The world has been revolutionized after the inception of the internet. More so after 21st-century innovation made the internet the primary place where we interact, socialize and make purchases. The convenience of multiple choices gives the shopper not just the satisfaction of having the best experience but also allows them the opportunity to choose the best prices for the products. Brands, on the other hand, have the economic advantage of doing everything online and saving costs on brick-and-mortar shops.
The website of a brand acts as a digital portfolio or a shop front for customers to browse through, select their favorite products and make purchases. It also helps in content consumption and information gathering. The success of your website most definitely depends upon the User Experience that you provide. A website should be functional, easy to navigate, and pleasant to visit.
Here are a few ways you can use to improve your website user experience.
Optimize, Optimize, Optimize
The speed and responsiveness of your website will make or break your business’ success. Users want websites that run smoothly, offer fast answers to their queries, and are interactive. Ease of use and website elegance also helps in developing trust between a business and its users. If a website is shabby, users will be wary of shopping, fearing fraud or inferior quality of products.
Whereas if a website is optimized it will give a premium feel and will smoothen the sale procedure. It is estimated that billions of dollars are lost in sales due to slow websites. Also, website optimization is quite an economical process, with tons of online tools to assist and help with the same.
Never Smother a User
Websites that smother their users with information are the ones most likely to fail. Excessive pop-ups, cluttered text, or auto-playing music or video can put off users who are looking for fast and convenient browsing. These are things that one should avoid at all costs. Make your users feel at home when they are visiting your website. This will ensure that they can browse seamlessly and achieve the purpose they had in mind.
Provide concise and sharp information
Most visitors have an object to fulfill when they visit any website. It could be for making a purchase or obtaining vital information, or for any other host of reasons. Sometimes website designers forget to structure their information while they make a website and that doesn’t help in improving the website user experience.
This leads to a user searching for their needed information endlessly through a maze of data that can be very difficult to navigate. Always make sure that you provide your information in such a way that it is easy to access and short to read. This is one of the foremost website design solutions.
Make your Layout Count
Be it a plain, rudimentary design that is functional and easy to understand or an artistic, flamboyant masterpiece that will be appreciated by the right kind of people. You must have a strategy while designing your layout. It must have a purpose to fulfill. Always in Website Design, a bad strategy is better than no strategy. There are a few trends that are doing the rounds currently and will help you improve your user experience. There is minimalism, Alternative reality, and 3d effects that are currently being used and appreciated the most.
Make your Content Engaging
Engaging content in today’s day and age is in demand and priceless. Every website that has ever been successful has provided engaging content to its users. Every user wants much more than what they had come for, they want a well-rounded experience, even if all they desired at first was a bit of information. Your content strategy must be directed towards providing content in the form of articles, blogs, or vlogs.
This should be done with the idea of sharing a brand’s identity and a brand’s story, where it came from, where it is going. While determining your content strategy, you must try to make it as personal as possible, and as relatable for your audience.
These are the most simple and basic improvements you can make for your website. There are hundreds of tools and resources on the internet that you can use to make your website optimal and successful. There are various other more complicated website design solutions that you can implement but that will be more suitable for a professional UX developer.
If you can execute these five steps perfectly, your website will surely be charting online and you will be able to attain all your objectives and goals.