If it’s been a while since your website had a proper refresh, you could be missing out on valuable traffic and conversions. UX design is a valuable tool when it comes to making your website appealing to its visitors. Here is all you need to know to make sure your website is user-friendly.
UX design refers to User Experience-centred designs. To break it down further, it’s all about creating an easy, enjoyable, and intuitive journey from the moment someone lands on your site.
Good UX design ensures that your site is not only functional, but also feels effortless to navigate. This is important no matter why your visitors are browsing, whether to read a blog, fill in a form, or sign up for a new course.
Setting up your website with UX in mind is great… but it’s not a standalone task. UX design is something that you will need to keep up over time. Just like any building or shopfront, your website will show wear and tear over time, making it obvious when it has been neglected.
Several things can begin to go bad when you neglect your website and UX experience.
Technology evolves rapidly. A website that looked fine a few years ago may now appear broken or clunky on newer devices. If it doesn’t adapt to various screen sizes (like smartphones or tablets), users will struggle to browse.
Outdated software, plug-ins, and themes are major vulnerabilities for cyberattacks. Hackers often target older sites because they know the security holes haven’t been patched.
Google could potentially blacklist your site, warning visitors it’s unsafe or your site could be hacked or infected with malware.
Google rewards fast, secure, and mobile-friendly websites. An old, slow-loading site with outdated content can drop in rankings. As a result, you will fall behind in rankings, miss out on featured snippets, and damage your credibility with outdated content.
Read more about the Top SEO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.
Businesses grow and evolve, and perhaps you don’t have the same goals that you once did. Maybe your target audience has shifted, or you offer entirely new services. No matter what the case is, as your business grows, your website needs to also. An outdated site that no longer reflects who you are or what you do can hold you back.
According to UXCam, over 70% of visitors are likely to return to a site that features a good mobile experience, and 90% say they are likely to keep shopping if the site is easy to use. With this in mind, UX experience becomes a necessity.
Here are some top things you can do to improve your UX design:
Users shouldn’t have to guess where to click next. Keep your navigation clean, consistent, and clear. Think about how people naturally move through your site and organise your menu in a way that supports this.
For instance, group your related pages under dropdowns in your menu to avoid an overwhelming clutter of pages.
Most users now access websites on their phones. A mobile-first approach ensures your design is responsive, meaning it adjusts beautifully to all screen sizes.
With this in mind, avoid clunky buttons or images that take up the whole screen!
Make the next step simple. If your potential lead is reading about a course they are interested in taking, have plenty of opportunities for them to sign up or find out about upcoming dates. If they have to manually search your website for enrolment steps, you could lose a customer.
No one loves a slow site! In fact, users are more likely to leave before the page even finishes loading if it takes too long. Anything over 3 seconds, and they’ll likely abandon the page.
Optimise your page and compress images to free up some loading time.
We’re not all big readers, and if your viewers are in a hurry, they don’t want to read 2,000 words to get the answer to their question.
Most users skim rather than read word-for-word. Breaking up text and using visual cues helps them digest information quickly.
You won’t get it right the first time or even the second time. Regular updates and testing, whether through user feedback, heatmaps, or A/B testing, will help you find the perfect balance.
With all that in mind, how do you know when you have gotten it right?
When visitors can navigate effortlessly, find what they need, and take action without friction. With the right website design and development, you can keep your site running smoothly and ensure to take every opportunity to grow. Don’t let your website become stagnant and miss out on potential leads (we all know your competitors won’t).
UX design can be hard to perfect, but like anything it needs time and attention for your results to shine through. However, without design and UX know-how, you might end up with something that looks okay but doesn’t work well.
That’s where Immerse Marketing comes to the rescue. Running a business is already a full-time job. Designing and maintaining a site can quickly become a time-draining rabbit hole. We take the load off so you can focus on growing your business, not Googling how to fix a plugin issue at 10 pm.
Whether it’s time for a complete redesign, a UX refresh, or just some honest advice about where to start, we’re here to help.
Contact us today and ensure you’re making the most out of your website.
