The Connection Between Website Navigation and Conversion Rates

Far too many organizations fail to prioritize their official website when launching or refining a comprehensive digital marketing campaign. A wise organization, however, will recognize the vast potential of its website to serve as the central hub for its online activities and a primary driver of sales and other desired conversions.

From flashy graphics to on-brand messaging, many elements of an effective website are quite obvious, even to the average visitor with little tech savvy or marketing knowledge. By contrast, smooth navigation is generally invisible to website visitors and only becomes noticeable when problems arise. But despite its inconspicuous nature, navigation can enormously impact your website and its ultimate success or failure.

The Role of Navigation in Website Design

From a visitor’s point of view, navigation is the process of moving from section to section and page to page of a website to arrive at a desired location. This location might contain information, lead to e-commerce channels for purchasing sought-after products or provide opportunities to sign up for valuable opportunities.

From a web designer’s point of view, navigation is the collection of user interface elements that enable visitors to arrive at a desired location. Regardless of the specific content and/or features they seek, a website with quality navigation will get visitors exactly where they need to go with minimal hassle and confusion.

To accomplish this feat, web designers must choose the right navigation component for each step of the website visitor journey. Fortunately, there is no shortage of navigation components from which to choose. These components range from search bars and other keyboard-driven entry fields to purely clickable components such as eye-catching buttons, in-text links and interactive menus.

Beyond merely moving visitors from one page to another, quality navigation can help establish a solid internal structure and logical layout for your website. In other words, navigation can set up clear relationships among individual web pages by linking them in tactical ways. The result of this effort can have a profound impact on exactly how easy and rewarding a website is to use.

The Impact of Navigation on User Experience

A critical evaluation metric in the world of digital marketing, user experience (UX) refers to the overall positive or negative experience of visitors as they use a certain website. You simply can’t overestimate the key role that website navigation plays in UX optimization. 

Although UX involves elements that range from design aesthetics to content quality, navigation simply must take center stage in any UX optimization project. If users can’t quickly and easily find the information or features they need, they’re likely to get frustrated and have a poor overall experience. On the other hand, users tend to report excellent UX when encountering a website with a straightforward and intuitive navigation structure that leads them exactly where they want to go. In general, websites that emphasize navigation and UX are more likely to lead to sales and other valuable consumer conversions. 

Over the years, Lucid Advertising has helped many organizations leverage the power of website navigation to generate sales and engender growth. Among other case studies, Lucid’s complete website redesign for Everwell Specialty Pharmacy is an outstanding example. Freshly rebranded as Everwell, the unique pharmacy needed a new website to match its new image. Beyond quality content and regulatory compliance, Lucid placed a profound emphasis on navigation and other functional elements of website design.

Navigation to Drive Conversions

Testament to its vital importance, navigation has a profound impact on other website components. For example, a good developer will ensure that all graphic design and layout elements make navigation as simple and logical as possible. Quality website navigation can also positively affect an organization’s branding efforts, demonstrating trustworthiness, reliability and convenience. By improving UX, optimized navigation can keep visitors on a website longer and ultimately lead to desired conversions. Contact Lucid today to learn more about what a website designed for navigation can do for you.