Your business website is a powerful tool, now more than ever. The website acts as a 24/7 salesperson and is at the centre of your marketing efforts. Your website leaves a lasting impression on customers regardless of whether the impression is good or bad. Technological advancement and ever-changing marketing trends are the primary things that make your website feel old and outdated. This is why you need to spend time and resources on improving the user experience (UX). In this article, we will learn how to maximise user experience to increase your traffic and conversion rate.
What is User Experience?
User experience design refers to the experience your customers have while interacting with your products or services. The product goes beyond the tangible good or service and includes the content you create to reach your customers. The primary goal of user experience is to escort your visitors through your business, showing them what you want them to see at each point in the buying process. You want to offer solutions that correspond with the problems your user has at that moment. The product then provides a new solution as the user’s needs change.
User experience defines users’ impression of your website based on how easy and pleasant it is to use. Improving user experience creates a more desirable place for your clients to interact with your business. For instance, streamlining the checkout process will prompt your visitors to buy since they do not have to jump through hoops to purchase your products.
What Are the Benefits of Improving Your User Experience?
Maximising your user experience helps guide your website visitors through the conversion funnel. Eliminating obstacles on the way to making a purchase can turn your prospects into leads and leads into customers. For instance, when a potential customer visits your website, they may like your content and follow you on social media or sign up for your email list. Once you have the prospect’s contact information, you have a lead. You can now begin nurturing that lead towards purchase by providing exceptional value through tips, advice, free tools, and discounts.
If you do not improve your user experience, your prospects may grow cold. They may decide not to do business with you due to the friction they encountered while browsing through your website. User experience goes beyond a beautiful web design. If you do not offer users what they expect, they will hit the back button and visit your competitor’s website. Remember that you have less than a minute to impress your visitors. So, you must pay attention to both minor and significant details.
How to Maximise User Experience
Most people feel overwhelmed when they start improving their user experience. However, do not panic and take the process one step at a time. Pay attention to each area of your website until you are satisfied that it appeals to your target audience. Here are some tips to help you maximise user experience.
Use White Space
Some web admins complain that they have too much white space on their website and that they can use the unused space for advertisement. However, white space is an indication of good design since it makes your content more legible. White space also allows your users to focus on essential elements surrounding the text. Every web admin wants visitors to pay attention to the primary elements of their website. White space can make that happen while keeping your website fresh and modern.
Page Speed
Pages that take too long to load will frustrate visitors, and they may never revisit your website. The rise of mobile use has enabled people to access information on several different platforms anytime and anywhere. Whether users are browsing online at a restaurant or while relaxing at home, they expect fast results for the information they want. If they do not get the results as fast as they want them, they will bounce.
Slow page speed is an interrupting experience for users and a source of frustration. Today, users do not have the time to wait for website pages to load. An extra five seconds of page load time can increase your bounce rate by more than 20%. To help you solve this problem, Google offers a free tool that you can use to get the information on your page speed. This tool will also provide some suggestions for improving your page load speed on both mobile and desktop. A simple way to improve your page speed is to compress all your images before loading them onto your website.
Separate Your Call to Actions
Some web admins place two or more call to actions (CTAs) next to each other. This strategy can confuse readers and reduce clicks for both CTAs because users will not know what you want them to do. However, this does not mean that you cannot use multiple CTAs on a page. If you have long-form content, adding intermittent CTAs can help boost conversions. Ensure that your CTAs are not on top of each other. Separate them with lots of copy and sidebar elements. The best way to improve user experience through CTAs is to understand how your users navigate your page. Use scroll maps to determine where on a long-form page people stop scrolling and where the activity begins to taper off. With this information, you can now start A/B testing each area to see the one that works best.
Use Hyperlink Differentiation
When you add a link to your content, you want your visitors to click on it for more information. Ensure that all your links are easily identifiable by visual cues. Underlining the text or using a different colour will draw the attention of your user. For instance, when regular web users see blue texts, they know that that is a link they should click. Exploiting user expectations and what they already know will put you on the path to success. You do not need to use new strategies. Stick to the conventional way of hyperlink differentiation. Also, do not worry about the length of your hyperlinks. The longer the hyperlink text, the easier it is to identify them.
Use Bullet Points
Segmenting your content with bullet points will allow your users to get the information they want quickly. Bullets make your propositions more attractive and enable your user to get all the information they need. Also, you do not have to stick to the traditional simple circle. You have several icons at your disposal. So, get creative with your bullets and use them to isolate the essential points you wish to make without getting caught up in terminology or specifics.
Use Your Images Wisely
Images are an excellent way to enhance your content and allow users a visual break from the text. Users are now savvy when judging your website and deciding whether they will continue browsing your website. Web visitors can now pick out a generic stock photo they have already seen elsewhere, or that resembles the non-personal style of stock photography. Avoid using stock photography since it can decrease trust and stand out as non-unique.
You can increase your conversion rate by replacing stock photos with images of the actual items. Remember that no stock photo will represent your brand service the way you want. Only an actual image can do that while speaking clearly to your prospects. Ensure you use images strategically and place them on your website to support your content.
Be Responsive and Mobile-Friendly
With the rise of mobile use, your website must be mobile-friendly and easy to navigate regardless of your visitors’ device. Remember that over half of all website searches come from mobile devices. Google has also started penalising websites that are not mobile-optimised. As such, the need for responsiveness is even more crucial than ever. Mobile-friendliness is also probably the single most valuable way you can improve your website’s usability. If you are not sure whether your website is mobile-friendly, use Google’s mobile-friendly test. This tool measures how easily users can access, read, and navigate your website on mobile devices.
Prioritise Your Essential Pages
Priorities are essential when improving the user experience of your business’s website. The crucial pages include your homepage, landing pages, sales pages, about page, and contact page. However, essential pages vary from one business to another. For example, starting with the sales page can be more beneficial for e-commerce websites. The best practice is to start with one page, start A/B testing, and run some behaviour reports. Focus on one page and move down the list once you have optimised the most crucial page. This process may take time, but improving the user experience for your potential customers will not happen overnight.
Conclusion
User experience is essential for revenue growth and allowing your prospects to enjoy interacting with your website. Understanding your audience will let you know the steps you need to boost conversions and help your users feel at home on your website. Prioritise these things to optimise and be patient for results to begin showing.
These tips will give you an idea of how to make your website more user friendly. If you need help or do not have the time to improve your website’s user experience, engage an expert web design agency.
