User experience is vital for making the most out of your business website. The level of user experience you can offer will have many different impacts, affecting everything from your levels of sales to the success of your digital marketing campaigns. It can be difficult for business owners to fully get a grip on what user experience is on their site. After all, it can be difficult to find a defined metric by which to measure your current level of user experience. However, just because your current level of user experience is not, at first, noticeable, that does not mean it is not having a big impact on your business. Understanding more about what user experience is and how to improve it will offer a wide range of business benefits.
What Is User Experience?
The first step to improving the user experience on your website is quite simply understanding what the user experience is. The term user experience is a holistic term that is used to describe the journey that a user takes through your website. Specifically, the term refers to the way in which your website makes a user feel, either consciously or unconsciously.
There are many different things that can impact the user experience on your website. These include:
- Aesthetics
- Color choices
- Typography
- Loading speeds
- Functionality
- Navigability
Why Is User Experience Important?
It can be very useful for business owners to learn more about why user experience is so important, to motivate them to improve their current website. The list below outlines just a few of the reasons why user experience is so important.
User Experience Directly Affects Sales
Whatever the reason might be, whether a visitor finds it too difficult to navigate, or your pages take too long to load, poor user experience directly correlates to lack of sales. Put simply, poor user experience makes it unlikely that a customer will stay on your site long enough to make a purchase. Websites with poor levels of user experience are sending potential customers directly into the arms of their competition.
User Experience Defines Your Customer Relationships
No matter how much time you spend on curating an ideal brand image, if your website design and functionality do not stand up to this image, it is worthless. Your website’s user experience will directly affect and dictate the relationships that you make with customers, influencing whether they become loyal returnees or never interact with your brand again.
User Experience Impacts Search Engine Optimization
User experience will have a direct impact on the success of your digital marketing campaign, especially your potential search engine ranking. Search engine crawlers will monitor the behavior of users on your website, to be able to more effectively determine if your website is worthy of a high ranking. Poor user experience will mean that your site has a high bounce back rate. This will not go unnoticed by search engines and will likely limit your ability to gain one of the desired high-ranking spots on any search engine.
How to Improve User Experience on Your Website
Now that you understand more about what user experience is and why it is so important, it is time to focus on the best methods for improving the user experience on your site.
Use Responsive Website Design
The way that people are accessing the internet is changing, specifically the devices they are using. Traditionally, people would use a desktop or laptop to access the internet; now over 50% of people using the internet are doing so on a mobile phone. To ensure a universal high-quality user experience, regardless of device, you need to use responsive website design. This design style will enable your website to instantly respond to the user’s device, to ensure a great user experience for everyone.
Intuitive Website Design
The functionality and navigability of your website can have a big impact on your overall user experience. In fact, no matter how aesthetically pleasing your design, if a user struggles to navigate your site, they will not remain on it for long enough to make a purchase.
Intuitive website design improves the user experience, as a visitor is able to seamlessly make their way through your website. This eliminates all potential for distractions and frustrations.
Improve Loading Speeds
Studies have found that the rate at which your website loads can have a big impact on user experience. In fact, the average internet user will actually click off a site if a webpage takes more than three seconds to load. Reviewing and increasing the speed at which your pages load will help you to offer a higher-quality user experience.
Use More Videos
Big blocks of text are off-putting to users, making your website appear unapproachable and setting a negative tone for the user experience right off the bat. Videos have been found to be an especially very useful form of content for improving the user experience. Videos help to capture a user’s attention and the easily digestible format enables an easy relay of information.
Videos are also a useful digital asset that you can use in your upcoming digital marketing campaign. However, it is important that you properly manage your video assets. Ensure you keep them compressed, secure and accessible, which is why many businesses choose to use a VAM.
Employ the Right Aesthetics
First impressions count in the world of website design, with it taking less than a second for a user to make a judgment on your site that will affect the entire user experience. Make the right first impression by curating a careful website design. You need to ensure that the aesthetics of your site appeals to your target audience, is visually striking to embody your brand identity and is easy to understand and navigate.
Improving the user experience on your website does not have to involve a complete overhaul of your current site. You don’t even need to experience a huge amount of downtime while your website is being updated. Even a few simple changes can benefit your user experience and by extension, the overall health of your business.