4 UX tips you need to know about

The best looking website is useless if it’s not easy to use and navigate. Prioritise your user experience through these top tips from our web dev team.

You can have millions of followers. You can have your brand colour scheme on point. You can even go viral. But if your website isn’t slick and easy to use then you’re simply not going to sell any products or gain any clients.

User Experience is essential when it comes to ensuring that your brand stays on top, and to most importantly, fulfilling user intent.  In order to do this, you really need to put yourself in the user’s shoes to get to grips with their motivations, what they will be doing with the product, and to understand how accessible and aesthetically pleasing the site is. So, if you want to find out how to make your users happy – and up your usability rating – stick with us as we shine a spotlight on the hottest UX tips. 

Avoid distractions

Short and sweet goes a long way, especially when putting a good website together. If users start to feel overwhelmed by an abundance of pop up windows (a big no-no!), messy typography, or are met with a long and boring block text, it’s highly unlikely they’ll be sticking around for long. To ensure that you’re not creating any distractions, keep it concise to cater for those with a poor attention span. It’s also recommended that pages are given clear headers and page names, so that users know exactly where they are. To really get clued up with the journey that your users take on your site, or whether they’re falling victim to distraction, top UXers recommend creating a user flow diagram. 

Understand your target audience 

Do you know who uses your website? What’s your target user demographic? How old are they? What are their interests?

Although it’s tempting to rely on your intuition, it’s essential that research is collected using real customers. During your design process, you can gather feedback from user surveys that feature a mixture of both closed and open-ended questions. Users will be asked about their overall experience using your site, or about what they have done along the way to fulfilling their end goal. This user feedback then produces quantitative data, which can be used to capture opinions on overall usability. When you become clued up on exactly what your customers want, the optimisation process is so much easier.

Mobile-friendly UX

According to the Interaction Design Foundation, user accessibility is one of the key factors to consider when enhancing the overall experience, alongside usability and graphic design. With most people nowadays being glued to their phones, sites will often be stumbled upon as a result of boredom scrolling. Bearing this in mind, it’s much easier for users to lose interest quickly due to the numerous distractions that a phone creates, with many also being on the move. 

For optimum speed, condense your content as much as you can for minimal page loading times. You can also keep users interested through effective language choices, so referring back to the short and sweet method is a good way to go. Secondly, adapt your UX design to cater for human limitations on mobile devices, such as for larger fingertips rather than clicks. Think about simple navigation methods, such as keeping menus to a minimum, indicating activated links and prioritising the most commonly selected item at the top.  

Keep it consistent

Consistency is key, right? It’s always the case, especially when keeping your users happy. Stick to using layouts that have been tried and tested, making small tweaks when necessary. Customers do tend to turn a nose up at drastic changes that aren’t needed; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Adobe highlights the importance of user interface simplicity and consistency, suggesting that designers stick to a particular colour scheme or typography to avoid confusion. This way, your brand’s memorability is sure to be boosted. 

All good UX starts with an easy to use website and great content, so if you’re looking to elevate your brand’s marketing strategy, we’re only a phone call away!

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