We always thought that having a beautiful website is like getting the best looking storefront in the high streets. Yes, it is true that it will attract more people and even the uninterested onlookers.
But yeah, 2024 is about to end and since then, there are a lot of website design trends that changed the way people look at websites. Just having fancy graphics, animated elements, and dazzling effects on your screen doesn't cut it anymore.
It's all about providing the best possible user experience by making the whole process as efficient, seamless, and stress-free as possible. That means, your website has to be trustworthy, user-friendly, and fast-loading enough to encourage customers to stay a bit longer.
More importantly, it's all about providing the best possible customer journey towards your intended conversion goals from user sign up to order completion.
But before we get things started, let’s understand the basics first.
Website designers and developers take into account the overall user experience when they visit the website. Why?
Basically, UX shows how your visitors behave and interact with your website and how they get to use various elements on it.
Think about this way - your website is like a theme park where your visitors would want to go and get on their favorite rides. Obviously, you want your guests to get to their destination seamlessly without any issue while also ensuring they get to try as much of the ride as possible and even buying the merchandise and food along the way.
Ideally, that is how your website should work.
Now, what happens if your website has a confusing navigation with a lot of broken links? Users will end up getting on dead ends and eventually, they just move on to those with even better UX.
Even if you fixed those issues, you still need to have engaging and relatable content that keeps them coming back. These are some of the things that you need to resolve.
So, what makes a great UX then?
If you're asking for a gold standard when it comes to UX, think of Apple. Whether you're using their iPhone or browsing their website, all the elements are so intuitive that you already know what to do when you get there.
It has to follow these seven core principles:
1. Content matches the user's search intent.
2. Intuitive and easy to use interface.
3. Cohesive website design with a consistent style.
4. Highly searchable.
5. Credible and up-to-date information.
6. Accessible across different platforms.
7. Provide value to visitors.
Now, what makes it important to website design?
As mentioned above, UX is all about the customer journey. It's how your website builds customer loyalty, develops a brand following, and ultimately funnels them to convert them into paying (and repeat) customers.
Every single aspect in your website needs to justify its existence, otherwise they are just visual and decision-making distractions. Every element should work well together - high quality graphics to captivate the eyes, engaging blog posts to stimulate the emotions, and spellbinding copywriting to influence the mind.
Bear in mind, more than eight in ten website visitors don't bother coming back once they encounter a bad experience on your website. Think about it.
Now that you have an idea of what UX is and how it works. Let’s find out the key on-page elements that you need to optimize and how we can help you with it.
When it comes to online searchability, your website should have relevant SEO keywords. That means, we will help you conduct keyword research so that every web page you have will match with whatever your target audience is looking for.
Sounds good?
Not only that, we also make sure that your website can compete with your competitors by analyzing their web pages for the top-ranking keywords that will work for your website.
In every website, content is the basic building block towards brand growth and success.
That means, your website should have the right content that answers your visitor’s needs in such a way that your brand is talking to them like a friend. Think about writing for humans and not just for the search engines. Yes, SEO might be important but strong on-page UX points towards memorable customer experience just like what we did with one of our valued clients.
Your content has to be informative, relevant, and readable. Make it interesting by adding more visual elements. While keywords are important, avoid stuffing it too much!
Just like any medium, you need a guide to help you explore things properly. With that being said, a website would need an intuitive navigation system that brings your visitors to every corner of your ecosystem.
The first thing you need to do is create a list of customer journey scenarios that your visitors will likely experience on your website. Chart the flow that would lead them to their objectives wherein they either contact you, browse for more relevant information, or decide to make a purchase. Once you figure that out, it’s a great idea to start identifying the most popular scenario and check potential challenges and bottlenecks that they might face.
Once the pain points are identified, it’s time to simplify the journey to make it easier for them to reach their objective. One solution would be adding a search bar so they can find relevant information efficiently. Remove unnecessary web pages and reduce redirections as well.
The first things users look out for when they visit a website are what is called ‘trust signals.’ These are the elements that boost a brand’s credibility and more importantly, instill confidence from your potential customers.
What are these?
The first recognizable visual elements are the brand logo and consistent design throughout the website. If there is anything unusual that stands out, it will stick out like a sore thumb like misspelled words, unclickable buttons, and deadlinks. If you wanted to see a secured environment, you probably would look for that lock icon on the URL on top while also checking all the necessary privacy and data protection links in the footer.
Other key elements that you may also want to consider incorporating into your website: customer testimonials, client success stories, updated blog posts, and links to social media.
User experience will vary widely depending on the type of gadget they’re using to browse your website. That means your website will look and feel different on desktop, smartphone and tablet. You have to test your website on different platforms to work out potential bugs, coding errors, and broken links before going live.
Things you might consider to make sure your website is accessible to everyone - text readability, alt-tags for all images, and a dark mode option.
The whole point of achieving great user experience is to convert all those clicks into sales. All the hard work to come up with a great website would finally pay off as these on-page elements will make it more enjoyable and memorable for your visitors to navigate your site.
There are lots of things to consider but you know we can help you enhance your website UX so you can focus more on things that matter. It will be a never ending process as you need to keep testing, tweaking, and analyzing to ensure that your visitors will have the best possible experience.
Want to enhance your website's user experience?
We make sure that your website is not only beautiful but also user-friendly and efficient.
Let's create a seamless journey that captivates visitors and drives conversions.
Just like magic spells, we unleash the magic of your brand with creative content that resonates.
Elevate your digital presence, captivate your audience, and turn ideas into strategic magic. Let's weave some creative spells together at Swarna!
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