8 Tips for Optimizing User Experience on Your Website
Everyone knows that a business needs a website, but is your website optimized so it works harder for your brand while simultaneously making it easier for your customers? Here are 8 tips you can implement to streamline the user experience.
Did you know that 91% of shoppers make online purchases on their smartphone? It’s important that your site is mobile-friendly to ensure all shoppers, regardless of their device (Apple, Android, or other), have a seamless experience.
- Build a responsive website which can adapt to popular breakpoints (aka screen sizes).
- Pro tip: If you have analytics on your site, tailor your breakpoints towards your unique audience’s preferences!
Humans are creatures of habit — your navigation is not the place to experiment! Users look for what they know, and anything different will make it harder for users to find what they are looking for. The idea is to eliminate distractions and simplify a user’s options in order to funnel them to the pages that align with your goals.
- Stick with a conventional layout.
- Try streamlining your main navigation to just the essentials.
- Utilize your footer for less important information.
- Use short, precise wording that is informative and helps a user know what to expect (e.g., Shop, About, Learn, Contact).
This also helps with SEO as it allows search engines to crawl and index your website more effectively, which helps you rank higher in search results!
You most likely already have a call-to-action that is intended to engage users. If you aren’t seeing the click through rates you want you may want to try:
- Starting with action-based words (e.g., Download, Claim, Learn).
- Including time-based language (e.g., Today, Now).
- Using color to disrupt and grab a user’s attention – contrast is your friend!
- Reconsidering its placement, size, and appearance (i.e., Is it clear that it’s clickable?).
Ensure pages load quickly! If your website loads slowly it could lead to users getting frustrated and leaving (aka a high bounce rate). The most common culprits include:
- Your images haven’t been saved out for web correctly.
- You have too many videos or gifs.
- You have too many ads.
- Your code is “bloated” (i.e., unnecessary HTML & CSS).
There are many types of hyperlinks, but the ones we are focusing on are text links. Leveraging well-placed text links in your content allows users to easily access related pages, once again funneling them where you want them to go on your site! This strategy encourages them to stay on your site longer as they engage with relevant content you provided. Links also help provide a sense of credibility with users.
- Make sure your links look like links! The most recognized link style is a blue underline, but if that doesn’t fit with your design try a bold contrasting color.
- Lengthen the hyperlink – the longer it is, the easier it is to see and interact with.
Accessibility is a huge factor in optimizing your website for all users, but if there is a specific audience you are catering to, you should make sure your online presence has been tailored towards them. Let’s look at a couple examples:
- Consider your font choices – if you have an older audience, larger is better.
- Consider your color palette – make sure it is appropriate for your audience (color can influence users and also impact legibility).
- Consider your homepage – place timely or popular content “above the fold.”
Let’s face it, we tend to skip over large blocks of text. Keep content easy to scan so users can quickly find what they are looking for, which leads to better engagement! We recommend using language that is clear and concise for the main takeaways, but don’t forget to sprinkle in your brand voice to the supporting copy.
- Leverage hierarchy through a single headline, followed by subheadlines to segment content into digestible blurbs.
- Feature key points in a list format for easier scanning.
- This article utilized this tip and you’ve made it to the end of the page so we can attest this practice works. 😉
It’s never a great feeling realizing something is broken on your website (or wondering how long it’s been broken!). Auditing your own site regularly is a helpful way to ensure your users are having a positive experience on your website.
- Review copy for typos and or no-longer accurate information.
- Check for broken links or dead pages that do not redirect users (404 errors).
- Review imagery to make sure it’s still accurate (e.g., product imagery, seasonal or promotional content, etc.)
- Check that plug-ins are connected and working.
In Summary / TLDR:
- Create a Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Website
- Simplify Your Main Navigation
- Strengthen Your Calls-To-Action
- Don’t Waste a User’s Time
- Make the Most of Your Hyperlinks
- Understand Your Audience
- Scannable Content is Read Content
- Audit Your Own Site Regularly