Your website is often the first impression potential customers will have of your business, and if your site doesn’t speak to your target audience, it won’t perform to its full potential. It should relate to your user’s motivations and ambitions, and take them on a journey to fulfilling their needs – ultimately converting them into a paying customer.
That’s where user experience (UX) comes into play – and it’s not just about aesthetics, it’s about creating a journey that keeps visitors coming back for more. Understanding the importance of UX on your site can be a game changer, and in this blog, we explore the key fundamentals of good website user experience and why you should be prioritising it for success.
What are the key fundamentals of good website user experience?
First, let’s quickly break down what website user experience actually is and why you need to streamline it. User experience is essentially the experience individuals have when they encounter your website. It’s imperative you ensure you deliver the visitor the most satisfactory experience in as few clicks as possible.
You can do this by ensuring your website is:
1. Functional
Functionality is the cornerstone of UX and refers to how well your site serves its intended purpose. It should allow users to accomplish their goals efficiently and effectively. When they interact with your site, they expect it to work seamlessly without any hiccups. This means that every button, menu, or interactive element should be easy to understand and operate, and enable them to navigate seamlessly without frustration.
It should also load quickly, be responsive across all devices, and provide clear access to information and your offering. Intuitive website design plays a key role here and should allow users to complete tasks, such as completing a transaction, with minimal effort.
2. Helpful
Your site should be helpful for your users and this is where your top level navigation comes in. Organising your offering logically, using intuitive menus, and ensuring your most important content is easily accessible is key to providing value and support to your audience. Best practice is to keep your menu to a maximum of five headings as this avoids an overly complicated navigation and ensures your users can find exactly what they’re looking for quickly.
It’s also important to remember that everyone will view and use a website differently, so you should cater for all types of users. Some may prefer to read, some may prefer to look at images, and some may prefer to engage with iconography. Providing the perfect blend of all three gives everyone a fair chance to access your offering in different ways.
3. Unrestricted
Creating a good user experience on websites starts with an unrestricted site that is accessible to all users. An unrestricted site essentially means an easy, free flowing website without boundaries, and gives users what they want.
A good example would be an online travel company. When a user searches for their desired destination and clicks through to a hotel or resort they like the look of, you want to ensure you’re including everything they could possibly want to know. This may include images, hotel facilities, nearby attractions, videos, and even include a hotel comparison list, so the user doesn’t have to keep going back and forth between different pages to find the information they want.
This approach allows users to find the information they need quickly, efficiently, and all in one place, leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates on your site.
4. Trustworthy
Trustworthiness is an important element of user experience on websites because it can significantly influence how visitors perceive and interact with your site. Visual cues, or ‘trust signals’ showcase the reliability of your brand and can include things like the length of service or experience, accreditations, reviews, or testimonials for example.
These all important signals help put your customers at ease, trust your brand, and make the buying or enquiry process quicker and easier. When your customers find your site trustworthy, it encourages them to return for future visits, making this crucial for your conversion rate.
5. Worthwhile
Users today not only expect your site to be functional, helpful, and unrestricted, but they also expect a sense of value from their interactions. This means your site should resonate with your audience’s needs and wants. Whether it’s through informative articles, easy-to-find products, or interactive features, your website experience should understand who your visitors are and what they’re looking for.
A great way to ensure this in your user experience is to incorporate a search bar on your site, so users can quickly search for the product they want. Then, when they land on your product page, you showcase the product’s key features, how it can solve their problems, meet their needs, and why they should choose you over your competitors – this can also include your trust signals too.
6. Desirable
Creating a desirable website is a key fundamental to enhancing website user experience and ensuring your visitors feel motivated to explore further. A site that is visually appealing can help improve interaction. This not only involves aesthetic appeal, such as clean and pleasing layouts, harmonious colour palettes, and responsive features that cater to different devices, but also captivating imagery.
If you’re an ecommerce business and you sell luxurious products – whether it’s sports cars or beauty products – you should be investing in high-quality photography to create an inviting atmosphere. The more desirable your site is, the more likely users will return and recommend it to others. This not only encourages repeat visits and fosters loyalty, but also helps boost your conversions.
Why does user experience on websites matter?
If you’ve ever been on a website or an app, and you don’t know how to find specific information, or have ended up on a 404 error page, you’ve encountered a lousy website user experience. Good user experience matters because bad UX can result in missed sales and leads coming through your site. Positive experiences keep users loyal to your offering and brand, ultimately leading to business success.
Your website visitors will expect elements of your site to work and deliver what they need. If it doesn’t, your website is targeting the wrong audience. With a bad UX, you might need to rewind, do some deeper thinking, and create some personas and customer journey maps to understand your users better.
Ask yourself the following questions when navigating through your website:
- How easy is it to navigate? Is it clear what you offer?
- How can the website be improved to increase conversions?
- Does content connect with the end-users?
- Are you using the right call to action?
Tips to improve your website user experience
If your website isn’t performing as expected, your website experience could be the issue. Here are some tips to improve your UX so you can retain visitors and encourage engagement:
- Create buyer personas so you can make sure you truly understand who your website is for. This will allow you to deliver an experience and design that’s catered specifically to them.
- Use analytical tools like Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or Microsoft Clarity to review how visitors are engaging with the content on your pages. This will enable you to make changes that are data driven.
- Make sure your web pages load quickly – because no one likes to wait! You can optimise images and minimise unnecessary scripts to help speed things up.
- Ensure your site is mobile-friendly to cater for the growing number of people who browse the internet on a mobile device.
- Consider streamlining your navigation and organising your content into clear categories so users know exactly where to find your products or services.
Let us help with your website user experience
With a well-designed user experience, you can significantly influence how users navigate your site, find information, and ultimately engage with your brand. When you offer a good website experience, you can increase lead generation and boost your conversion rate.
If you’re struggling with your website user experience and you’re not sure where to start, we can help. At Fifteen, our team of experts can assess your current website design and provide tailored recommendations to enhance visibility and increase visitor satisfaction. Be sure to get in touch with us today and learn how we can create a user-friendly environment that reflects your brand’s values while catering to the needs of your audience.
