Six Ways to Use Website Visuals to Attract Your Ideal Customer

Creating a website that appeals to your target audience is crucial for ensuring the success of your business. After all, the best way to convince consumers to convert is to show you understand their needs and offer solutions that can effectively remove their pain points.

But the truth about attracting your ideal customers is that it necessitates a versatile approach. In addition to creating attractive marketing campaigns and designing a highly functional website featuring compelling copy, you must also embrace the power of visuals.

Research shows that visuals impact 83% of purchase decisions, which means you need to take action to take your web visuals to the next level. So, without further ado, here are the best ways to use website visuals to attract your ideal customer.

What Types of Visuals to Use on Your Site

Most people equate the concept of visuals with standard images — original or stock photography that (hopefully) has something to do with your business solution. 

But if you're looking for web design tactics to elevate your site's look and conversion potential, you must expand your definition of website visuals.

In design, web visuals should refer to any element that communicates a message through the power of imagery. So, this includes more than just photos and illustrations. It also encompasses formats like GIFs, videos, and even UX elements that use pictorial signs to encourage web visitor activity.

Each of these formats has its ideal applications, as well as its pros and cons. So, choosing the best option for your brand isn't about going with the most popular type of visual out there. Instead, it's about identifying your ideal customer's pain points and wants and choosing web elements that will effectively communicate your brand's capability of removing their frustrations.

Six Ways to Use Website Visuals

Now that you understand that web visuals are a crucial part of attracting prospects and that you can employ multiple formats to achieve your desired outcome, it's time to start exploring strategies to incorporate them into your site's design. 

Here are a few ideas on what you can accomplish with visual elements.

Position Your Brand

One of the best ways to utilize visuals on your site is to position your brand in a favorable light.

According to research, most consumers (between 40% and 73%) pay close attention to brand reputation. In fact, a 2024 survey found that 67% of US buyers pick brands based on offered product quality, 44% prioritize customer support service, 52% want low prices, and 13% choose brands based on ESG values. Furthermore, when deciding what businesses to support, today's buyers consider privacy practices, employee treatment, and even affiliations with charity organizations.

With this in mind, you need to develop branding strategies to position your brand in a light that aligns with your ideal customers' preferences.

For example, knowing that its target audience requires reliability, Bay Alarm Medical uses its homepage visuals to communicate its trustworthiness. In addition to the Google Rating element in the hero section of the homepage, the brand also features videos that address the brand's credibility, which is an excellent way to convince Bay Alarm's audience to pick this service provider.

Build an Emotional Bond with Your Audience

Another excellent way to get more out of your website visuals is to use them in a way that will build an emotional bond between prospects and your brand.

According to scientific research, many purchase decisions aren't logical. Instead, they're the result of impulse or emotional decision-making. So, to maximize the chances of attracting your ideal customer, you must figure out what they feel passionate about.

For example, if you know your ideal customers have a specific pain point, you can use images to depict a negative emotion. In the content section of its homepage, Head & Shoulders uses photos of people unhappy with their hair, with each image being connected to a user pain point.

Of course, attracting your ideal customers doesn't have to be about addressing frustrations. Sometimes, showing off your target audience's aspirations can be just as effective at encouraging people to browse your offer. Just check out how Whole Wood Playhouses does it in the hero section of its site, where it shows happy children playing in their brand-new custom playhouses.

Explain How Your Product Works

Insufficient product understanding is one of the biggest conversion obstacles preventing you from capturing your ideal customers' attention. So, if you want to use visuals to help attract your target audience, why not use them to boost product understanding?

Research shows that explainer videos, in particular, work wonders in helping brands communicate the benefits of their solutions. And even more importantly, consumers love this type of multimedia. According to Wyzowl, 44% of people say their favorite way to learn about a new product is by watching a short video, and 82% have been convinced to invest in a solution due to interacting with this type of website element.

If producing stunning explainer videos is outside of your budget, you can use simpler visual formats to demonstrate how your product works. For instance, if you check out the DialMyCalls website, you'll see a series of in-app screenshots combined into a GIF, with each image perfectly demonstrating the software's capabilities.

Provide Social Proof

Today's consumers don't take brand promises at face value. Instead, they research products before deciding what solution to invest in. In fact, according to PowerReviews, 99.5% of consumers conduct online product research before buying. So, to attract your ideal customers and convince them to convert, enhance your website with social proof visuals.

The great thing about social proof is that these web elements come in many formats, shapes, and sizes.

For example, if you want to benefit from the fact that most buyers trust their peers more than they trust businesses, why not add user-generated content to your site? Look at the Pergola Kits USA website. You'll notice that the brand employs real-life images of its products in people's backyards to help web visitors form accurate product expectations and encourage them to start browsing.

Or, if you check out the Collibra website, you'll notice that this brand includes video customer testimonials on its homepage. Plus, it showcases the logos of its most successful (and famous) clients, using the reputations of these brands to attract and convert customers with similar pain points.

Show off Products in Their Best Light

Sometimes, the best way to use website visuals isn't to influence your target audience's purchase decisions. Instead, it's to empower web visitors to evaluate your solutions and choose the ones that fit their needs.

With this in mind, if you're going to invest resources into the visual elements on your site, remember to take a closer look at your product photos.

Do your best to ensure the product photos you feature on your website — whether on your homepage or product pages — are high quality. That way, you'll make them significantly more helpful to your future customers. Plus, you'll actively increase web visitors' chances of liking and buying your solutions.

For example, check out how Breaking Eighty uses product photos on its homepage. Each visual provides a high-quality look at what the solution looks like. Moreover, each photo also provides context about the solution's intended use. This makes it easier for consumers to make quick decisions about whether a product fits their needs. Plus, the aesthetics of the images make each article link more appealing and more likely to attract a view.

Guide Prospects through the Sales Funnel

Lastly, as you explore ways to use web visuals to attract your ideal customer, consider employing these elements to guide your prospects through the sales funnel.

If you look into the research about the typical buyer's journey, you'll find that it includes several steps

• First, people learn about potential solutions. 

• Then, they evaluate and compare multiple options. 

• Next, they decide on one or two top contenders. 

• Once they've gone through the previous steps, they buy the product. 

• And, finally, if they're satisfied, they re-purchase from your brand in the future.

Now, you could let your target audience go through these steps at their own pace. However, to maximize conversions and speed up the process, consider using visuals that guide web visitors through the sales funnel.

For instance, you can do this by speeding up the awareness stage with videos or founder messages, as on the Pinch homepage. This brand includes an interactive quiz on its website, allowing prospects to quickly find the ideal solution to their needs.

Or, if you want to capture more leads, you could do something similar to Olipop and create a popup that gives a discount to new email subscribers.

Final Thoughts

There you have it, some of the best ways to use website visuals to attract, engage, and convert your ideal customer.

As you enhance your site with visual elements, don't make the common mistake of bombarding visitors with too many images or videos. Instead, try to include sufficient negative space around each visual to allow it to make an impact. And, because layout hugely influences visibility, pay close attention to where you place each visual for maximum conversion potential.