FFR035 - Is Beautiful Design Important For Funnels?

One thing I’ve found rather amusing is the common perception that it’s important to have a beautifully designed funnel that “looks amazing”.  

 

To put this into perspective, I’m not saying you should be sloppy and throw something together without caring... as a funnel that looks like a 5-year-old has built will put people off.

 

However, those that are frequently obsessing about making pages look amazing are really missing the point...

 

The 3 most important factors of any funnel are (in order): List (or traffic)  Offer Copy (or creative)

 

Brian Kurtz lists it with this breakdown: List 41% Offer 39% Copy 20%

 

Notice how there is no mention of design here. There’s a good reason for that... it’s really not that important at all. 

 

In fact here are some quite valid reasons why you should go with a plain (but not horrible) design: Images slow down the load time of a page Images distract the reader (or video viewer) from the sales copy Beautiful design takes up a lot more time and costs you more to set up the funnel Pretty design rarely makes any positive difference to conversion rates The people who notice or admire the design will likely not bother buying from you Buyers will hardly even notice it as they are more interested in your offer and what your product/service can do for them. 

 

Emails have the same principle as well... keep them simple. 

 

I realise I’ve probably ruffled some feathers and upset those that are graphic designers or appreciate design... so I’d like to add that images do still have their place in a funnel. 

 

However, they should be kept to a minimum, always be compressed to reduce file size and they MUST be relevant to the copy on the page. 

 

You don’t just add images to make the page look nice, they have to be there for a purpose... which is to contribute to the desired conversion... whether that is an opt-in or a purchase or whatever. 

 

The point I’m making here is that design and images are WAY overrated when it comes to building a successful funnel, and it’s not necessary to have an amazing looking funnel to get it to convert and make you money.