Author: Tom Cottrill | Date Posted: Jul 20, 2022
Website button design is absolutely essential for a high-converting and user-friendly website. They help with the design of the page as a whole, but more importantly they help users see exactly where to click to get what they want next in the navigation process. Creating effective buttons, however, isn’t always easy because colors, shape, size, CTA, and many other factors come into play for psychological effects on visitors.
Bad buttons have just as much of an impact on a website as good buttons—except in the other direction. Bad buttons are typically:
It’s important to remember that a bad mobile experience can also come from poor button design, so a button that works and looks great on desktop may not operate the same way on mobile devices.
Website button design should follow some best practices to ensure you get the conversion rates you want and that your visitors get the user experience they need. If you have Google Analytics or other analytics tools on your site, such as heat maps, you will be able to know where people are bouncing from your site and use that data to determine if you need to tweak your button design. Here are some tips for good button design.
This may feel like common sense, but some people try to get creative with their button design and deciding what exactly it should look like. Make sure your buttons look like buttons and that it’s clear they are clickable. All aspects of button design matter for multiple reasons, but users need to instantly know what they can click and what they cannot click. If they have to scroll and look around and can’t figure it out, they will often get frustrated and leave the page, assuming you have no further navigation.
This is especially important on a mobile device where visitors can’t just hover over links to see what is clickable. Users can understand what is clickable with visible signals like a shadow, the general size and shape of the button and color contrast from the rest of the site.
Don’t assume that it is obvious that it’s clickable. Make sure it’s very clear.
Again, trying to get too fancy with your button design and reinvent the wheel will just confuse your website visitors. You want your button designs to have one of these traditional looks:
Typically the solid buttons are easiest for visitors to see and identify as clickable button because users can see that the button is multi-dimensional, they will understand they can click it and it will take them somewhere else.
Don’t make visitors search all over a page for the CTA button. An integral part of button design is placing it where users expect to find it. When using a traditional layout, you’re able to more easily put buttons into a place where users expect it. The places where users expect buttons are:
Think about where you expect buttons to be when you’re navigating a website and go from there. Then make sure to test prior to launch with people who didn’t design the website to see where they expect a button to be as well.
Since 2013, Ignitro Studios has been working to blend marketing and technology in support of agencies and other marketers. By understanding both sides of web development, we have a unique perspective and advantage within the industry. We provide design, development, project management, QA, and strategy, driving the bus so our clients don’t have to. We will work with our clients to get results while also empowering them to do their job better. Learn more about Ignitro Studios.
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