It’s time to make sure your website is as welcoming and efficient for your business as you are – and that is where user-experience design (aka UX) comes into play. Read on to see how you can avoid some common issues that may be costing your company sales and leads.
UX design enhances a website’s visitor satisfaction by focusing on intuitive, accessible, and legible design throughout your website. Great UX design recognizes common user behaviors – based on industry-specific data – to provide the best possible experience for your website. Making sure your website has a professional and friendly design that aligns with your customer service and values ensures a seamless brand experience that builds trust, lands sales, and opens you up to even more repeat business.
Now that you have an idea of what UX is, let’s look at some of the most common issues that can turn a user away from your site faster than you can say “dubba-u-dubba-u-dubba-u-dot.”
Over-Complicated Design:
Having all the latest bells and whistles may be tempting but good UX always asks: is this feature helping or impeding the user from achieving the purpose of their visit? A clean, simple and well-organized design helps guide the user to exactly what they came for – whether that be a product, a service, or a promotion. The loading speed of your website is another important variable of how search engines will rank your site’s performance. An overabundance of images, animations, and complex features can make your website heavy, meaning it takes too long to load – this will negatively impact your position in search results.
Wordy Websites:
Under one minute – that’s the average, across all industries, of how long a user will stay on a web page. Therefore, as an agency, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of precise and purpose-driven website copy. Having attention-grabbing headlines, short-and-sweet descriptions, and click-producing buttons is what transforms visitors into leads, into customers.
Poor Text Contrast:
Building from our previous point, when the copy is too small, too big, or too light to read it negatively affects the user experience. This is also a lesser-known factor in how search engines like Google rank your site when displaying search results to a user. Another important thing to keep in mind – especially when it comes to contrast and legibility – is that your website remains ADA compliant for visitors with disabilities.
Neglecting Mobile-Friendly Design:
It’s safe to say that if your website wasn’t designed with mobile responsiveness as a priority, you’re already missing out on potential sales. As of 2017 (decades ago in tech talk!), Google penalizes websites that do not perform well on mobile. Factors include responsiveness, loading time, and proper scaling for visibility.
Now that you know what UX design is and what to avoid, here are some quick tips to keep in mind for your next website!
- UX design helps make your website more accessible.
- Less is more: a simple clean design helps users to understand your products and services.
- Use tools based on your niche: hamburger menu? slide buttons? a simple nav? Always remember who you are speaking to and what experience they might expect from websites they frequent.
- Google ranks websites with UX design higher. This means more conversions can come your way!
At Tayloe/Gray, we create beautiful user experiences that keep your customers – new and old – coming back for more. Is your website working as hard as you are? Get in touch today!