When it comes to your online platform, a satisfying user experience is essential for a good conversion rate and positive brand identity.
Amongst web designers, user experience, or UX, filters through every conversation and it should be in every thought too. Where a happy user is far more likely to trust and invest in an online business, a positive user experience is to be at the forefront of any website design. With the help of our in-house web designer, we look at five ways to maximise your website’s user experience.
Reduce Page Loading Time
We exist in a world in constant motion. We say that, not in the gravitational physics sense, but in our approach to life and work. It is therefore crucial that your website is up to speed. When it comes to technology, we are impatient and expect instantaneous satisfaction when searching for a product or information. In fact, research shows a significant correlation between site abandonment and loading speeds. The Google PageSpeed Insights tool will often be used to analyse the loading speed of a website.
There are many methods that web developers can use to increase page loading speed of a website. Without getting too deep into the technical jargon, the web design can include optimised images where the image memory can be reduced whilst balancing its quality and size. The use of animation in web design should also be purposeful and not plentiful to reduce the memory usage. Your web design agency may also use a method referred to as Minifying whereby JavaScript, HTML, or CSS coding stored at the website’s ‘back end’ (not seen by the user) is condensed. A skilled web designer and web developer can perform these actions resulting in a significant reduction of page loading time.
Mobile-Friendly Design
On the daily commute, during the lunch hour, on a quick coffee break, most of us will be found on our phones. Where more than 70% of Google searches take place on a mobile device, it is more crucial than ever that your website design be optimised for the mobile user. A site that is not designed with the mobile user in mind makes for a negative user experience and probable site abandonment. In addition, the Google Mobile First Index crawls mobile-friendly sites before desktop versions. This is a significant ranking factor when it comes to your spot on the SERPs.
Frequent Call to Actions
There are certain rules to follow when it comes to capitalising on your Call To Actions (CTAs). In general, what it comes down to is human psychology – we are programmed to do as we are told.
Your website CTAs take different forms depending on the business and what service it provides. It may be an ‘Add to Basket’ button, ‘Buy Now’, ‘Book Here’, or ‘Get 10% off code’. Rather than bombarding the user, the CTAs should be strategically placed throughout the site at points that are logical on the page. A skilful web designer will know how to optimise the best placement of the Call to Actions.
Easy Navigation
When we go to our favourite supermarket, we appreciate its familiarity. We know that after the fruit and veg aisle we come to the dairy, then meat, then frozen foods – or something similar; usually signalled by overhead placards. Likewise, our favourite clothes shop has been designed to take the customer through different zones – jeans, t-shirts, work wear, active wear etc. In both cases, we can happily find our way to what we need and we reward the store by investing and returning to make further purchases. The same approach should be applied to your web design.
Your users should be able to browse your site as easily as their go-to stores. Visually, this means pages which have relevant content, headings, and subheadings that are well-signposted and clear from the homepage, throughout. Not only that, the website design must not be cluttered and should guide the user with a natural progression though the site.
Optimised User Journey
The aim is to be within four clicks or less.
That is four clicks to enable a user to access exactly what they require from your site. Whether they are looking for a piece of information or making a purchase, your web design must be optimised with relevant content, easy navigation, and clear digestible pages.
For Ecommerce websites it can be the difference between a sale with you, and one with your competitor company. It begins with the ease with which the consumer can access the product on the website. However, the ultimate responsibility lies with the checkout process. It is widely regarded as the conversion killer; when presented with a complicated checkout, it is the point at which you are most likely to lose the sale. The user journey must be easy, swift and ensure trust can be built all the way through to the final stage.
Get in touch for our free web design consultation which can help highlight how to best improve the user experience of your website.
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