User experience refers to the overall experience an individual has when visiting a website or app. Even though many know that user experience is important to attract website visitors, it can be tricky to figure out how to create great user experience. We’ve put together a list of five simple ways to improve your website’s user experience.
1. Design with users in mind
You shouldn’t create a website based solely on your preferences. Since you’re creating a website to attract potential clients and customers, it’s important to figure out what your target demographics are looking for and create websites that will be easy to use for those individuals.
You should research your competitors, which would include taking a look at their websites. It’s also a good idea to find out what customers are looking for when they look at websites in your industry.
Clients and customers are diverse, which is why creating user personas is a great idea when planning out what your website will look like and which features it will include. A persona takes into consideration a few characteristics, including:
- A user’s motivations
- A user’s basic demographics
- Other websites a user might like
- A user’s frustrations
- A user’s goals
2. Focus on simplicity
A busy website doesn’t mean it’s a better website. Creating a simple, streamlined website brings a handful of benefits. For example, you can direct your customers’ eyes exactly where you want them to look and make it easier for your customers to look at all the information you have to offer.
It’s been proven that simple websites do better. When a website features key information and focused visual cues, customers tend to spend longer looking a website because it’s less overwhelming.
3. Make it easy to take the next step
If it’s not easy for your customers to take the next step, whether that be making a purchase or contacting your business, you’re missing out on a lot of potential business. One key aspect to good user design is making sure your website is easy to use.
Some great ways to do this is by making your website highly interactive, ensuring you include relevant call to actions, making online stores easy to shop on, and including contact pages in intuitive areas of your website.
4. Pay attention to the different types of content on your website
Make sure you’re formatting your content in the best way possible. Don’t overwhelm your site with a cluster of images and content. You can optimise the way you display your content by following proven methods.
For example, it’s a great idea to focus on written content that is optimised for online use. This would include formatting website copy into short paragraphs, sections, bullet points, and clearly defined headlines. Likewise, it’s good to incorporate easy-to-read fonts and high quality images on your site.
5. Seek feedback from others
You wouldn’t grade your own exam, and you shouldn’t grade your own website either. One of the best ways to make sure your website has top-notch user experience design is to ask others for their input.
Get your team together and ask for honest opinions. You might end up getting feedback you didn’t expect and identifying problems that you wouldn’t have noticed on your own.
What to expect with improved user experience design
If you follow these tips and other tactics to improve user experience, you might start to have more interaction, an increase in website visitors, and happier customers.
If you'd like some advice on user experience design for your website, get in touch with us. For examples of user-friendly website design, have a look at our Case Studies page.
Digital Bridge is an Australian web design, web development and web management agency based in Fitzroy, Melbourne.