Do you know what mental triggers your website contains and how your visitors respond to them? Find out here.
What are Mental Triggers?
In terms of website design and usability, mental triggers are the elements that cause your website users to respond in a certain way. These elements usually have an interactive edge to them and their performance dictates how users respond to them and overall affects the action that they take on your website. Mental triggers are found in almost every website and can happen on a subconscious and subtle level but affect website usability in a big way. It is important to take these into account when designing your website as they provide you with the knowledge of how your website will be used and responded to.
Example of a Mental Trigger
A drop-down menu is an example of a mental trigger. If it takes more than a literal couple of seconds for this menu and its options to load, this can actually disengage the user and trigger a decision in their head to leave your website. This extreme reaction is caused by two factors – control and expectations. The user is looking to control their experience on your website by clicking/tapping on the sections relevant to them. If one of these interactions is not instantly responsive (i.e. the drop-down menu does not appear instantly), the user can feel a lack of control in their experience on your website. Users are also used to instantaneous responsiveness when they use the internet. Even if your drop-down menu only takes two or three seconds to load (a very small amount of time on paper), it belies the instant expectations that internet users have come to expect and is therefore disengaging to them.
Choice Paralysis
One particular mental trigger presents itself when a website presents too many options to its visitors at once. This is known as choice paralysis as it overwhelms the users who are given too many options to consider at once. Rather than consider each one, the user can be triggered to leave your website as they have not been given a clear and user-friendly approach to the products and/or services on your website. In this way, you have clouded their judgment and actually put an obstacle in their way in their quest for fulfilling a need. This is the last thing that you want to do – the user is subconsciously paralyzed by this and you have lost a potential conversion.
Ireland Website Design builds and develops all of our client websites with every page and aspect considered which includes mental triggers and KPIs. Our expert team works with you to create your dream website that will drive sales to your business.
