At Designzillas, we know how to market your product, service, and company online. In order to effectively communicate the key elements you offer to your audience, we follow the guidelines of the marketing model called AIDA. AIDA is an acronym which represents various steps involved in selling and marketing a product or service to a specific consumer. As web designers, we see the benefits of this model from a technical approach for our client projects which allow us to produce quality designs that thoroughly implement the AIDA model to achieve goals and objectives.

We craft our designs to subliminally engage our target audiences through Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. In this article we will be exploring some individual examples of showcasing how designers and developers craft websites to achieve results through this model.

A = ATTENTION

First and foremost, we need to get the user’s attention! Having a potential consumer getting to notice your product and grabbing their attention is step 1. In web design there are many ways we can capture the Attention of the visitor:

1. Attention through Vivid Imagery

Recent web design trends have adopted more use of strong imagery to support the balance of the layout - similar to traditional print methods (ie: newspapers, magazines, etc). Imagery is the number one attention grabber you can offer through your media, but it’s all about what image you produce, where you place it, and what message it supports. If anyone knows the importance of Attention through Imagery, it’s Apple.

Typically, during a new product release such as the new iPhone, iMac, or iPad, Apple showcases these devices through a crisp and high-resolution image of the product. The attention that the product receives is incredible, taking up nearly 85% of the screen, and instantly capturing the attention of the visitor.

A personal example of one of our client projects that we were able to capture the attention through Imagery was on BeHome247.com. This particular client had 4 x Major Markets they were penetrating (Residential, Business, Seniors, and Mobile). Each of which had their own imagery to support the message these products would offer for each market.

The example here shows the Attention for a Business Owner watching over the cash-flow of his business remotely, which is one of the appealing factors of this product for improving productivity for businesses.

However, Attention through Imagery is not the only factor involved in the AIDA process with these 2 examples - as explained later.

2. Attention through Typography

Typography is another well-known method that web designers use in grabbing attention through the use of large headlines, font pairing, coloring, and a well-balanced use of whitespace to support the effect.

The TC Delivers home page, another Designzillas client, makes effective use of strong typography using a Postal Style / Etched look in the company’s positioning statement. The phrase “The leader in quality mail solutions & savings” sums up the services by expressing the importance of quality in the services they offer, creating a powerful impact and attention grabber in the design.

The Designzillas home page also grabs the attention of our visitors by engaging them with a creative tagline “Is your website stuck in the stone age?”. This allows us to express our creativity, as well as inform the audience that we specialize in website re-designs.

I = INTEREST

Our next step in the AIDA model is producing an Interest of the consumer. Under the Attention portion of our post you saw how the aesthetic enhancements are used through vivid imagery and headlines, but this is also needed for assisting in creating Interest.

The big question we need to ask is “How will your product or service help me?”. In the old days of the web you could do this by creating a list that outlines all of the services you offer and hope the user takes the time to read the list, but now that is not an effective approach.

1. Interest through Practical Benefits

Practical benefits that many consumers look for are: Saving time, saving money, adding value, cutting corners, along with many others. We need to ensure the product we’re advertising is going to help our customer in some practical way to help peak the interest.

If we revisit the iPad and BeHome247 examples we can show how the substance of the Image plays a key role in capturing the customer’s interest.

iPad captures the Interest of their consumers by outlining a picture of the New York Times website, which allows them to target a cross-breed of Kindle-loving, nontech-savvy users looking to stay up to date with the news. They’ve communicated the immediate benefits of the device by showing key features, ease-of-use, and mobility of the product - peaking the interest of the audience.

BeHome247 likewise uses their imagery and text to show the practical benefits of their Residential products. Showing a burglar outside someone’s home, indicating that safety is a key benefit of the residential services. Instead of just saying “Our products help alert your phone if someone breaks in”, we do so by showing “here is how our residential products will help you.”, reinforcing the interest of the consumer.

D = DESIRE

Now that we’ve got the user’s attention, and created interest in the product, now is to make them Desire to obtain the product or service. We do this by promoting the product in such a way that creates an emotional attachment, which is deeper than just an Interest. This is one of the more difficult stages of the AIDA model, and our web design team does so in a few ways.

1. Desire through Content Sliders

Something that you will see in almost all of the Designzillas portfolio, is some sort of content slider. Whether this is done through JQuery, MooTools, or Flash - these image rotators have become very popular on home page and landing pages.

Not only do they increase the image of your website through accessibility and creativity, but they help showcase your services through a non-obtrustive and high-end manner. The aesthetical benefits of these sliders are not the only reason we implement them into our designs. The true reason we incorporate this feature is to assist in building Desire for our client’s products and services.

Apple utilizes the slider in marketing their iPad product through large images that show a variety of key features and benefits the product offers through an image switcher. This allows them to drill in deeper to the interest of the consumer by creating a Desire for the product, and showing many of the unique key features the product can do.

2. Desire through Supported Content

In web design, we support all of the elements in our designs to work together. We support Imagery with Typography with Supported Content to create a smooth flow down the AIDA strategic model. Here are some further examples of how Designzillas complements the Desire through supported content:

The most typical workflow for our design team is to find Imagery, Headlines, and Supporting content that works together to capture the Attention, Interest, and Desire of the product or service.

A = ACTION

Our final step in the AIDA model is to get the user to take Action. This step is what all of the other steps lead up to “What do you want me to do next?”, or “Where do I go from here?”. Once we have accomplished grabbing the user’s attention, peaking their interest, and stimulating the desire for your product or service, the user needs to know how to take action.

1. Call-to-Action or CTA buttons

The most fundamental ways of accomplishing this is through “Call-to-Action” or CTA buttons. A button is one of the most recognized clickable object in any interface (ie: Software, Website, Application, etc). Our design team looks to create a Call-to-Action that is specific to our client’s goals of where we want the user to go from here.

Common CTA examples would be: View Products, Contact Us, Order Now, Buy Now, View Our Services, Get Started, etc.

Here are a few examples of Designzillas projects that create clear and precise “Call-to-Action” buttons.

CONCLUSION

The AIDA model has been around in marketing for many years and even web design. Many experienced web designers have implemented this model in their designs without even realizing they’ve done so. This article is intended to showcase some of the purpose behind our decisions in layout designs, image selection, marketing copy and headline choices, and call-to-action.

At Designzillas, we use this AIDA marketing model to help craft your goals and purpose into a more natural approach in our client designs. If you’re interested in how our orlando web design agency can assist in marketing your product or service online, please contact us at sales@designzillas.com.

REQUEST A WEB CONSULTATION