UX (User Experience) has always been one of the most important pillars of online success.
It doesn’t matter if you’re running an e-commerce store or a niche blog. Critical metrics such as your bounce rate, conversion rate, and average session time depend on the kind of experience you offer your visitors.
We can go on and on with the impact of UX on your online endeavors. What’s important is that you take the necessary steps to ensure you’re providing the best experience possible to your visitors.
Without further ado, here are five ways you can supercharge UX on your site:
1. Focus on BOTH Folds
Old data suggests that users spend 80.3% of their time above the fold. This is the top area of a website that’s immediately visible upon loading. But that doesn’t mean you should squeeze all of your CTAs, opt-in forms, and other essential page elements in such a limited space.
Content marketing experts state that you need a strategic approach that utilizes above and below the fold. The top half’s job is to captivate the audience’s attention, introduce your brand, and encourage them to see the rest of the page. The bottom half, on the other hand, is in charge of convincing them to take action.
A good strategy is to highlight a simple value proposition that will give users an idea on what to expect. A CTA may work as well, but you shouldn’t cram it with a ton of details about your value propositions. For more information on how to utilize both folds, you can refer to this post from Kissmetrics.
2. Build for Speed
For self-made internet entrepreneurs and bloggers, the abundance of DIY site-building tools like Weebly, WordPress, and Wix means you can easily integrate visual elements and useful functionalities to your site without a single line of code. However, having your site load too many components compromises speed.
Statistics show that a slow website may cause a 7% loss in conversions. Furthermore, 40% of users expect websites to load within 3 seconds.
However, there are numerous factors that contribute to a slow-loading website. To identify specific issues as well as the necessary fixes, you can use Google PageSpeed Insights.
3. Hire a Freelance UX Designer/Consultant
You may have come across multiple guides that tell you to use analytics and performance monitoring tools. Doing so will help you identify design issues that can be optimized for improvements.
A tool like Crazy Egg, for example, can help you understand how users interact with your site by identifying hot and cold zones in a page.
Unfortunately, optimizing and customizing your website’s design is a tremendous amount of work. Even if you do have a comprehensive toolbelt and receive in-depth analytics data, you need someone who is proficient enough to put all these information to good use.
Hiring a freelance UX designer on marketplaces like Upwork and Freelancer is one way to go, especially for short-term projects. Alternatively, you can avail UX design consulting services that will help formulate your optimization strategy.
4. Offer an Onboarding Experience
Having an onboarding system in place will help users get productive on your site in the soonest possible time. This is the process of showing“tutorial elements” such as overlays, arrows, and popup messages to guide the user on how to use your site. Sometimes, onboarding involves asking for information about the user to tailor the experience to their preferences.
Onboarding is essential for websites that offer cloud-based tools or online stores with unique shopping features. Other than interactive tutorials, a brief explainer video, infographic, or newsletter may also be used for onboarding purposes.
For ideas, you can read this post from Appcues on some of the best user onboarding examples.
5. Invest in a Progressive Web App
By now, you’re probably already aware that there’s no stopping the dominance of mobile devices in the digital marketing scene. Usage statistics show that you should never ignore your mobile users if you want to establish your authority and online presence.
According to Google, Progressive Web Apps or PWAs are the future of engaging mobile experiences. These are experiences that incorporate app-like features such as push notifications, home screen shortcuts, and offline accessibility.
However, developing a PWA is by no means a DIY project you can do by yourself.
Also Read: UI And UX — Design, Interface, And Experience
