When a stranger first encounters your brand, they’re not thinking like a marketer. They’re thinking like brains, and our brains have been “optimized” over thousands of years to make snap judgments.
Research shows that humans form impressions nearly instantly, without any logical reasoning. Called the first impression bias, the phenomenon is when the brain makes a quick assumption based on limited information and then sticks to it as more information becomes available later.
This means that the first few seconds of contact a stranger has with your brand are the most important. It creates the lens through which they will view the rest of your content. First impressions will make or break your brand.
The Science of Snap Judgments
Studies in social psychology show us that people begin forming impressions in as little as 1/10th of a second. This is before a single headline is read or your value proposition is adjusted. 94% of first impressions are based on visual cues such as layout, typography, and spacing.
This rapid impression formation isn’t random. The brain relies on heuristics, or mental shortcuts that simplify complex decisions into fast, low-effort judgments. These heuristics are survival mechanisms: in the face of information overload, the brain asks “safe or risky?” rather than “true or false?” and does so quickly. To put it simply, the brain looks for things it recognizes as “safe” or “good” to have a positive impression. And if it recognizes things that are “risky” or “bad,” it contributes to a negative impression.
What does this mean for you?
We have all been on webpages with bad or outdated designs, so we know the intuitive response we have to them. It can range from being simply unappealing to being untrustworthy. If Cheddar had the same website design since we first launched, no one would trust us or our expertise, no matter what accolades or experience we put on the site.
First Seconds as Interpretive Filters
Once the initial impression forms, the user views all subsequent brand signals through that lens. This is partly due to the primacy effect, which we have discussed in other articles. The Primacy effect is a cognitive bias in which first impressions disproportionately influence final judgments, even in the face of subsequent information.
In a marketing context, that means:
- A clean, intentional design signals competence and credibility.
- A cluttered, generic, or dated layout signals uncertainty or lack of purpose.
- Not having the information your users need at the start means that they may never read it.
- Placing high-converting elements (such as images and headlines) in the wrong positions means users will form impressions without your best work being showcased.
And once the first interpretation sticks, reversing it takes multiple reinforcing experiences, which is far more effort than making a strong impression in the first place. When you are on a webpage, this is especially difficult becasue the user can simply click off the page and never come back again.
The Anatomy of a 10-Second Experience
In practice, when a cold visitor lands on your brand:
- 0–0.1 seconds: Their brain processes basic visual patterns such as contrast, symmetry, and spacing.
- 0.1–1 second: Color, font, and structure begin signaling style and tone.
- 1–3 seconds: Layout and content hierarchy communicate intent (or lack thereof).
- 3–10 seconds: The user draws an initial meaning inference, “Who are they?”, “Are they credible?”, “Should I stay?”
This is the window brands must consciously design for.
The Audit in Practice
Cheddar’s website designs for our clients included brain optimization, SEO, GEO, and conversion optimization. All of these elements work in harmony to generate more leads to your website.
To audit your webpage for first impressions, you need more than a generic checklist. You need to reframe your mentality around your pages.
The 10-second audit is a mental model, a set of lenses that every brand should pass through to understand the first impression that their website gives strangers.
Visual Intention
The first part of their first impression. To help with this, you need to ask yourself:
- Does your brand signaling feel chosen, or cobbled together?
- Is the aesthetic coherent across colors, typography, and layout?
- How long do you think someone spent on making this page?
Answering these questions will help you view your brand through the eyes of a stranger.
Still don’t know what elements of your site move the needle towards a “good” or “bad” impression?
At Cheddar, we know exactly what to do and what not to do. How to make sure your potential customers have a good initial impression of your brand. Contact us to get our expertise.
To start learning for yourself, try this. Google your business niche (ex, “marketing agency near me”), and look through the first three recommended sites. Note your initial reactions and impressions of these pages. Try your best to avoid your logic, what your looking for is your intial snap judgemnts of the page. Write down what aspects of their landing pages you think contributed to your reaction. This will allow you to return to your own webpage with a more objective perspective.
Emotional Signal
Every visual choice conveys an emotional cue:
- Warm colors can evoke trust and approachability.
- Sparse layouts can signal sophistication or emptiness (context matters).
A mismatch between emotional tone and brand promise signals confusion. It’s as simple as matching your website’s tone to your profession.
As a marketing agency, if Cheddar had a website that had zero color, no images, and no artistic impression. People would be less likely to trust us as their marketing agency.
Structural Clarity
Having clarity not only in your content but in structure increases people’s trust in your brand. Additionally, it reduces your users’ cognitive load, making them more likely to stay on your page and engage.
If your content is unclear, your user is more likely to click away from your page and less likely to trust your brand.
Taking the time to structure your content thoughtfully is as important as taking your time with the copy.
Ask yourself these questions to help:
- Where does the eye go first?
- What’s the visual hierarchy
- Are the most important elements easy to find?
Brand Promise Anchoring
This is the last part of the 10-Second Audit, and can be the hardest for people to grasp. Within the first few seconds of visiting your page, your user should already know what your brand is promising. Your headline, hero image, and core statements must anchor a promise the viewer can understand without effort. If they have to think about it, the impression is lost.
Why This Matters More Today
In 2025, attention is more fragmented than ever. Consumers are bombarded with choices; as a result, they are less patient when searching for what they are looking for. They know that if your website isn’t giving them what they want, they can just find it somewhere else.
Plus, with so many options, it is even more important to spoon-feed your user everything they need to form the impression you want them to have.
At the same time, brand experience research indicates that the quality of early interactions directly influences long-term loyalty, cognitive associations, and behavioral responses.
This means the 10-Second Audit isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s a brand survival test.
Cheddar’s Philosophy
We don’t see your brand as a set of assets or copy; we see your brand as something that takes on its own life force. To your users, your brand has a personality, trustworthiness, and a level of expertise. It’s up to us to craft your brand so it comes across exactly how you want it to.
In the quiet cognitive world of first impressions:
- Nothing tells the brain more than those first few seconds.
- Neutral signals tell the brain: “No preference. No clarity. No reason to choose.”
- And in a crowded marketplace, not being chosen is the same as being forgotten.