4 Key Factors that Affect your Website User Experience
We have become a world that values the user experience. No matter the interaction, people have become enamored with classifying it based on how it made them feel. How was the movie? Eh, I would give it a 6, which was right around its Rotten Tomatoes score. When it comes to business, there has been a shift towards providing a better experience in order to earn repeat customers. For many companies, that first impression happens online which is why you need to be aware of the 4 Key Factors that Affect your Website User Experience. This has been a focus of ours for the past decade, which in turn has resulted in our becoming an award-winning website design firm.
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By overusing social proof combined with society’s need for approval due to the social media explosion, many businesses ceiling are now directly tied to their overall ranking. For web-driven businesses, one of the crucial impression points is the first visit to your website. How many stars will your site get? The goal is obviously 5, maybe 4 if you are on a budget. But even then, nobody wants to get a 1 or a 2. Too many of those will sink a business in today’s social-proof driven market.
4 Key Factors that Affect Website User Experience
To make sure you are giving your site the best opportunity to impress, make sure your website is performing well in these areas:
- Responsiveness – Responsiveness is the top of the list because of how much web browsing is done on mobile devices. According to the most recent Desktop vs Mobile stats, 52% of all web traffic is from mobile devices while 45.3% is from a desktop. If your site isn’t responsive, then it simply won’t be as effective for engaging and converting mobile visitors. You need to provide value equally across all platforms, which is extremely difficult without a responsive website.
- Speed – Speed kills in the real world, but in a digital existence speed equals success. Most sites have a reasonable level of site speed. You must because people are not willing to waste much time anymore. Our attention spans have gotten a bit shorter over the past decade, more so with younger generations. The industry standard is 3-seconds; any longer than that and you risk losing about half your visitors. With limited seconds with which to engage, every millisecond counts when it comes to loading speed, taking actions, and following links.
- Design – Now that we know anyone can access the site quickly from any device, how does it look? It needs to be engaging instantly with something unique and completely on-brand. The site needs to perform its functions flawlessly and provide functionality and value. Think of how well-designed Amazon’s site is when it comes to style, branding, and functionality. They have been a leader in the retail section for online e-commerce for two decades. Amazon tries new things, utilizes white space to make items and elements stand out, and have a fantastic site structure.
- Navigation – Last but not least, is navigation which is the perfect complement to the design element. Can people find what they need and how to get there quickly and intuitively? Call-to-action buttons should be placed in the best locations, menus should be simple and effective, and all of your navigation options should be built around how visitors use and interact with your site. Far too many people create navigation based on what a few individuals think makes the most sense rather than using heatmaps and scroll maps to analyze actual customer behavior and adjusting to it for a better experience for them.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that your conversion rate is directly related to your website’s user experience, which is also a factor in earning repeat business. It’s not just about getting traffic to the site, it is also about engaging, converting, and retaining those potential customers. A wonderful experience is paramount in that regard which is why every business needs to focus on these 4 Key Factors that Affect Website User Experience.
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