The Elements Hierarchy
The purpose of an eLearning platform’s layout is to create a thoughtful and nourishing environment for the user. The hierarchy of the layout’s elements is a critical part of a design that converts successfully. This encompasses numerous factors, from the position of the login form and CTAs to video player size.
An eLearning platform’s layout must achieve a harmonious elements hierarchy for an intuitive user journey and seamless user experience. This way, visitors will find what they came for easily and be more likely to convert.
Veterans in the eLearning industry suggest that the best way to organize elements on an educational platform is to align them with each other and form a symmetrical design. Important content, such as the selection of courses, should be presented consistently in symmetrical blocks.
The symmetry of elements makes individual objects easier to perceive, while asymmetrical elements are best left for visual aspects like illustrations.
Follow The “F” Heatmap Pattern
If you examine a certain number of heatmaps that track where people look for information on any website, you will notice that it forms a letter “F” pattern. Namely, this is formed by where website visitors look the most. Eyes process information intuitively by starting at the top and going all the way from left to right, before heading down and focusing on the left-hand side of the screen.
Keep this in mind when organizing your content for your eLearning platform. Work your content into this “F” heatmap pattern and place the most vital and helpful links and other elements where people look for them.
Achieve A Sense Of Order With Grid Alignment
Closely related to the layout hierarchy point above, consider shaping your eLearning platform into grids—a website design framework in which various types of content can be added. Grid alignment contributes to a sense of order and, just as importantly, guides visitors’ gaze to move naturally across the screen.
Modular grid alignment layout motivates users to stay longer on your website. This type of design separates the website wireframe into straight columns and rows, resulting in modules of equal or similar dimensions.
However, the pages of your eLearning platform where courses are located work best with a hierarchical grid layout that organizes content based on their views, popularity, and other criteria.
Design Your Homepage Thoughtfully
A clear, understandable, and user-friendly homepage design is crucial for a visitor’s first impression of your platform—as much as 94% of first impressions are design-related. Your eLearning platform's homepage should make it immediately obvious that the users have come to the place where they can get the knowledge they are looking for.
You can achieve that by using the right color palette, white space that reduces the chances of distraction and informative copy. The most commonly used colors in eLearning are purple, blue, orange, and yellow. According to color psychology, these shades subconsciously instill feelings of wisdom, trust, mental stimulation, and optimism, respectively.
Another important element that should be a part of your eLearning homepage is the brief tutorial video on how your platform works. Social proof in the form of authentic user reviews displayed prominently on the homepage are a great way to increase trust and boost your platform’s credibility.
Showing stats on how many students your ePlatform currently has or what renowned brands and clients use your platform to train their staff is another way to boost your brand reputation. And finally, using bold, enticing CTAs to push visitors toward conversion is an absolute must. We’ll talk about CTAs in more depth later in the article.
Use White Space For Better UX
Lots of strategically used white space helps with eye fatigue and contributes to a better overview of the content. It reduces distraction and focuses the visitors’ attention on important bits of content. On eLearning platforms, the purpose of white space is to help visitors gain new knowledge. It is an important part of a smart design strategy that simplifies this process.
There is a substantial amount of reading content and watching videos on eLearning platforms, which requires mental and physical effort. White space solves the issue of tired eyesight and prevents visual stress.
Leverage Fonts That Boost Readability
A visitor’s decision to stay and use your eLearning platform also depends on your choice of typography and fonts. Fonts that improve your website’s legibility add significantly to your conversion rate efforts by contributing to the perception of important information.
A preferred type of styling for eLearning platforms is one that is already familiar to visitors. Too much experimenting in the typography department may alienate some visitors. For the best readability, sans serif fonts like Roboto and Futura are the way to go. You should also pay attention to the size of the font, which should not go below 12px or exceed 18px for the main copy, although this really depends on the font. Headlines, of course, can and should be much larger in size.
Make User Journey Efficient With CTAs
The element that triggers conversions, Call-To-Action, should drive visitors to specific points to conversion regardless of where they are in your funnel. You decide what the conversion is on your eLearning platform and what you want your visitors to do. The crucial thing is to display your CTA buttons clearly and prominently. Use a bold button design and vibrant, contrasting colors that make them stand out against your website's background.
In order to highlight your brand consistency, a CTA button color can match the one used on your logo. A CTA with these visual qualities and a short, to-the-point message motivates users to make the conversion decision. When coming up with your CTA copy, use words that inspire and excite. One of the smart moves is to give the user a chance to preview the course or see the learning curve to awake the interest for purchasing. A review + Call-To-Action button is a good combination for both design and conversion.
Conclusion
eLearning platforms need to provide an online environment that facilitates continuous improvement and adoption of knowledge. In order to achieve this user retention, these platforms must follow the basic principles of high-converting design that, for this particular field, differs slightly from other websites such as eCommerce.
eLearning platform visitors want to find the information or a course they are looking for immediately. They also need to know if the platform can be trusted and if it provides quality knowledge by looking into social proof elements.
Following the above 7 best practices of high-converting design will ensure your eLearning website achieves consistency, sustainability, and growth.
