If you have had a website for a while, it’s important to regularly address any user journey pain points to ensure your users stay on your site. Customers expect faster loading speeds, mobile-friendly websites, and a tailor-made user experience, and if your site is failing on any of these points, you can expect to see a drop in conversions.
As there’s so many different potential user pain points, it can be difficult to learn where your users may be getting frustrated. In this blog, we’ll guide you through some of the most common user journey pain points and provide practical tips on how to address them effectively.
What are the different types of user pain points?
There are many different types of user pain points that businesses need to ensure they’re addressing sooner rather than later. Some pain points that can hinder a seamless user experience include:
- Functional – these are related to usability, such as broken links, confusing navigation, or slow loading times.
- Emotional – these stem from negative emotions users may feel during their journey, like frustration, confusion, or lack of trust.
- Financial – this is where users may be deterred by high costs, hidden fees, or complex payment processes.
- Process – these happen when users face obstacles in completing tasks or achieving their goals on a website or app.
Examples of user journey pain points and how to fix them
Here are some examples of the most common user pain points and how you can fix them if you identify them on your site.
Compatibility
In today’s modern world, your users will often be coming to your website via different devices, search engines, and browsers. For example, one user may search for your brand on Google on a mobile device, whereas another may find you through Bing when searching on a laptop. With this in mind, you have to make sure your site is versatile.
Luckily, online tools like BrowserStack allow you to test your URL to see if it works on new and older versions of specific browsers, while tools such as Screenfly allow you to test your site on different mobile devices.
If you have quite an old website, chances are it won’t be responsive and you may be losing customers to your competitors purely because their site is mobile responsive. In this case, you should audit your website and get an experienced web development agency, like Fifteen, to test your site’s speed, security, and compatibility. These key features could be the reason you keep losing traffic.
Tired web design
When users interact with a website that has a tired design, it can be a major pain point that hinders their experience. Outdated layouts, slow loading times, and cluttered interfaces can frustrate visitors and drive them away. What was once a popular web design feature a few years ago, may now be outdated.
That’s why it’s vital to speak to expert web designers, like Fifteen, to see how you can update your site’s design. Your site doesn’t have to have bells and whistles, it simply needs to be aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly to avoid turning users away. But remember, your web design should reflect your values and communicate your brand and that includes everything from choosing the right colours, to your tone of voice.
Unoptimised sites
SEO is integral to a website’s visibility and if your site isn’t optimised for search engines like Google, your brand won’t be found by your intended audience. SEO is also vital for your site’s performance, which also contributes to your online visibility. For example, if you haven’t optimised your images or your site is prone to slow loading times, then not only will your users become frustrated, your site could be penalised by Google.
If you don’t have an internal SEO team, speak to a professional SEO agency, like Fifteen, for expert advice and help. Optimising images for accessibility, technical fixes, and targeting your web pages for keywords are all improvements any brand can make to reach a wider audience.
Security concerns
Security concerns are a common user pain point and people are becoming more cautious about sharing personal information online due to the rising threat of data breaches and cyber attacks. As well as this, the rise in online scams are also making people cautious about who to trust. As a business, protecting your customers personal and sensitive information should be your number one priority.
It’s vital to ensure your website has a secure SSL certification as this will encrypt data transmitted between users and your site. Another way you can instil trust with your audience is to implement two-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security for user accounts. Any and all security measures you have in place should be clearly communicated with your audience so it alleviates any worries they may have.
Intrusive marketing
Intrusive marketing can be a major turn off for users and easily turns them away from your brand. An example of this would be a customer signing up to your email marketing list and they begin to receive too many emails from your brand that are irrelevant to them. By being overly aggressive with your marketing, it can have a negative impact on your users experience and can even damage your reputation.
One of the key ways to fix this is to implement a more subtle and personalised marketing strategy. Give your customers an opportunity to set their preferences so you can enhance your marketing efforts. When you have a better understanding of what type of content your audience wants to see, you can create a targeted marketing strategy based on their preferences, behaviour, and interests which will engage them without being intrusive.
Need help identifying your website pain points?
Now that you have a better understanding of what user pain points are, the most common type of pain points your audience might encounter, and how you can fix them, it’s now time to take action. By providing a positive and seamless user experience on your site, you’ll have the ability to attract new prospects and ensure your retained customers remain loyal.
If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you find your website pain points, get in touch with us today. Our multi-disciplined team of digital, design, and development experts can conduct a comprehensive website audit and provide recommendations on how to update your site and make it pain-free for your users.