This post will explain user experience (UX) and it’s importance in web design. As business owners or entrepreneurs, a good understanding of UX can help you improve your website.
For web designers, you’ll be able to create better websites for your clients.
You’ll understand the fundamentals of UX and what it really means.
What is User Experience (UX) Design?
User experience design is the process of enhancing user satisfaction with products or services by improving usability, accessibility and pleasure during customer interaction.
It means that the way a visitor interacts with your website is just as important as the design and the content on your web pages.
Even though we are discussing UX in the context of web design, it is an essential part of any product success.
UX refers to the what, when, why, where, how and who uses a product.
- What are you selling
- When will your customers use your product
- Why should someone use your product
- Where they will most likely use your product
- How they will use your product
- Who will use your product (customer)
What is a User Experience Designer (UXD)?
A user experience designer connects the customer and business needs together.
They’re able to create a favorable user experience for the user while also increasing business profitability.
There is still some confusion surrounding user experience design among some leaders in various industries.
This confusion is due to the fact that UX, for the most part, is still a relatively new industry.
While sketches and wireframes are an important aspect of the design process, they are not the sole job of a UX designer.
Why is UX Important in Web Design
You want your visitors to have a good experience.
Have you ever accessed a website and the first thing you saw was a popup? What about when a website crashes your browser because of heavy ads?
Or maybe the ads are all over the place, making it really hard to concentrate on the content.
The good news is that when you pay attention to UX, you can fix all of that and more.
Your website needs to appeal to its target audience and focusing on UX ensures that it does.
In general, people quickly forget about websites that don’t appeal to them.
That’s why Facebook, Google, Bing, Amazon and other successful companies focus heavily on UX.
You can have the best-looking website on the Internet but if people can’t use it, it’s useless.
While the aesthetics of a website are important, the user experience is even more so.
Your website should be easy to navigate, simple to understand and give your visitors a reason to return.
Every website has two primary functions and they are:
- Provide customers with information in a pleasing way
- Make transactions quick and easy
None of the above-mentioned functions need to be complicated but all too often, web designers will complicate things in the spirit of pleasing their clients.
While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can harm UX, which will also hurt your wallet.
While websites need to be able to convert visitors into customers or leads, your product should also be one that is being sought after.
If no one is looking for what you are selling online, you won’t make a sale.
Before you create a website, use Google trends to find out if people are looking for your product or service.
>> RELATED: How to Design Landing Pages That Convert
The User Experience Design Process
At the core of every brand are attributes, user and business goals.
For a web designer, it is important that they understand the core values or essence of your brand first.
Then, they’ll want to understand your current customers and business goals.
Knowing your brand attributes, allows the designer to use the right approach when designing your website. This includes the overall presentation and what a visitor should see first.
Also, your website should be designed for new and current customers. Here are a few examples.
What are the common questions of a new customer?
What are usually the main concerns of your existing customers?
You can add a FAQ sheet on your landing pages to answer these questions.
Do your customers like being referred to by their first name?
If so, maybe you need to integrate a login or account management system for current customers.
What about your business goals?
What do you want visitors to do on your website?
You may want visitors to make a purchase, download a free brochure or signup for your newsletter.
Whatever the goal is, you and your designer must have a clear understanding.
These examples show a glimpse of how deep the UX design process can really go.
UX is really about making the user and the business happy by meeting both needs. A business needs to sell products while a user needs to enjoy a good experience.
The best designers pay close attention to UX. The iPhone wouldn’t have killed blackberry’s smartphone reign if Blackberry had given a bit more attention to UX.
The best UX won and at the time, it was Apple!
Lastly, for a UX focused website, the job of the designer isn’t really done after the site launches.
You must consistently monitor conversion metrics, which includes time on page and user behavior. You can do this easily with a dynamic heatmapping and recording tool like Lucky Orange or HotJar.
To increase conversions, invite your designer back to study those metrics after the first 3 – 6 months of launch.
“Does it better” will always beat “did it first.” – Aaron LevieClick To Tweet