It does not matter whether you are a blogger, you have an e-store, or you have a website that advertises your financial services firm or your construction business, you need to provide an exceptional user experience. The importance of this cannot be underestimated in today’s digital age. After all, if your website is frustrating or difficult to use, people will simply exit and take their business elsewhere. Competition is fierce and you cannot afford to slip up. Not only this but you will have a negative impact on your search engine ranking if your user experience is not up to scratch. With that being said, read on to discover more about the signs that your website is providing a poor user experience, as well as some advice on what you can do about it.
The characteristics of bad user experience
The first thing you need to do is figure out whether or not your website is offering a bad user experience. Luckily, we are going to help you get to the bottom of this. There are a number of different signs that indicate your website is providing a bad user experience and that you need to make some distract changes. So, let’s take a look at them…
You do not engage with viewers
There is only one place to begin, and this is with engagement. If your website is simply a one-way stream when it comes to communication, this is where you are going wrong. You need to build relationships and connections. You need to engage with people in a number of different ways.
Your website is too complicated
This is a mistake that a lot of people are guilty of. It is an easy trap to fall into because you want to tell people as much as possible about your business. However, you can end up making your website and your content way too complicated. Think about it like this… If you were going to take a journey somewhere, you would opt for the quickest and easiest route, right? Your website should operate in the same way.
You don’t use original photos
While stock photographs aren’t completely disastrous, relying on them, especially for your main website images, is not the best idea. Original photographs are much better. If you do need stock photographs, try to avoid the most common websites, otherwise, your site will look like thousands of others.
Your site is too slow
If your website is slow, you are most definitely offering a poor user experience. The Internet was built to be convenient. If your website is slow, people will get fed up and they will hit the back button and head to the competition. This is the last thing you want. There are free tools online that can help you to decipher the speed of your website and, therefore, whether changes need to be made.
You frustrate viewers
When it comes to this point, it is best to get other people to use your website and to ask for their honest opinion. Because you are used to your website, it is unlikely that you find it frustrating, yet other people might.
Your website is about sales and nothing else
Of course, the main aim of your business and your website is to drive as many sales as possible. However, if your website is just an endless string of heavy promotional content, you are going to put users off. People like to feel like they are in control to make their own decisions. Provide useful and engaging content without pushing sales directly.
You do not update the content on your website regularly
If your content is old, your website will feel dated, and this leads to a poor experience. Regularly update information and add new pages to your site. Linking a blog to your website is a good way to do this, it will keep everything feeling fresh and show customers that you're active.
There is no or little contact information on your website
Do you have a contact page on your website? If not, this is where you are going wrong. You also need to make sure that there are a number of different ways for people to get in touch with your business. This is not only important for convenience but for trust too.
Your user experience is bad, so what changes should you now make?
If you have decided that you are not providing a great user experience, you need to take the steps to make sure that you start providing one. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do...
Start by describing who your primary user is
You need to describe who your primary user is. Yes, the age and the gender may be slightly helpful, but this is not what we are getting at. What are the typical behaviours and needs of your primary user? Considering this will help you to design a website and a user experience that completely caters to their needs.
Optimise language capabilities
Add audio features, interactive visual chat, and SaaS language translation to your website. This is a great way to ensure that the excellent user experience extends to all.
Speak to people that use your website
You might not want to hear what people have to say about your website in case it is bad news. However, although the truth hurts, this is the only way to find out what people really make of your website, as well as the steps that you can take to ensure you provide an outstanding user experience.
Go for a different web host
This is a good move to make if your website is slow. The host you work with can have a massive impact on website performance. A simple, 'behind the scenes' change that can make a huge difference to the overall feel and speed of your website.
Educate people
Your website needs to add value and not just talk about sales, one of the ways you can fix this is via educating users. Provide content that will give them new information. This will establish your business as an expert in the field. It will also ensure users have the right information that will lead them to then purchase from you - and you do this without directly promoting.
Utilise a wide range of different types of content
You need to embrace different types of content, from videos to stats. Web Design Review’s helpful infographics are a good place to start because they make content more pleasing to the eye and a lot easier to digest. Make it interesting for the reader, pages and pages of any kind of content can get dull so mix it up.
Make sure the design of your website is responsive
In 2018, a responsive website is not a luxury - it is a necessity! If your website does not look good or operate seamlessly on a mobile device or a tablet, you are never going to reach the heights of online success you are aiming for. The best thing to do is get a professional web design company to handle this for you, as they will have the experience to optimise your website.
Make your website easier to find
It can be very frustrating for your visitors and customers when they are struggling to find your website. This is a very basic issue that you need to make sure you have properly fixed, otherwise you could end up in a much worse situation indeed. Consider using the help of an award winning SEO agency, to really make sure your site gets found much more readily by those who are looking for it.
Change your error message
No one wants to see an error message. When you land on a website, and it says that the page does not exist or you have landed on the wrong thing, it can be annoying, right? It is even worse when this message blames you or offers little information. Instead, make sure your error message is friendly and helps people to get to somewhere useful.
Run a test that assesses the usability of your website
Finally, running a usability test on your website is another excellent way to improve your user experience. This is the only way you will truly know how well your website works. You should enlist the help of a few people. Direct them to do a different task each and see how they manage. Do not give them any pointers!
As you can see, there are many different elements that come together to determine whether not a business has a good or bad user experience. The importance of offering an excellent user experience cannot be underestimated. However, it is not always easy to achieve. That is why you need to continue to monitor your efforts all of the time. Moreover, use the advice that has been mentioned above to help you. Don’t start panicking if you feel your website is providing a poor user experience - it can be resolved. You simply need to get to the action, and there is no time like the present, right?
