We’ve sat down with Beth, our in-house designer, to put together a few practical tips and tricks to help improve your website’s user experience. A strong user experience is an essential element of your website, not only to make the site easy to navigate, but also to help drive conversions and encourage positive interactions.
Simplify your navigation
You’ve likely heard that reducing clicks is a great way to get users from A to B as quickly as possible – and while that is true, when it comes to your navigation, it could be doing more harm than good.
In User Experience design, cognitive load is one of the most important considerations. It refers to the mental effort required for a user to understand and interact with a product or website. When visitors are faced with too many options, whether that be on a website or a restaurant menu, they can quickly feel overwhelmed, confused and unsure of how to progress.
To minimise cognitive load, consider simplifying your navigation. Limit it to 7 top-level items and utilise a tiered menu system. This will help to guide users through in a logical, linear way that will reduce friction, improve clarity and ultimately make your website easier to use.
Tree testing is a simple, effective way to check if users can find information easily within your menu structure. By asking people to locate specific pages or information using only a text-based version of your sitemap, you can easily spot where they hesitate or get lost, giving you valuable insights.
Know your audience
Great user experience starts with understanding who your audience actually is. User personas are structured profiles that describe your typical users – including their goals, frustrations and limitations – and help ensure your UX decisions are guided by real people, not assumptions.
Use analytics, surveys and usability testing to understand who is actually interacting with your site. Remember, as your business grows or trends shift, the users visiting your site may change too, so it’s important to keep your personas up-to-date so you’re always making well-informed decisions.
Test your site
You know your site inside and out, which means you’re often too close to spot usability issues or areas of friction that could be frustrating your visitors. Usability testing can help you gain a fresh perspective, highlighting small improvements through to major blockers that could be impacting conversions.
You can start small, asking friends, family or colleagues who aren’t involved in your website to try completing some common tasks – such as finding a product or service, completing a form or locating specific information on the site.
Paid user testing will give you a more objective view, avoiding the potential bias and familiarity that may come from testing with people you know. You’ll see how real users who match your target audience interact with your site, where they get stuck and how they actually behave, not just what they say. Even a short session can reveal some surprising insights that can greatly improve the user experience of your site.
Need some assistance with this?
Beth can run through a UX/UI audit of your website and walk you through the best changes to make for your site.