Which areas of your website could be optimized for a better user experience?
E-commerce has steadily replaced in-person shopping over the last few years, and while many brick-and-mortar locations remain thriving and are still supported by a very loyal clientele, there’s no denying the fact that things have changed. Data shows that billions of people from all around the world use the internet for shopping on a daily basis, showing exactly how popular the trend has become. The fact that more and more people have access to reliable internet connections both at home and in public spaces is a big part of the change, but the growth of the sector is nowhere near finished. In fact, considerable growth is expected to take place steadily until the end of the decade.
In order to keep up with the demands, businesses need to design websites that their customers can use. However, the competition is considerable especially since so many businesses are competing for buyers in a global environment where most people no longer have a lot of disposable income they can do away with, meaning that they need to really want the things they buy before they’re ready to make a purchase. Optimizing your website is the surest way to ensure that more people, not just visit your site, but choose to stick around and buy something as well.
Create a landing page
Landing pages focus all traffic on a single, clear goal that is easy for everyone to follow. This boosts conversion rates much faster compared to standard homepages, making targeted marketing easier and ensuring tailored content reaches the audiences that are more likely to respond to it. Using a landing page creator can ensure that you’re not adding any extraneous information that can make the page feel cramped, a common mistake that drastically reduces the efficiency and potential of these pages.
Unique landing pages can be created for different demographics, campaigns, and traffic sources in order to cover as many areas as possible. The important thing is to have a page that is high-quality and that can improve quality scores in your pay-per-click campaigns, as it diminishes costs and boosts ROI. Metrics are typically easier to measure in landing pages since the sites have a very clear goal that they’re focusing on. Conversion, bounce, and click-through rates are the ones you need to check to determine how successful the process was, as well as determine which areas should be changed in the future.
Technical performance
A website that is fast and performs well will always be more successful than those of its peers, which might still experience lags and freezes from time to time. The only possible exceptions are the brands with a longstanding history and premium-grade products, which are well-known to their customers and chosen despite their exorbitant prices. However, most brands in the world cannot claim to have the same reach with the public, which is especially true in the case of startups or small businesses that have to compete with the large corporations that have far more resources than they do.
The loading speed is the first step towards better technical performance. To achieve this, you must prioritize compressed images, minify JavaScript or HTML, enable browser caching, and use a CDN to distribute the content across several different servers all around the world and speed up delivery times. Third-party scripts have to be limited, while non-critical scripts should be deferred to avoid the potential for render-blocking.
Mobile users
The smartphone is the device people are most likely to use to shop online, with its popularity growing steadily over the years. Its accessibility, since it can be used anywhere and at any time, makes it the preferred version compared to laptops and computers. This is why you must ensure smartphone users have a positive experience on your platform, since they’re more likely to be the majority of your customers.
The layout of the page should adapt to the size of a smartphone screen immediately. The features on the page should ideally be different since the layout of a smartphone is also different. Make sure that the design isn’t clunky, that the buttons and information the customers need are easy to find, and that there’s no risk of pressing buttons by accident and completing actions one wouldn’t want to do. The links and buttons should be large enough to be perfectly visible, but not so large that they end up overwhelming the page. 44x44 pixels and adequate spacing is the golden rule.
Hamburger menus are often utilized to simplify navigation and avoid having a cluttered interface on smaller screens.
The users
Your customers are the backbone of your business, as it is their engagement that keeps the company afloat and allows it to thrive. Making sure that they have a positive experience while shopping online can win over new people who weren’t aware of your business up until now and keep the ones who have been loyal for years committed to your brand. Yet, if your standards begin to drop and you’re no longer able to deliver the same experiences as you did before, you’ll probably start dealing with the opposite effect: customers replacing you with one of your competitors.
Users want to keep things simple and efficient. Your menu should allow them to have that. Design a simple structure that doesn’t require more than three clicks in order to provide them with the information they need. Any call-to-action must be made clear and placed somewhere it is easy to spot, so the users can be guided to the next step immediately, should they choose it. Being compliant with accessibility standards and regulations shows that you truly value all of your customers, so don’t forget about features such as alt text for images, high contrast, and keyboard navigation.
Keep pop-ups at a minimum or eliminate them altogether if it’s possible, since they are often deemed annoying and intrusive by customers who regard them as something that hinders the flow of their experience.
Focusing on creating a better online environment for your online customers is a very good way to grow your business and ensure a steady stream of revenue. Start by fixing the areas that are not working properly, and then move on to improve the ones that are already good but which could be better.
