1st August 2022
If there’s one thing you should get hung up on when it comes to your website it’s user experience. Rightly so, users now have high expectations of how they will interact with and how they will be treated on digital platforms.
It’s quite simple when you break it down, users don’t expect you to reinvent the wheel or blow them away with new innovations or UI. They just want to be treated in the same way their favourite apps or website treat them; with familiarity, clarity and ease of use.
Let’s start with the basics…
What is UX?
User experience (UX) is exactly what it sounds like, what do people experience when they interact with a website, app, software, or product. UX focuses on the entire user journey to solve a particular problem. The aim of user experience research is to understand your users and deliver them a product that meets their needs, goals and preferences.
What is UI?
When referring to the User Interface (UI) of a website, app, software or product this refers to how the website is designed, what it looks like and how it interacts with a user. Think of every layout, button, graphic or element of design on a website; that is all part of the UI design. But the UI is not only the visual aspect of a website, it also focuses on how to make a website, app or product usable and accessible for everyone.
Why is UX important?
It seems pretty obvious to state that every business should want their users to experience their website in a positive way, with ease of use and with minimal thought or concerns. With that being said, the only way to achieve this is with a good UX.
Once you start to improve the user experience of your website you will see many business benefits such as:
Here’s a few key tips to help you get better at UX:
1. Become obsessed with solving users problems
We mean it when we say obsessed, you need to constantly consider your user, their problems and how you can provide a solution. The minute you start losing sight of your user is the minute you have failed. If a feature or element of your website isn’t solving a user problem your product or service becomes weak and compromised.
2. Understand your user journeys
Get to know the problems you need to solve, deconstruct these so you can ‘convert’ your users to use your website in the way in which the system is designed to be used. Once you understand the problems you can begin to build the foundations to solutions.
Having that clear full picture of the various phases of the user journey will allow you to design specifically for your end user.
3. Don’t neglect responsiveness
It’s important to not compromise on the responsiveness of your website or product. This refers to how your website looks and functions on the devices for which it is compatible. Although a lot of us upgrade our phones each year and ensure we have the latest hardware, not all users do. Mobile devices also occupy over half of global online traffic so make sure your website looks just as good on a smartphone.
4. Stop focusing on your personal preference
In other words, you are not your customer. Everyone is naturally drawn to a certain aesthetic which they prefer, this happens in our everyday lives from the car we choose to drive to the clothes we wear. This naturally translates to how we perceive the UI of a website or product. Always remember, UX is not about your personal preference. You must always think about your user.
5. Test, test and test again
You should never be finished with your website or product. The opportunity to get better, improve for your users and optimise will always be there. It’s important to know that you won’t always get it right first time, it’s about making improvements, using data to review these and working on solutions that make your online experience work better for your user.
These are just a few ways you can work on getting better at UX, the ever evolving digital world is a tough gig and more challenging that ever. You can make a start by understanding the importance of user experience and taking steps to really get to know your user.