Take a moment to think about your favorite websites. What do you like about them? What makes you continue to visit them?
The answer lies in the website’s good user experience and good ui. This refers to the set of practices, design, and features that makes it easy for users to navigate a website.
You use a search engine like Google, Bing, or Qwant because of how simple it is to find websites.
You love the ease of viewing photos and videos through Instagram and TikTok.
This user experience is what attracts website traffic. The user experience is also what keeps loyal website users.
So what can you do to improve the user experience for your website? You can consider working with an agency offering UX design services. Here’s what you need to know.
1. Understand UX Design
User Experience Design (UX Design) refers to the best practices for improving the user experience.
Its main focus is on ease of use. The best websites make it easy for you to use their functions.
It’s easy to search for a query on the best search engines. It’s easy to add films to your queue and stream them on Netflix. It’s easy to subscribe to the newsletter from The Hustle.
You get the picture. UX design focuses on designing a website with the user in mind.
With UX design, you won’t see an emphasis on aesthetics or multimedia. This can often overwhelm the average website visitor. Your focus has to be on simplicity.
2. Understand Website Metrics to Determine Strategy
The first step is to use a platform such as Decibel to understand your website metrics.
This helps you determine where you need UX design. For example, look at your website’s Services page.
How many visitors visit this specific page? How long do they stay on this page?
If the number is low, it means that you need to implement UX design on this page.
Here’s what you can consider for such a scenario:
- How long does it take for a visitor to learn the basic details of your services?
- Is your pricing listed on this page?
- How quickly can a visitor sign up for your service?
Many websites will have their service/products pages separate from their pricing page.
While there are no hard-and-fast rules on what’s best, it’s easier for the user if these get consolidated.
You should time how long it takes for a visitor to sign up for a service. For example, within less than a minute you can subscribe to The Hustle’s daily newsletter.
You should aim to keep your sign-up length below a minute if possible.
3. Web Design Aesthetics
Now let’s look at how web design improves your UX design. As discussed earlier, you want to create an aesthetic with your users in mind. Your job is to please users, not your graphic designer!
As such, focus on a few colors for the theme of your website. Fonts should be consistent for different types of text.
You can have 1 font for Headings, 1 font for the Body, and 1 font for smaller text (such as in your footer).
If you create a landing page, you can stick to one theme color and up to 2 fonts. Landing pages are a great alternative to a complex website.
These are simpler to navigate and provide a better user experience than complex websites. Consider them if your brand doesn’t need a complex or detailed website.
It’s also best not to have too much clutter on your website. If there’s an empty space, you don’t need to fill it.
For example, some website footers only include contact information and a disclaimer.
There’s no need to replicate the menu in the header and footer. However, if your website has a lot of content, this will make it easier for your users to access your pages.
You have to be the judge on what’s best for your website’s specifications.
4. Web Design Functions
Next, let’s look at the functions of your web design. Also known as ‘responsiveness,’ this refers to how simple it is for a user to accomplish something through your website.
For example, does your website have a contact page? Does this page list the contact information for your company?
While this is fine, a responsive web design will include a contact form.
Instead of your user having to copy the email address and send an email separately, they can do it without leaving your website.
If you sell services or products online, make sure you choose a simple eCommerce platform.
There should be a short system from ordering to checkout. Have a variety of payment options to improve the user experience for online shopping.
Make sure that your website is also optimized for mobile. Many visitors will access your website solely through mobile devices.
Your web developer can tweak the website to function properly on these devices.
Without mobile optimization, you might lose customers forever. Many established websites lose business because of no mobile app or mobile optimization.
5. Ask About User Experience
The best way to improve your user experience is to hear from the users themselves. On your homepage, add a button that links to a survey.
This survey will ask your users about their user experience. You should request honest feedback on how easy or difficult it is to navigate your website.
Here are some sample questions to ask:
- Do you feel you waste too much time buying our products/services? Do you wish this process was more efficient?
- Do you wish there were more payment options? Which ones do you prefer?
- Do you ever have loading issues when visiting our website?
- Does our website take time to load on your device?
Figure out the challenges with your website to tack on a few more questions to this list. You want as much detail as possible for your survey.
Enhance Your User Experience Today
Follow these 5 steps and you’ll improve your website’s user experience. You’ll soon see an increase in website traffic and a decrease in your bounce rate.
Start with redesigning your website with your users in mind.
Keep the aesthetics simple and offer greater functionality. Make efficiency your priority when selling your products and services.
Always keep an eye on your website metrics and don’t hesitate to ask your users for their feedback.
Please share this guide with other webmasters. There’s more great content on web design on our website.
