1. Navigation
What’s one of the first things you see when you land on a website? The menu navigation! (If you can’t, you’ve already got a problem.)
Most customers will already have an idea of what they are looking for. It’s your problem to make it as easy as possible to find.
Having clearly labelled and visual navigation can reduce the steps it takes customers to reach their destination and increase click through rate.
2. Visual, Engaging, Relevant Content
Engaging with customers to encourage them to remain on your website and reach the goal of sending an enquiry is one of the main issues we deal day to day.
Lack of great quality images that tell stories are a huge annoyance to me. We, as online consumers, don’t have the luxury of touching or testing a product before we buy, so great visual content is a necessity, whether that’s large detailed product photos or video demos created by the professional agency (visit their website for more details).
Most of the visitors to your website simply won’t read through large paragraphs of text, they will however scan through it so its important to include relevant, punchy headers, CTA’s (Call to actions) and as previously stated, great quality visuals.
Useful content that is usually left until the checkout process such as delivery times and costs. Displaying this sooner can not only improve engagement but also reduce frustration.
Removing steps out of the customer journey will also increase consumer trust in your site and ultimately your brand.
3. Being Social & Using Reviews
What adds more trust to a product, service or brand than reviews or social media interaction? More of us research now before deciding to purchase.
So why don’t we do it more often? I’m personally more likely to buy if I know other people have.
Google loves natural, unique content, so why not use it? Reach out to your potential customers, send them email updates on your products and services, ask them to leave reviews through Facebook, Twitter, Google and build up your reputation. Thank your positive reviewers for their custom and evaluate your negative ones to see how you can improve their future experience.
4. Maximise Website Speed
This is one of the things we go on about in our industry and how it plays a massive part of UX for any website and its visitors. It’s bad enough having a slow internet connection but landing on a slow website can also be the difference between an enquiry/sale or not.
Whether it’s large image files or troublesome scripts and plugins, attention needs to be taken to discover the problem and actions taken to amend.
5. Make It Mobile Responsive
With the recent update from Google, it’s surprising how many websites still haven’t switched to a mobile responsive platform.
It’s simple, make it easy for your customers or they won’t hesitate to find it somewhere else.
Finally
The points covered on this website are only a small part of a much larger picture. There are so many other aspects that could improve UX, but this should give you an idea of where to start.
- Take a step back and use your site as a customer.
- Look at your navigation, your menus, filters or search functions.
- Review your content, not just text but imagery, videos and CTAs, they should engage and excite.
- Be active on social media and encourage reviews, building trust and reputation.
- Maximise your website speed to its potential.
- If not already, make sure your website is mobile friendly. If it’s not, you are going to struggle against your competitors.