Today’s users are more than ever aware of every aspect of your product or website.
They are constantly flooded with different options, through ads and organically.
Once, businesses could get away with a poorly designed website or an app because there weren’t as many options.
👉🏼 Because of the lack of alternatives, users developed patience and understanding.
Today, when every imaginable process is significantly accelerated, users quickly pull the trigger and leave you for your competition.
#facts User Experience Statistics 👇· 39% will stop engaging with content when the images won’t load or the loading time takes too long. ·88% of users are less likely to return to a website after a bad user experience.
The visitors are aware that there are many other options and do not hesitate to look for them, so a bad experience in interacting with your app or website can mark the end of the relationship.
And it often happens with no second chance.
User experience is one of the essential segments of a modern business.
Although it’s always been the focus for companies, its importance has multiplied since most interactions have transferred to the digital world where users don't communicate face-to-face with the salesperson.
Positive experiences of the salesperson and the application can match in situations such as speed of service, design of the store or interface and easy access to information.
However, if there are flaws in the store, the salesperson could make up for it with charm and skill.
If the site doesn't load fast enough, impatient visitors can't be charmed by the video on the landing page, etc. On the other hand, if there is an error in any of the steps towards conversion, many users will give up because there is no one to help them in the given situation (besides customer support - and that's not always a quick fix).
It’s a holistic approach to designing the entire process from when a user comes in contact with your app or website. In simple terms, it’s a good or bad feeling that the user has after using your product.
It’s essential to know from the start that users decide within seconds whether to stay on your site or not. But this is just the beginning. The number of steps or obstacles depends on the target conversion.
To get conversions, each of the steps needs to be designed in such a way that it brings out a positive experience.
👉🏼 One too many mistakes, and it can cost you money.
This article will talk about how user experience can help a business, the most important elements for success, and what can be done to improve the overall user experience, resulting in increased income for your business.
Key User Experience Components 📝
The core components of UX design that need to be done with care are:
👉🏼 It’s vital to meet all the criteria that these components require for the best results.
However, to make progress, you need to take care of countless little parts of these components, such as:
Many popular brands, and you’ll read about them later, made changes with success and quickly noticed the difference.
You need to understand that none of this can be done without quality market research and defining the target group and the needs of potential users.
With this in mind, let’s move on to the first most important piece.
1. Run User Experience Research 🧑🏽🔬
Before you start implementing UX components, it's important to do thorough UX research. You need to understand what your users' habits are, their behaviors, and their needs.
UX research is a systematic approach to researching the target group and their needs by collecting valuable data. The most basic approach to research is made through two methods:
and
A qualitative method consists of collecting data through interviews or focus groups where members of the target audience are deeply analyzed.
In this type of research, it’s crucial to examine which problems they face when interacting with products like yours and how they imagine a potential solution.When you present a prototype of your product to users, you can very quickly discover some things you missed.
But, it could prove to be crucial to some users for a certain desired action.
Try to understand why they’ve missed certain CTAs or why they have trouble finding certain information. Insights from qualitative research could be key to your success.
On the other hand, quantitative research is more about gathering measurable data. The best way to do it is with surveys where you can discover user patterns.
2. Design A Visually Pleasing Interface 👩🏾💻
Visual design is a big part of the user experience. It can be equated with the rest of the brand image elements.
Besides the logo and the name of your business, the interface of the application or site could be considered the most important parts of the visual identity.
First impressions have always mattered, and the same goes for your product. Visual design plays a key role in discussing how users decide if they’re sticking around within seconds.
It’s quite simple — if the design is messy and not clear enough, users might miss out on key actions you want them to take. It’s not only about attractive images and pleasing colors. The critical point is to make your product clear and as easily accessible as possible.
3. Ensure Your Website’s Complete Functionality 👨🏽💻
One of the key components for user experience is functionality. We talked about the impatience of today’s consumers, so this part is crucial.
If users can’t complete an action or open a webpage, they’re likely to bounce off your website. By ensuring everything works perfectly, you can see that users don’t exit your application or leave your website.
If they encounter something unsatisfying about your website, a large chunk could leave in an instant, so this shows how important user experience really is.
Sometimes, a page contains images with too high a resolution, slowing down the loading speed. At this point, a slow-loading page could lose you some visitors.
But, when it happens that a page does not load or a specific button doesn’t work — there is a good chance that you will lose most, if not all visitors.
👉🏼 This is why you must test the usability of your product.
Navigate through all the possible paths. Check every corner to be sure everything runs smoothly, and look if everything seems logical from the standpoint of your users.
The goal is to provide users with a barrier-free journey, from arrival on the website to the specific action you want them to perform. This way, you ensure that they have a flawless experience, increasing the chances for conversions.
4. Make Sure Users Can Find What They’re Looking For 👀
The goal for all online businesses is to get more conversions. If your website or app is cluttered with various elements and irrelevant information, don't expect too much.
Selecting the most important action you want your users to take determines which information is most important and what elements should be found on the landing page.
Let’s say you’re in the SaaS industry, and you want users to either “Get Pricing”, “Schedule a Call” or maybe “Sign Up For Newsletter”.
You want these CTAs to stand out from the rest of the screen. So either put them in a button, highlight the word with another color, or make the font size big enough to attract the viewer’s eye.
5. Write UX Copy ✎
Content is vital for improving the user experience. Videos and images can significantly improve the overall user impression of your website or application.
Commitment to writing good copy is already a well-established practice. Most marketers know how important copy is, both for SEO optimization and for increasing conversions.
Let's say you have an e-commerce shop that sells coffee ☕️.
The user entered keywords in the search according to their needs. They came across your site and found relevant information and possible solutions.
This means that the user has probably found what they were looking for, which certainly contributes to their experience of interacting with your site.
This is feasible either organically or through ads, and in both cases, the copy on the site must be optimized.
When writing a copy, you should pay attention to trends. You can't simply guess what users are typing in the search. Changes and trends can be easily tracked with tools such as Google Trends API, MOZ or Ahrefs and help you explore Google search data.
Another positive side of a well-written copy can be an informative answer to a question or query in an instant. This allows users to easily navigate through your site, resulting in conversions and reducing bounce rates.
6. Make The Website Responsive 💻
Mobile devices are overtaking desktop devices, and the difference is greater with every year. Mobile devices drove 68% of visits to websites in 2020 globally, a 5% increase from the year before.
This means that your website must be adapted to fit all the different sizes.
Every image should fit the screen, and the text should never leave the width of the mobile devices. Try to avoid having pages where users could scroll left and right. Some users might not know that there is more content because they're used to navigating up or down.
How Did Improving User Experience Help Popular Brands? 🤔
Bank of America is an excellent example of how the user experience has positively impacted the overall business.
The key was the addition of a dashboard that gave users easy access to all their finances. It’s easier to use their mobile application because all vital information was at their fingertips by being visible and easy to find.
Walmart is another great story. Noticing that their website isn’t working as well as planned, they decided to do a complete makeover.
They understood that their interface was outdated, not appealing enough, so they decided to work on it and improve the complete user experience. It resulted in increased online sales by a whopping 43%.
Bottom Line 💁🏻♀️
The market is full of companies that have built great user experience and their business flourished. Users appreciate it when everything runs smoothly so they pay back with loyalty.
Let’s run through some points to remember. You’ll need to:
The user experience should evoke emotions, draw users and guide them towards desired actions.
It all boils down to users having a good or bad experience with your business. So make sure that every interaction with users is a positive thing for both sides.
Source: https://marketsplash.com/importance-of-user-experience/