Why User Experience Matters When Developing a Website

If you’re in the web design or app programming business, you probably already know how much buzz there’s around “user experience”. Beautiful design in this day and age is no longer the main deciding factor of a site’s quality; functionality is. Still, many people are still stuck on aesthetics and fail to realize how much designing with UX in mind is important. In this article, we’re going to explore exactly why UX is absolutely essential when building websites. We’re also going to touch on how you can improve the user experience on your website.

The Advent of Mobile

The recent shift towards mobile functionality means that your site needs to be as functional for mobile as it is on any other platform. This means that you can no longer get away with a poorly performing mobile website. This means spending more time on cross testing and placing more effort on building actual mobile websites instead of cutting corners with easy and cheap options.

We are now living in an era where more people are actually conducting searches through their mobile devices than through their laptops and desktops. These mediums are no longer the main focal point, and you can expect the shift to continue towards mobile in the next coming years. This means that you should think about integrating responsive design to your website if you haven’t done so already. Websites with responsive design offer a great user experience across all platforms and tend to get favored by the search engines and users.

Personal Lead Nurturing

Improved UX in design doesn’t only provide a better overall experience to users but can improve the quality of your leads as well. For instance, personalized lead nurturing allows you to put a name and face on each and every one of your leads and get a more detailed profile of who you’re dealing with. This way, you can personalize your leads and adjust the way you communicate with them.

The more detailed profile you have on your leads, the better you’ll be able to target them. Not only that but bombarding your prospects with impersonal offers is a surefire way to lose them.

This is why you have to make sure that your website offers the most personalized experience. Landing pages should be as personalized as possible. For instance, you have to take into consideration the origin of the traffic. If you post an event on your Facebook page, such as a seminar or a countdown notification list for a product launch, make sure that the landing page on your website is optimized correctly for the user.

Also, you should make sure that you do not overwhelm your visitors once they get there. Sure, a simple form can be a great tool to personalize your leads, but too many questions can be a turn-off. You should also skip unnecessary things such as a captcha for instance.

The user experience will eventually dictate the kind of success you have with your landing page. Simple things like uncompressed images slowing down your page’s loading time, or out of place elements could significantly increase your bounce rates.

Improves Your Brand Image

Another major benefit of good UX is the effect it has on your brand. A website with a great user experience will definitely stand out and build awareness about your brand. Users rarely forget a website they felt was made especially for them and answered their needs to a tee.

A recent study found that 89% of customers started their relationship with a service provider following a bad experience with another company. That is huge. You don’t want to be that company. This is why UX should be on top of your list, not only with your website but throughout your operations.

The experience people have with your brand will literally make or break any chance of maintaining a continuing relationship with them. Not only that, but poor experiences leave a more lasting impression than good ones, unfortunately. With a continually good user experience, you will increase your chances of clients coming back and preaching the gospel about your business. This is the only way to build a following and build loyalty with your clients.

Reduces Bounce Rates

Bounce rates affect your business in more ways than one. The first one is conversion rates. The longer your visitors stay on your website, the more chance they will buy your products. The only way to achieve that is to improve your users’ experience and make sure that your website is consistent with your advertising and that your website offers a clear and concise solution to their problems. In other words, you have to deliver on your promises.

The other aspect of bounce rates is how they may affect your SEO efforts. There was a time when things like bounce rates and other site performance metrics were irrelevant. But in this day and age, search engines are using everything from bounce rates to page loading speeds to gauge how they will rank a website. So, a website that offers poor UX overall may have trouble ranking, which will have a direct effect on the amount of traffic you’ll get. This fact alone should push you towards putting all the effort necessary into a good UX for your clients.

Conclusion

As you can see, user experience is absolutely essential if you want to achieve any type of success online. User experience will have a direct influence on how your clients view your brand and the opinion of your brand the public has in general. Great user experience is the best way to build a following and bad UX is a surefire way to lose any followers you may have. Make sure that your content is tailor made to your audience and personalize your leads accordingly. Improving user experience can be done by anyone and doesn’t have to be complicated. The first thing you have to do is keep your clients’ best interests in mind and continue improving your product offering to meet their needs.

Main Image: WOCinTech