designed site sends the message that you care about looking trustworthy and reliable.

A good design speaks to the customer. The colors, the graphics, the images and other design elements says volumes about you and your business.

Good design matters more than words

Having well-written, valuable content is key to the success of your site. The reality is that most people are going to skim most of it. They will read the headlines, bolded text and an opening paragraph. An eye-tracking study from a few years ago showed that less than 20% of text is actually read on the average web page. For more on this subject, read more here. Or just skim the bullet points.

If your audience isn’t reading most of what you say, how do you engage them other than with good design?

I know that I look at a design with a different prospective than other people do. I’m probably the one person in the movie theater wondering why the font in the credits didn’t match the font in the movie poster. Yet, we all react to design all around us on some level. Having good design matters. It’s the way to ensure you make the right impression on your customers.