We’ve experimented with a variety of strategies for maximizing website conversion rates with font selections, and below we’ve shared a few ideas in these categories:
- Font color
- Font type
- Font size
Font color, just like button color, is a conversion driver.
Recently a user experience manager at Microsoft disclosed that changing shades of blue for Bing.com search results netted a revenue increase of nearly $80,000,000.00 a year!
What’s the magical color?
Why #0044CC of course – in fact you’ll see this shade, or similar shades of blue show up on a variety of top site’s links including Google, Amazon, and others:
Our suggestion with regard to color is to follow the leaders to – use blue for link actions.
In addition to using basic blues for links, use a sharp contrast to make critical elements, like headlines, stand out!
Selecting the right font is all about compatibility.
When it comes to font type, it’s all about making sure your users see what you’ve intended.
For instance, did you know that while 99.90% of Windows users have Tahoma installed, just 62.57% have Calibri?
When you’re building out your site, choose widely used fonts to be sure that your users are seeing what you intended – and use CSS to control the user experience.
Using CSS let’s you select different font-sets for a user’s browser to fall back on if the user doesn’t have your default font, and it’s just this simple to implement:
CSS font fallback example:
body {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, san-serif;
}
Using the above code (and testing it in your own browser to see how page formatting looks under each) ensures that you’ll have a seamless user experience.
For for information about the font-family CSS attribute or other CSS info checkout: w3schools.
Finally, establishing the right font size is critical.
If your visitors can’t read your site, or find it uncomfortable to read, you’re going to lose them immediately.
Your site’s readability should be in tune with your audience: adults over 40 years old prefer 14 point, where younger audiences prefer 12 point.
And yes – getting this RIGHT will improve your conversion rate.
Here’s the bottom line – if a user has a hard time reading your website, they’re going to walk out the door without a second thought – test larger fonts to see how your audience reacts.
P.S. – Yes, we can help you increase your conversion rate . . .
Click here to contact us today and learn how we can drastically increase your website conversion rate for no money up front – backed by our $10,000 guarantee!
Nice tip on the color of the links. I will tweet this post. Keep up the good articles. If you wanna try our tool for tests let me know, or signup using the link in this comment.
The suggestion with the larger font size luckily goes hand in hand with the “Web 2.0” trend of using larger fonts…
Hi Zack.
I totally agree with the tip on font colour of blue for links. I have made this change on many client sites over the years and almost without exception, results improve significantly. It’s such a simple thing, but it works!
Also, now that I am over 40 & have to wear glasses to read (!), I also agree with the larger font size tip as well. So many sites have tiny little 7-8 pt fonts which drive me crazy.
Cool site – I’ll be back.