When you create a website where you hope to sell products to, educate or entertain your visitors, you need the best user experience design possible. Catering to users’ needs makes it easier to convert more visitors to customers or otherwise enhance or maintain its positive reputation. What are some of the steps that you should take to make your site as user friendly as possible?
1. Make Sure The Site Looks Good On Desktop And Mobile Devices
An increasing number of people are accessing websites through their mobile devices. If the site doesn’t load quickly or load properly, it will be a major letdown for those who come to your page on their cell phone or tablet. As you don’t want to potentially turn away a paying customer or someone who may want to share your page with others, you should do everything in your power to make your site responsive to mobile devices.
2. Put The Important Information Above The Fold
Above the fold refers to the top of the page that you see before you begin the process of scrolling down. If you are trying to sell products, you should have a product description, testimonial or buy now button on the top of the page. If you are trying to convert visitors to email subscribers or want them to call your location, you want to put a sign-up box or your phone number at the top of the page. You may also consider putting a YouTube video or some other form of media at the very top of your site. While not necessarily against the rules, you may want to avoid putting advertisements on this part of your page.
3. Make Live Chat Available When A Visitor Loads The Page
If you are in the customer service field, you will want a live chat page to load as soon as the visitor accesses your site. This is helpful in answering customer questions such as how much something costs or whether it comes in any colors not listed on the sales page. By answering questions quickly and easily, the customer may decide to buy from you as opposed to the competition. Live chat can also be helpful in guiding the customer down the sales funnel if he or she isn’t ready to make a purchase today and was simply looking for more information to narrow down his or her options.
4. Make It Easy To Share The Site Or Content On The Site
No one is going to know about your site unless there is a way for others to spread the word. Putting social media buttons on your page makes it easier for visitors to share your page on Facebook or a link to your latest blog post on Twitter. Remember, most consumers are swayed more by recommendations made by friends or fellow contacts than they are with recommendations or suggestions made directly by a company. Therefore, making it easy to share content improves user experience while also helping to reach a larger audience ready to spend money on your goods or services.
5. Make Your Content Easy To Read And Understand By Your Target Audience
Nothing is more frustrating than reading an article that is above your reading level. Ideally, you will stick to an eighth grade reading level or below when attempting to target a broad audience. However, you may want to use more sophisticated vocabulary when attempting to attract college grads or professionals who may be familiar with the lingo that you want to use. Additionally, use solid fonts and plenty of white space to avoid eye strain and make it easier for a reader to get to the end of the content without getting tired or burned out.
The best user experience design is the one that makes your visitors want to stay on your site and learn more. Limiting ads, creating interesting and easy to understand content and putting the most important information on the top of your page ensures that you get your message out. Hopefully, this will lead to more shares, more positive comments and higher rankings in search results. That will tend to lead to more conversions, more money and higher profits for your company.