Ensuring that your website’s user experience (UX) is excellent should be a top priority for every business.
Poor UX will actively hamper your website’s ability to generate leads, convert sales and nurture prospects. This means that if your website has a lacklustre UX, then it will negatively impact your bottom line, and you won’t get the return on investment from your website that you’d hoped for.
So, how can you improve your website user experience, and what are the business benefits of doing so?
What is user experience (UX)?
User experience describes the end user’s experience of using a website or an app – essentially: is it easy/pleasing to use and does it perform as expected? UX is impacted by load times, branding, accessibility, content and more.
Today, we’ll be talking specifically about your website’s UX.
UX professional Steve Krug suggests that the user experience should be “neutral” in his book Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.
Neutral user experience is the principle that your website should be so easy to navigate, that the end user doesn’t even have to think (hence the name of the book!). You want your website to flow naturally and make logical sense to the people that are visiting it.
This means that it’s important that you tailor your website to suit your target audience. By doing this, you’ll reap the rewards of fantastic UX.
Looking to improve your UX? Get in touch with our website design specialists for a free website audit.
11 ways to improve user experience on your website
There are tonnes of ways to improve your UX; we could spend hours talking about it (and probably will in the future!), but for now, our team of UX pros have put together 11 of our top UX tips:
- Optimise load times – Ever clicked off a page because it’s taken a second too long? Us too. In fact, Google’s research shows that the chance of a bounce increases by 32% when a page load time goes from 1-3 seconds. Ouch!
- Declutter – Too much copy, too many images and too many CTAs all work together to create a claustrophobic environment. Cut things back to give your visitors room to breathe.
- Be mobile friendly – Depending on your sector, upwards of 50% of your visitors could be on mobile. If your website isn’t optimised for them, you could be missing out on half of your possible leads!
- Improve your UX copy – What exactly is UX copy? It’s copy that’s pleasant and easy to read, designed for a reader, not a search engine. Write your website copy for people, with keywords logically seeded in, and reap the rewards.
- Use white space – White space on a website gives an airy, spacious feel. This can improve user attention by roughly 20%, meaning that white space can be used tactically to draw attention to key areas of your website (CTAs, forms, branding, etc.).
- Use attractive CTAs (calls to action) – What’s the reason that people are visiting your website? To take an action, of course! Strategically positioned, carefully curated CTAs can gently pull prospects through your funnel and encourage them to take a positive action.
- Improve your headings – This is one of the first things that a visitor to your site will see; they have to be good. Your headings should include content that your target audience are actually looking for (including keywords).
- Remain consistent across your site – Remaining stylistically consistent is key from a UX perspective. Ensure everything matches (heading sizes, fonts, colours, design elements, imagery, etc.). If things change on a page-by-page basis, people won’t like it.
- Check your 404s are correct – Your 404s are error pages (when a page can’t be found). These can annoy the user, so keeping on top of these and rectifying any issues quickly is, obviously, important.
- Don’t forget hyperlink differentiation – We often see hyperlinks that are the same font and colour as the body copy – this is a big no-no. Make your links a colour that stands out, underline them, highlight them; do whatever you need to do to make them clickable!
- Segment information with bullet points – Bullet points allow your reader to access the information they want quickly and easily. Case and point, the above list.
5 key business benefits of good website user experience
Your business can and will benefit from seamless UX – it’s universally good! Improving your UX can and will:
1. Improve conversions
If prospective customers are enjoying their time on your website, are enriched by your content and naturally find their way to your CTAs, they’re far more likely to take a positive action (getting in touch, filling out a form, buying your products, etc.).
2. Set a great first impression
It takes roughly 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for someone to form a first impression of your website – that’s scarily quick!
If your UX is on point, branding is stellar and design is exceptional, you’re good to go. It’s very hard to change someone’s opinion after they’ve formed that first impression, so nailing this is crucial.
3. Better customer loyalty
Happy customers are loyal customers, even if something cheaper crops up.
A good experience will also turn your customers into brand advocates, who actively promote your business to their friends and colleagues, leading to our fourth point…
4. Encourage repeat business
Loyal customers will keep buying from you, especially if your website experience is exceptional.
This is especially important when designing personalised user experiences in eCommerce websites. If your product pages feature ease-of-use features such as filters for style, colour, function, brand, price, etc., has clear imagery and a convenient checkout function, then why wouldn’t a customer buy from you again?
5. Improve search engine optimisation (SEO)
Google, Bing and other search engines seriously value good UX.
As these search engines want to show their users the cream of the crop, if your website has a technically fantastic UX, then they will put your website above competitors’.
Search engines want your website to be user friendly and responsive (this means fast load times and mobile functionality). A site that’s easy to use, loads quickly and has a clear navigation method will outrank other sites that aren’t optimised as well.
Improve your user experience with Catalyst
Building websites that convert is our bread and butter.
Our specialists at Catalyst work closely with our partners to produce website packages that meet their specific requirements.
Whether that’s a lead generative site, an eCommerce powerhouse or an educational database, our experts have the experience and ability to create the perfect website that’s tailored to your organisational needs, and creates the “neutral”, natural flow that consumers love.
Get in touch with our team today for an honest chat about your unique requirements.
Alternatively, reach out to us using the below details:
T: 0121 296 5275