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Unless you're marketing to someone incredibly UX savvy, your customers probably won't notice your UX design.
Navigating digital marketplaces is quite an unconscious, automatic thing. But that doesn't mean we should underestimate the power of a killer UX design.
WTF is UX design?
User experience (UX) design is the process of creating digital experiences that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to customers.
If your UX design works a treat, it will funnel the right bits of content at the right time, and the whole thing will run like a well oiled machine. Your customers get what they're after, and you get more conversions.
But sometimes there's just something that doesn't 'feel' right with the flow of your UX design.
Signs that your UX needs a revamp
Some red flags may be...
- High bounce rate
- Low engagement
- Little to no click throughs
Bounce rates higher than normal? Conversions not budging? It might be worth revisiting your UX design. It could be a simple fix to a common mistake.
Simple fixes to improve your UX design
If your data is cropping up some red flags, it could mean your UX design needs a look at. It could be something really simple that can be quickly fixed.
It could be a case of:
- Not enough whitespace
- Too many 404 errors
- Non-engaging CTAs
- Too complex
- Long page loading speeds
Whitespace is nice space
Think of whitespace as the breathing room around the elements of your site. The more whitespace, the more emphasis you're placing on your content.
Don't cram stuff together, give elements space to express the message of your content and watch your site's readability climb the charts.
Fix 404s
404 error pages happen when a link is broken. Hitting a 404 is like walking into an empty room when you were expecting a party. It's enough for customers to exit your whole site and look elsewhere.
Run regular audits to flag up any 404s. Update or redirect; make sure there’s always something happening when links are clicked.
Make your CTAs more clickable
Your call-to-actions should be more tempting than a big red button, make them pop and make them clickable.
To make your CTA's more clickable...
- Emphasise anything that's low commitment (e.g. 'free trial')
- Choose your button colours carefully
- Add subtle hover animations
- Careful placement of your CTA
A simple life is an easy life
Sometimes, simplicity is key.
The more complex your UX design = the more that can go wrong = the more it can confuse your customers.
When users struggle to find what they're looking for due to confusing menus, excessive options, or poorly labeled categories, they are likely to leave the site in frustration.
You want to make their digital experience as easy as humanly possible. By simplifying your UX design, your customer will have a more pleasant experience buying from you or gaining the information they were searching for.
Be speedy
In a world where we're too itchy to sit through 5 seconds of YouTube ads, slow page loading can prevent your customer from returning to your site.
This is a significant UX issue that can lead to high bounce rates. Users expect fast and efficient performance, and delays can be frustrating and off-putting.
The fixes could be simple: It could be a case of optimising images, or enabling browser caching.
A/B Split testing
Sometimes you just don't know how your UX design will hit until you try.
Try and make regular tweaks here and there. It could be something as simple as the choice of colour on your button background, or which bits of content you've decided to emphasise.
Use A/B split testing to see what works best, and keep track of your data. Keep an eye on bounce rates and back-end data.
Staying on top of your UX game isn't just about keeping things shiny; it's about making sure users don't bounce faster than a rubber ball. Sometimes it's not about what you think looks the most snazzy, it's about what's getting the best results.
Hooking engagement is essential because your customers want to breeze through your site, rather than wade through it.
