The power of emotional design is widely recognized. Emotions, memories, and subconscious triggers can influence people. They make some decisions based on feelings rather than logic. As every designer knows, visitors can make an almost instantaneous subconscious judgement of whether a website or app feels trustworthy.
That’s why designers use design elements that evoke positive emotional responses.
However, no matter how many feel-good elements and heartwarming stories you cram on a page, your site will never reach its full potential unless it also inspires trust. Missing this chance can be detrimental, especially when creating a website for a medical, legal, or cybersecurity business.
In this article, we’ll recap the most important factors in designing for trust. Then, we’ll do a real-life comparison of NordProtect vs. LifeLock official sites to examine how each brand conveys trust through design, attention patterns, and service features.
The Basics of UX Design for Trust
Designers have a well-stocked kitbag of elements they can use as psychological triggers. For example, they often use design elements to invoke the fear of missing out (FOMO). Fortunately, they also have several elements in their design arsenal that can foster trust. These elements have become the golden standard for good website design.
- Professional, clean design free of distracting elements, with effective use of white space.
- Easy-to-find contact details.
- Well-known and recognizable security badges. Examples are SSL certificates and payment security seals from well-known payment platforms. Accreditation badges can demonstrate industry recognition, such as the Better Business Bureau seal.
- Social proof in the form of testimonials, customer reviews, or media coverage.
The Use of Predictive Attention Tools in UX Design
Predictive attention tools (like heatmaps, eye-tracking, and A/B testing platforms) have been around for a while. They allow experts to track how users interact with a page.
Eye-tracking can provide far more accurate information than heatmaps. These tools track the actual eye movements as people interact with a page. For example, eye-tracking may reveal that people ignore security badges. Designers can use the data to move the trust signals to a more prominent space.
The newest iteration of eye-tracking technology is Attention Insight predictive AI. It’s an exciting, eye-tracking tool to make instant adjustments to page designs. There’s no lull between iterations. Designers can make a series of incremental adjustments to page designs without waiting for real-world test data.
UX Design With Trust Elements: A real-life comparison
Designers aim to build trust by combining a harmonious visual hierarchy with the clever use of color psychology. Then, they need to guide people’s attention flow until they take the intended action that constitutes a conversion.
Using Visual Hierarchy
Visual hierarchy describes how you use website elements to steer people’s eyes around the page. A clear structure and good flow make people feel confident about navigating the site. An intuitive flow towards key information must answer three questions: What is your product? Why should the user care about it? Where should the user go next?
- Use contrast, sizing, typography changes, and color to make trust elements easy to find.
- Group trust elements to achieve synergistic impact. Place them near CTA’s, for example, a secure checkout button.
1st Site Comparison:
NordProtect’s page is meticulously color-coordinated and delivers critical information in controlled blurbs. It achieved an optimal clarity score of 70%.
The LifeLock site landing page header features a slider that whirls at dizzying speed, each slide with a new, urgent CTA. This attention-grabbing element may cause real-life users to lose focus before they continue down the page. Unfortunately, no eye-tracking or predictive eye-tracking technology can capture this defect. It captures only one slider at a time, resulting in an overall clarity score of 60%.
Applying The Psychology of Color
Colors are well known to evoke specific emotions. For example, blue is deeply associated with security and reliability. Green portrays calmness and safety. Neutral tones convey professionalism. Bright colors like red or yellow make vibrant CTAs. Use with care to avoid overwhelming people.
- Are the important elements contrasted enough? Testing your design with a contrast map ensures it meets WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards.
- Maintain a consistent color scheme across the entire site. It invokes feelings of permanence and steadfastness.
- Remember your friend, whitespace. Generous whitespace around trust signals can help them stand out.
2nd Site Comparison:
Let’s start with NordProtect. The headers and footers use a dark grey background with white text, lightly punctuated with the orange brand highlight color. The page has ample whitespace. The section background and highlight colors are muted to avoid distracting from the overall feeling of calm.
The LifeLock site alternates between predominantly white and black backgrounds within sections, but uses different shades of blue with varying gradients in some sections. Although it’s not a unified look, the effect isn’t conspicuous enough to create a significant distraction.
Guiding Attention Flow
Guiding people’s gaze around a page is the UX equivalent of social engineering. A critical eye-tracking review should identify one key element as the heatmap’s dominant focal point. Design should guide a visitor’s gaze in a way that closely matches their natural scanning behavior while prompting them to take an action.
- Use social proof (testimonials or customer reviews) to reassure people that others share their good judgment. Place trust signals where people are likely to look for contextual information.
- For example, users often look for social proof (e.g., ratings) just after reading product descriptions. The order of importance of elements should correspond to the heatmap hotspots.
3rd Site Comparison:
While NordProtect does a good job of providing more information on each scroll, its designers have moved beyond conventional social proof elements. Instead, they rely on the reputation of the NordVPN global brand. Nevertheless, their key elements are clearly designated and dominate the heatmap. The site also scores high on hitting consecutive pieces of key information. It scores a higher than usual 70% on clarity.
LifeLock used the more conventional approach to trust elements. They used contextual information and placed customer reviews immediately after the product description, followed by Trustpilot and other badge listings. The page scored an optimal 60% on design clarity. However, a closer look at the design elements shows that some key information about their product may be locked behind a tabbed layout, which could cause visitors to miss critical details on a first pass.
Building Trust—Element by Element
In website design, psychological triggers like visual hierarchy, color, and attention flow are crucial in building trust. Predictive attention tools are the fastest way for designers to refine the placement of these elements to ensure they have the greatest impact. Ultimately, a trustworthy website feels clear, consistent, and secure. That’s what keeps users coming back.
