When it comes to business, websites are no longer the side act, they’re the main attraction.
In this current-and-post-pandemic world, your website plays a huge role in generating new leads and converting them into customers. 2022 will see websites gain even more prominence. This is why you cannot ignore the user experience on your website. Every element on your website, from the way it looks to how it loads on mobile devices, will directly impact your ability to build a successful business.
What is UX?
UX is short for User Experience. It refers to the way that people interact with a product, service, or system. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on UX related to website design, and specifically, how visitors interact with your site.
What’s the difference between good UX and bad UX? Whatever the user says it is. The answer is based solely on the user’s perception. You may design a website that you love, but if your average visitor doesn’t understand how to use it to get what they need, your UX is bad.
In order to win over the user, you must create an experience that allows the user to win. In other words, your design must help the user solve their problem. This is at the core of UX design. Ask the following five questions to ensure your site is creating the best experience for visitors.
1. Is this experience focused on the user?
UX is user-centric. The user must be at the focus of everything you do. While you may want to push your products and promote your email list, it’s vital that you shift your thinking from “business” to “customer.”
- What are your customer’s pain points?
- What motivates them to act?
- What do they know about the problem?
- What do they need to know about the solution in order to make a decision to buy from you?
Let your empathy lead you towards making the right decisions on how to design and plan the layout of your website. In other words, put yourself in your customer’s shoes. If you were visiting your site for the first time with a specific problem, what would you need to see on the homepage, on the sidebar, in the footer, etc., in order to stay on the page and keep reading?
UX must start with completely understanding the user. Do a deep dive into who they are and what they’re looking for. This way, you can create a better experience for them on your site.
2. Is this experience valuable?
To design an effective experience for your customer, you must focus on value. What can the user accomplish while on your website? Is the information that you share on your website beneficial and relevant to your customer? What will they find value in on your site?
3. Is this experience easy to understand?
Every visitor who lands on your website has a problem to solve. Whether they want to buy flowers, make a dinner reservation, or join a paid forum, they have a problem. Your goal is to help them quickly solve that problem. Remember that a first-time visitor won’t be familiar with how to use your website at all. So your site needs to be designed in a way that follows standard web conventions and also quickly points them to the answers they’re looking for.
This is why it’s crucial to organize information in a way that makes sense to your visitors. Not only should your visitors understand intuitively how to use your website, but your website should also guide visitors from one step to the next.
4. Is this experience accessible by all?
To ensure that every visitor has a quality user experience on your site, your site should meet accessibility standards. According to the U.S. General Services Administration, “Accessibility is usability for people who interact with products differently.”
Have you built your website to accommodate people with disabilities?
Creating an accessible website doesn’t only benefit a small group of people. Implementing these practices will benefit all of your users. Many people use video captions, not only the hearing-impaired. Search engine crawlers use captions and alt text to identify your web content for ranking purposes. In this way, accessibility can help improve your website’s search engine optimization (SEO).
Good accessibility is good UX.
5. Is this experience enjoyable?
Even though UX isn’t all about colors, graphics, or visual eye candy, those elements play a part in the overall user experience. The colors on your website reflect your brand’s unique personality, which can also forge a strong connection with users.
Why is UX Important?
There are a lot of great reasons to focus on your website’s UX. By improving the user experience for your website, you’ll enjoy the following benefits:
Lower Bounce Rate
When a visitor is able to immediately get what they’re looking for on your website, they’re more likely to stick around.
Increased Conversion Rates
By pointing your visitor to the solution, you can efficiently convert them into paying customers.
Improved Customer Loyalty and Retention
Customer retention and UX go hand in hand. If you want your customers to keep coming back, you must ensure that your website offers a pleasant, easy, and understandable visiting experience.
Increased Revenue
Don’t underestimate the value of good UX. Studies show that for every dollar you invest in UX, you’ll earn $100 in return. People are more willing to trust a website that’s designed to solve their problems.
UX Tips for Improving Your Website
Let’s shift gears into creating an effective action plan to improve the user experience on your website. Your audience matters, so here are eight ideas for providing them with the absolute best experience.
1. Test
Testing is one of the most important parts of UX design. You can put all of the above principles into practice, but you must ensure that your design is resonating with your audience.
While the first step is designing a site that’s built for your target audience, the second step is testing for potential stumbling blocks. Luckily there are multiple types of usability tests you can run:
- In-person testing with a person from your target audience, where you directly observe the tester and make notes about their experience.
- Remote testing, which is very similar to in-person testing, except that everything is observed from a computer, usually through screen sharing.
- A/B testing, where you experiment with two or more versions of the same page. The goal with A/B testing is to find the version that converts better. Here’s how to A/B test your website.
2. Keep It Simple
The best-designed websites are free of unnecessary clutter. Get in the habit of editing your site content to remove unnecessary information, which will ensure that visitors can easily find the solution to their problem.
If you need to cover a lot of information on your site, break up the content so that you’re not overwhelming the user with too much at one time. For example, you can break one topic into several sub-topics and then create internal links to each page.
3. Use White Space Generously
White space, also known as negative space, is one of the most important elements in good web design. White space is simply the unused space in your layout. If your website is cluttered and filled to the brim with content, your visitor will feel overwhelmed. They won’t know where to look first, which does not translate to good UX.
Instead, follow these two best practices for white space:
- Add white space around text, titles, and images
- Increase the line space vertically in your text
White space means giving your visitors breathing space when they’re on your site. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the space is white, but it’s simply void of distracting content.
4. Get Rid of Annoyances
Ads, pop-ups, and banners are great for marketing but not so great for UX. These elements are disruptive.
Instead of using distracting elements in your design, consider other ways to communicate the same information to your visitors. For example, if you’re partnering with a brand, opt for sponsored posts instead of blinking ads.
5. Be Consistent
Every page of your website should look like they belong together. Don’t confuse your visitor by switching up the layout for different pages on your site. It may look cool and interesting, but it’s sure to confuse the visitor. They may even wonder if they’ve left the site they were on.
Consistency matters in all aspects of your web design, from layout to font choices to colors to the general mood of your website. Everything should match what you’ve presented on your home page. If it doesn’t, you may lose the trust of your confused visitor. You’ll definitely lower your conversion rate. Visitors detect design inconsistencies on a subconscious level, which will negatively impact their perception of your brand. Ensure consistency with the following elements across the board:
- Colors
- Fonts
- Button shapes
- Layout
- Menu navigation
- Menu location
- Graphic style
6. Make It Mobile-Friendly
Build your website primarily for the mobile user. Why? Approximately 55% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. To ensure a good user experience, your website needs to look good on smaller screens. The easiest way to do this is through responsive web design. If you decide to build your website with WordPress.com, you can pick from many beautiful, mobile-friendly themes that let you change the look and feel of your website. Follow these tips on how to create a mobile responsive website.
7. Prioritize Speed
People hate waiting. The average visitor expects your website to load in three seconds or less. If it takes longer than that, your visitor won’t stick around. They’ll hit the back button faster than you can say 1-2-3. Fortunately, there are several methods you can implement to increase the speed of your website, such as switching up your hosting service and getting rid of dead-weight plugins that you no longer use.
We share 7 easy ways to speed up your website in this post.
8. Plan For Today’s Visitor
The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way that the world works. Your website may offer online shopping, but it can also give visitors information about what to expect when visiting your brick-and-mortar store. After all, your store still has to deliver an effective “in-person” user experience.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine creating a website for a store selling products in this new pandemic era in which customers are placing more orders online and looking for places that offer curbside pickup. How can we add value to the user’s visit and create a great user experience for the problem they are facing?
- If you offer curbside pickup, be sure to share this prominently on your website. Don’t make the visitor wonder if you offer this option.
- Make it simple to place the order from your website. By the way, if you install the eCommerce plugin WooCommerce onto your WordPress site, you can take advantage of the “local pickup” feature. This will allow your customers to pick up their orders in person.
Final Thoughts
UX is all about designing your website around the user’s point of view to provide a delightful user experience. Implement the above tips to provide your visitors with a positive experience of your business.
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