Websites have unique purposes and attract different types of visitors. As such, there isn’t a one size fits all solution when it comes to content, navigation or design. Instead, they need to be tailored in line with analytics data, customer feedback and business purposes. What’s more, as the digital environment and user habits are always changing, this needs to happen on a regular basis, if you want to offer slick online journeys that retain site traffic – or to put it more plainly, people.
The good news is, it’s easier than ever for you to access the data you need to identify and inform improvements. Analytics are readily available at the click of a button – and there are lots of digital agencies that can help you stay up to date. In short, there’s no excuse for bad online experiences.
If you’re looking to improve your UX, our top tips are a useful starting point.
Find out what visitors are looking for on your site
Are there pages with high deflection rates? Does the device a user accesses your website from affect the content they look for? Use this kind of information to highlight priority areas – you may want to reduce the clicks it takes for a user to reach the popular content through promoting CTAs that vary across responsive or adaptive design.
Revisit your navigation
The information architecture and navigation you have been using for years may no longer be the most efficient. As your website has most likely grown organically, have priority areas been dominated by secondary content? Are all your pages still current? Do you promote them through a blend of navigation, banners and CTAs?
Make it simple
Your customers may have never visited your site – and there's a chance they're not even regular web users. Are navigation points clear and strategically positioned? Are you making presumptions about user behaviour based on familiarity with your site? Are you showing them too much information instead of snippets which they can choose to interact with for more information? Opening your site to usability testing may highlight areas for improvement.
Keep it visual
Most people access websites from desktop, mobile and tablet – even while they're on the move. Does your content use a healthy balance of images and text? Have you embedded video? Is your site optimised for various devices? In many cases, showing rather than telling is the quickest way to catch attention and drive engagement.
And finally - listen
There's no point gathering data if you're only using it for reporting purposes. Use it as a basis to drive strategic improvements. Are you comfortable interpreting analytics in a proactive way? Are you preventing change because you're close to the project? Being willing to implement new strategies can make your site much nicer to use and to perform much better.
By paying attention to user habits and ensuring your web presence is tailored to your visitors, your website will remain abreast of the rapidly changing digital environment. For more information on how UXB London can help with your UX requirements, get in touch with us today.