Usability is Vital for Business Websites
Having a visually pleasing website for your business is important, but if it’s difficult for the user to navigate, you’ll lose them every time. A good user experience can convert browsers into customers and make you sales. A bad user experience causes confusion and frustration that can be the difference between taking action or abandoning the website. When that happens, it impacts your bottom line.
If you’re already thinking about a redesign to bring your website up to date, keep the user in mind. Let this guide you.
Focus on target audience
When designing or redesigning a website, it’s important to recognize who may be searching for you. Who is your audience? Taking time to understand this basic concept is important because you will be able to design a site that meets their needs, whatever they may be.
Be clear about intent
When someone from the target audience conducts an internet search, consider the words he or she would type to locate your business. Those keywords can be incorporated into effective SEO so the website will be found.
Once a user finds you, you’ll want them to spend time, consume content and take actions. So ask: Why would someone come to the site and what will they do when they get here?
Keep in mind, different visitors will want different things. Some will come for information about your company, product or service. Or they will simply want to contact you. Others will want more insight from your business because they are seeking a solution to a problem.
People who know about your company — and may have previously visited — come as transactional users. During their visit, they will be ready to sign up or download something you provide. They may also want a clear path to make a purchase.
Whatever the user’s intent, it’s important to make it easy for them to interact and take action. To successfully serve them, it’s necessary to optimize page layouts.
Organize the navigation bar
Having a well-organized navigation structure plays a huge part in conversions and sales. Prepare a good navigation bar that allows visitors to quickly find contact information, product or service information, blogs, email signup pages, or other helpful content. Ideally, a visitor should be able to land on any page of the website and find what they are seeking within three clicks.
Keep it simple
With website design, the phrase “less is more” rings true. When negotiating which features to include, ask: Why is this necessary? Weigh whether it makes it harder or easier for the user to take action. Further, be sure the interface is clear, and links and buttons deliver results users expect.
Fix what’s broken
No one wants a high abandon rate. Research shows that 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience. Broken links and images won’t just frustrate a user, you may lose that potential customer forever. When doing a redesign, it’s a good idea to do a site audit to find any errors that may cause issues.
Have Calls to Action (CTA)
Keeping in mind your audience and their intent, CTAs are vital to helping them reach whatever goal they have in mind when visiting your site. Make sure they stand out and are easy to understand.
Be accessible
Today more than ever it’s important to accommodate a diverse group of users. If they are unable to access your website, they will never be able to act on any part of it. We’ve put together 5 reasons why you absolutely should make your website more accessible, including lawsuit prevention.
Ready for redesign?
Redesigning your website to be most effective doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Need more assistance on how to assemble something that best caters to your target audience? Contact us for a free consultation. Share your goals with the T.E. Digital team and we’ll help you get there.
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