Is This What Really Effective Web Design Looks Like?

[directmarketingadvice]

Hey folks,

The other day I got an email from Drayton Bird about one of the guys who will speaking at his up-coming seminar.

The guy's name is Ben Hunt and he's a web design "expert" (for want of a better word).

According to Drayton, Hunt...

* Added just one extra link to an auction site and increased the number of new sellers by 235%.
* Changed a button style and product sales soared by 146%.
* Put a photo of a woman on a product shot - and sold 38% more products.
* Stuck a photo of the view from an office - and got 94% more conversions.
* Took just one graphic from the header of an e-commerce site and sales rose almost 200%.

I got curious about this, so I googled his name and found Hunt's web agency site. Here it is:

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/

What struck me is how blank the site is. The design is almost zero. I was actually quite shocked.

But if he's a guy who's done lots of testing of different designs and can get the sort of results claimed - and assuming he applied what he learned to his own site - does this mean this is a reflection of what sort of designs convert best?

What are your thoughts on this?

Steve

 

[nitro23456]

I think its quite easy to read actually, pulls you in to the text without trying.

 

[david64]

I've seen this guy around a lot, people giving him the thumbs up, but don't know anything about him. Looking at his portfolio, he obviously practices what they preach. If he is someone who has done a lot of usability testing, he no doubt has some good advice for web site construction.

His site's don't quite float my boat though. I prefer the sites that this agency does:

http://clearleft.com/

I find their designs to be crisp and the content is very readable.

As you no doubt know, there are all sorts of different approaches to all things web. This guy has his take, someone else has another.

 

[fisicx]

What struck me is how blank the site is. The design is almost zero. I was actually quite shocked.

Not so sure about the hover effects but open sites like this are far more effective than anything with a backgrounds, borders and lots of imagery.

Horses for courses though, it won't float some people's boat but he does know his stuff (first met him about 6 years ago).

 

[I, Brian]

Everytime people mention percentages my BS detector kicks in.

Often, %'s are used to hide the fact that we're talking about small figures, which will otherwise make an "achievement" look laughable.

% statements can only really be taken seriously if accompanied by figures that demonstrate clearly an effect was *significant*.

 

[S-Marketing]

Everytime people mention percentages my BS detector kicks in.

Often, %'s are used to hide the fact that we're talking about small figures, which will otherwise make an "achievement" look laughable.

% statements can only really be taken seriously if accompanied by figures that demonstrate clearly an effect was *significant*.

Very true, If one week my site gets one visit and the next it gets two, wow 100% increase. I must be doing something right.

 

[An Oasis]

so I googled his name and found Hunt's web agency site. Here it is:

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/

What struck me is how blank the site is. The design is almost zero. I was actually quite shocked.

Forgot to test that one in FF and no that does not float my boat one iota.

 

Plain and simple does it everytime.IMHO.

If I want art I go to an art gallery.

Having said that its sometimes needed to add a few more text bits to rank highly.

Bens site will not do well in the SE's.

Earl

 

[An Oasis]

Plain and simple does it everytime.IMHO.

If I want art I go to an art gallery.

Earl

So you'll be doing some redesigns then?

 

[KM-Tiger]

It does present information very clearly, it seems to take no effort to read.

There is also a clear establishment of expertise by giving away a lot of free stuff, and the CTA's are there but not overdone.

I would imagine that it would convert well.

 

So you'll be doing some redesigns then?

Not if I don't want to loose the top spots on the engines.

Bens site probably converts better,but my designs are there to get customers en mass.

Hence web design nearly always has to be a compromise.

Earl

 

[omnivore]

What are your thoughts on this?

Steve

i think if i wanted something like a CMS interface designing he'd be the man to go to for that kind of thing to make it simple and easy to use.

don't know about anything else, all the designs seem to be essentially the same

making the % claims without any kind of context is worse than meaningless and in fact when no context is given it is positively misleading

we got increases ten times greater than that when we made tiny changes on our site too, but that was during the launch period and we were growing 300% every week any way..

raw numbers out of context?

bunch of poo!

that ice cream site in his portfolio....made me want to kill myself

 

[Timpane]

Well Looking at his portfolio, he obviously practices what they preach. If he is someone who has done a lot of usability testing, he no doubt has some good advice for web site construction.

 

[akirk]

well, mmm, it took me 6 clicks on portfolio examples before I got one claiming to be designed by Scratch Media on the actual site... the first one was designed by someone totally different (ice-cream), and the fact that he has designed the usability on the HMRC site would make me run screaming - very un-intuitive website - if I didn't have to use the HMRC website you wouldn't get me anywhere near it! - at least I now know who is responsible!

Alasdair

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

All of the sites are about information, and if you want people to read information then I can understand the logic behind those designs. They're not about selling. Selling is a whole different ballgame, and probably the folk that are less keen on these designs are more used to dealing with websites where there is a particular outcome that you wish people to flow towards rather than the outcome being that they visit the website and leave.

 

[mobyme]

I've seen this guy around a lot, people giving him the thumbs up, but don't know anything about him. Looking at his portfolio, he obviously practices what they preach. If he is someone who has done a lot of usability testing, he no doubt has some good advice for web site construction.

His site's don't quite float my boat though. I prefer the sites that this agency does:

http://clearleft.com/

I find their designs to be crisp and the content is very readable.

As you no doubt know, there are all sorts of different approaches to all things web. This guy has his take, someone else has another.

Their sites would look ten times better if the would do away with those bloody stupid backgrounds they choose to put on nearly everything. The sites that they have done without backgrounds look far cleaner.

 

[LloydBurrell]

What struck me is how blank the site is. The design is almost zero. I was actually quite shocked.

I think, in this case, design is not about a set of images that would render a solid identity; it's rather about making dialogue more effective. I really like this kind of design: it's simple, extremely intuitive and easy to use, but, at the same time, using a very well defined color scheme, it's also powerful. Great stuff. And it's also very much... British.
------------------------------------------
Lloyd Burrell
Publisher

 

[An Oasis]

Not if I don't want to loose the top spots on the engines.

Bens site probably converts better,but my designs are there to get customers en mass.

Hence web design nearly always has to be a compromise.

Earl

So you've tested and got confused with the results!?

 

So you've tested and got confused with the results!?

Yup I have tested that being No 1 on google is worth 3 times any design or conversion issues on a website.

Earl

 

[GNU]

I can see what they are trying to achieve, its very accessible but nothing stands out on the page, its all a bit samey... like David I think these guys have it sussed:

http://clearleft.com/

still accessible but the page is broken up a bit more thoughtfully.