Designing for conversion sounds ugly. You should learn it anyways
Your designs might be having a real impact. You just may be unaware of it
Recently, I've heard designers complaining about "Designing for conversion."
It sounds like an ugly practice and may conjure up images of a toxic workplace. It can also be one of the critical things designers can offer businesses.
Why? It is one of the easiest ways to show design value. Your design work might already be improving Conversion, and you might not be aware of it.
Here's how knowledge about Conversion (and other metrics) can help you communicate better with businesses.
Design KPIs: how to avoid dark/deceptive patterns
I've asked over 100+ Designers about metrics through my Data-Informed Design course, and fears tend to fall into one of 3 categories:
Metrics are unfamiliar (i.e., "I have no idea what I'm doing")
Metrics cause a loss of creative control (i.e., "Metrics will cause me to create safe, boring, predictable designs")
Metrics are intimidating (i.e,. "What if I misinterpret metrics or make a mistake?")
The second fear is the primary fear I hear about "Designing for Conversion."
Whether they've heard of nightmare scenarios where designers are asked to deceive users into buying things (or they've experienced it), combining design and metrics sounds like a surefire way to end up designing dark patterns.
These include:
Free trials that make it impossible (and frustrating) to cancel
Tricking users into purchasing premium plans they don't need
Emotionally manipulative designs (like having a "No thanks, I don't like saving money" button)
These patterns are used to pursue one specific metric: revenue. That's why designing for Conversion sounds like such an awful idea.
However, you can argue against using dark patterns by embracing metrics, particularly Design KPIs.
Why? Because metrics often don't always measure long-term effects.
Businesses can easily measure revenue by "number of sales" or "number of people who click the purchase button."
What happens afterward is not always immediately apparent. Executives might not be aware of the high number of customer complaints or think the large amount of returns are unrelated.
This is where Design KPIs are so helpful. In his book, Click! How to encourage clicks without shady tricks, Paul Boag talks about how specific Design metrics can help you argue against dark patterns.
By pointing out that tricking users into buying something will result in long-term loss of revenue (and trust) that you can measure through Design KPIs, you can argue against such destructive actions.
So, what is "Designing for Conversion" if it isn't about tricking users into purchasing things?
It's about the perfect first (blind) date.
First dates, magical moments, and designing for Conversion
Have you ever had moments when everything "clicks"?
The perfect blind date, where everything just went right?
The best family vacation, filled with unforgettable moments?
That's what designing for Conversion is really about. In the words of UX Specialist Jennifer Winter:
Conversion shouldn’t be about making someone do something we want to, but it should be about providing an ideal environment that makes doing that thing irresistible.
This is why restaurants spend 15% of their budgets on things like mood lighting, interior design, and making food that looks amazing to attract customers.
Or Disney measures and optimizes nearly every part of the 'family vacation' to ensure everyone has a great time.
Conversion isn't about tricking the 80% of users who come to your site, who will definitely "not buy" your product.
It's about creating an ideal experience for the 20% of users who "might/will buy" so that they purchase from you.
Here's how to do it.
How to design for conversion
"The fold" matters in terms of value.
"The fold" has fallen out of favor in the age of responsive design, but it matters here as a general guideline. Users need to understand what you offer within the first 10–20 seconds of landing on your homepage.
If what you offer (and if it's valuable to users) is unclear, you can often lose a significant portion of your users.
Recommendations for showing what's 'above the fold':
Communicate benefits jargon-free to showcase value
Showcase your unique selling points prominently
Address user pain points directly in headlines and copy
Intuitive user flows, or Jared Spool's $300 million button
One of the most dramatic cases of UX affecting Conversion was Jared Spool's $300 million button.
In this case, he recommended one specific pattern: the ability to checkout without creating an account. After all, if you want to buy something, taking the extra steps to create an account can often lead to user dropoff.
This is why making sure the path to Conversion is as short (and intuitive) as possible can make a huge difference. In Spool's case, the new feature resulted in 45% more users buying products, which led to $300 million in revenue.
Recommendations for an intuitive conversion workflow:
Reduce steps to key 'conversion' actions (like purchasing)
Reduce cognitive load and complexity through progressive disclosure
Identify and remove sources of friction with paths to Conversion
Trust signals, or not making blind leaps of faith
One of the most powerful motivators for purchasing is "Social proof." This signal shows that you're not the first person to purchase something and that others have done it, so why can't you?
After all, would you rather buy a product on Amazon with zero reviews or a similar product with 1500+ 5-star reviews"?
This is why showcasing social proof shows your audience that "they're not about to get scammed for $250,000".
Recommendations to showcase trust:
Display testimonials, reviews, and case studies
Showcase security badges and guarantees
Highlight social proof (usage statistics, client logos)
Designing for Conversion doesn't have to be scary
Designing for Conversion often conjures up horrible images of a bleak future for UX.
But once you learn what it means, you might realize you were doing that all along. You've designed things that helped businesses achieve essential objectives and milestones.
You're just not presenting like you have.
Instead, you show "Before" and "After" screenshots of your design and are surprised that businesses only think of you as "visual people."
While Designing for Conversion might require an experimental mindset, learning to communicate around terms like Conversion doesn't have to be.
Instead, it's a way that you can present your work to businesses to get more buy-in, get people interested in what you do, and more.
That's how you can showcase your value as a designer and make a real difference.
So, if the term "Designing for conversion" makes you cringe, give it a second glance. While it might sound ugly, it's often a ticket to having a more significant impact as a designer.
I just finished interviewing 15 Design Leaders (from Fortune 500 companies) on how we can succeed in 2025. Interested? Message me.
Kai Wong is a Senior Product Designer and Data and Design newsletter writer. He teaches a course, The Strategic Designer, using data to communicate more effectively and get buy-in for your design recommendations.