A good user experience on your website ensures that your target audience is able to find what they are looking for with ease. Creating relevant content, along with a professional website design, will help you retain user interest.
Without a satisfying website user experience, you risk losing customers, which can hurt your business in the long run. Here are 10 ways you can improve your website’s user experience.
- Optimise Speed
If your website does not load fast enough, a user is likely to click the back button and choose another website. Slow loading speed is a source of frustration for many users as most of them simply do not have time to wait.
In order to retain users, a website should ideally load within 3 seconds. The image file size is one of the most common causes of slow speed. A useful tip in this regard is to compress all images before loading them onto your website.
- Add Images and Video
A tried and tested tactic to increase user engagement is to add images and videos on your webpage. A human touch increases engagement substantially. For example, in the “contact us” section of your website, use an actual picture of your team rather than an illustration of a phone.
If your website is selling a product that is a little complicated to use and difficult to explain through content alone, consider adding a video. A video tutorial will help people understand its features and functions more easily.
- Improve Readability
Avoid using long blocks of text and structure your content well to improve readability. This is bound to have a significant influence on the way users consume and respond to your message.
Here are some tips that can improve content readability:
- Use short sentences that are easy to read and comprehend
- Use bullet points to make information quickly available to users
- Keep the font large and simple
- Do not underline words if they are not links
- Avoid paragraphs of more than 2 lines
- Determine Calls to Action
A call to action (CTA) is a powerful tool that influences user behaviour. It provides a unique user experience and increases the conversion rate.
CTAs are action words that are strategically placed to encourage online users to take the desired action. You can achieve more conversions by making it easy for a user to find and react on CTA.
The colour of your call to action should contrast with the colour of the web page’s background. Different colours signify different kinds of messages. Think about the message you want to put across when choosing the colour.
Carefully choose the text that would appear as a CTA. Avoid using generic terms such as ‘next’, ‘submit’ and ‘continue’. Instead, try something that would tell the users what they will get if they click on the button.
- Check for 404 Errors
When users click on a link or image, they expect to be transported to the relevant page. However, if they receive a 404 error instead, it will leave them helpless.
While errors do not affect SEO, they do affect user experience. It is highly frustrating for a user to come across this interruption and may make them switch to another website.
Check for 404 errors on your website by setting up Google Webmaster tools and checking crawl errors. If you find one, redirect the old page to a new URL that is ideally relating to a similar topic. Request the previous URL to be removed from search engine listings.
- Create a Good Homepage
The website’s homepage should contain the main message of your website. Keep text on your homepage brief as visitors do not have the patience to read long paragraphs.
Make sure that the homepage is organised to maintain user interest. Your logo should be visible on the homepage and adequately sized according to the layout. Make it clickable on all pages so that the users can return to the homepage, no matter where they are on the website.
Make sure that the pages on your website are interlinked properly. Place important content at the top of the homepage where online users are able to see it right away to improve the website’s user experience.
- Use White Space Well
To make your website appear organised, keep enough white space between content. White space is the breathing space or blank space that helps make your content more legible and makes the web design look good. It makes the web page look open, fresh and modern.
However, you need to be careful with placing your content as white space does in fact take up space. If you want meaty content above the fold (the part that is easily visible without scrolling), too much white space may replace valuable content. It is vital to find a balance between the important information you want to communicate at the top and the breathing space that needs to be present.
If you don’t leave enough white space, users may miss out on crucial information due to a cluttered layout. This may lead to a decrease in conversion.
- Make it More Mobile-Friendly
Make sure that your website can be navigated from all types of devices, such as computers, laptops and smartphones. Mobile phones have become an increasingly common means of navigation, which is why optimising your website for a smartphone has become essential.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, you may end up losing potential customers. Make sure that the buttons on a website are easily clickable from a mobile phone. Keep the content minimised and the text size suitable.
- Improve Accessibility
Your website should be accessible to everyone. Here are some tips for creating a more user-friendly experience:
- Navigation must be consistent, that is, all components have a similar location on every page.
- Make your website fully compatible with all devices. Users should be able to explore your website even if they are using one device exclusively, such as a keyboard or a mouse.
- Text readability is essential. The colour and contrast of your web page should make the design easy on the eyes.
- Keep input forms short and simple. Website use input forms for a variety of functions, such as login, registration or making a purchase. Avoid forms that ask for irrelevant data, as users are more likely to abandon it.
- Conduct a UX Audit
An audit allows you to check the effectiveness of your website and fix any flaws on the way. Ask yourself these questions to ensure that you cover all potential loopholes:
- Does the web design serve the organisation’s purpose in an intended manner?
- If the answer is no, then what can we do to improve it?
- If the answer is yes, then how can the user experience be improved in terms of efficiency and output?
- Is there anything we have done that falls short of meeting the organisation’s goals?
- Have there been any changes in the business that need to be incorporated?
A website’s user experience is key in determining your business’s reputation and plays an important role in increasing conversions. A website with relevant content, neat layout and the good loading speed is more likely to make the visitors stay than one that is slow to load and has a cluttered layout.
