Your website might have lots of great information on it, but does it work well?
Do visitors enjoy browsing it?
Do they want to stay, or does the design send people running away?
These are some of the questions we ask when we talk about “user experience.” After all, a website is only an effective lead generation tool if your visitors enjoy using it.
So, let’s talk about how to build a user experience strategy for your website.
What is a user experience (UX) strategy and why is it important?
A UX strategy outlines how you plan to make your product or service enjoyable for people to interact with. Any company that designs products could and should have a UX strategy, but it’s most commonly talked about in relation to digital products like websites, mobile apps and software.
UX design is particularly important to consider when thinking about website design. Your website is your customers’ first touchpoint in many cases, but 88% of online consumers won’t return to a website if the user experience is bad.
Imagine 9 out of every 10 customers walking out of your retail store without buying anything!
Website elements that are crucial to your user experience strategy
Here are a few key features your website should have if you want to provide a good user experience:
1. Fast loading speed
Website visitors are impatient. Almost 70% of consumers say that page speed affects their willingness to buy from an online business, and website conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% with every second of loading time.
To ensure that your website retains visitors and helps you achieve your business goals, make sure that your website loads quickly without and lags.
2. Mobile friendliness
In 2021, nearly 55% of global website traffic came from mobile devices, and that number is only continuing to grow. Unfortunately, websites don’t always look the same on mobile devices as they do on desktop computers, and some sites don’t function very well on phones or tablets.
You can bypass this problem by designing a mobile-responsive website that changes based on the user’s browsing device. This is a crucial element of any successful UX strategy.
3. Intuitive navigation
Have you ever visited a website that you just couldn’t figure out how to use? Maybe the menu buttons had strange labels and you couldn’t tell what was on each page, or perhaps certain pages were impossible to find without a direct link.
Throughout the design process, think about what your typical user needs from your website, and design your site so that it’s easy for them to get that need fulfilled. Spend some time drafting out your site’s information architecture and consider how you can help your visitors get from the page they land on to the page they want to visit.
4. Easy-to-find contact information
It should be easy for your visitors to get in touch with you if and when they want to. Your design team should include elements to facilitate this, such as:
- Clickable phone numbers for easy calls.
- Clickable email address links.
- A fillable contact form (that someone responds to in a timely manner).
- A chat box connected to an email address or phone number that’s checked frequently.
While you might choose to include these elements on every page, you may also want a designated contact page. Make sure that the buttons leading to this page are clearly labeled and accessible from the home page for easy access.
5. High visibility in search engines
A solid UX strategy doesn’t just consider how your users interact with your site, it also factors in how your users arrive at the site. SEO is an important yet often overlooked aspect of UX design. After all, your users will have a much more pleasant experience if you make it easy for them to find your site in search engines.
So, have your UX designers spend some time with your SEO team to optimize your site for search engines. Figure out what types of keywords your target users are searching online and build content that helps lead those users to your site.
Tip: Test your UX design strategy to perfect it
Like any product strategy, a good UX strategy is perfected through trial and error. You won’t always get it perfect the first time, and that’s OK.
Test different layouts, buttons and navigation settings; then analyze your data and rework your site based on what you learn. You might even ask some team members from other departments to test the site, which can give you an objective view of a typical user’s experience.
Want to attract new visitors to your website with a vibrant UX? BURG+CO. can help
Increasing traffic to your website plays a role in increasing conversions and leading to new clients. However, it’s difficult to attract visitors to your site when you don’t know how to create a vibrant UX. Fortunately, this is one of the things we specialize in at BURG+CO.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their website’s UX and their digital presence in ways designed to help attract new leads and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results, have a site with optimized UX and attract more visitors to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about the services we offer or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
