In modern times, a well-designed website is one of the most influential marketing tools that a company can use. An engaging website has the power to both obtain and retain customers with a digital experience that represents your brand. A quick Google search or site-linked social post is often the first step in the customer journey, which means that a company's website has the potential to create a lasting impression – for better or worse.
To ensure an exceptional first impression, user experience (UX) design must be thoughtful, fun, and relevant to the company's target audience. Essentially, UX design is the process by which UX designers support user satisfaction. Good UX design guides each visitor throughout your website and addresses user pain points before they have the opportunity to occur.
The UX designer's responsibility is to create a functional website that is also efficient and pleasurable. While there is no single definition of good UX design, here are five steps toward creating a successful user experience that meets the target audience's unique needs and enhances your company's brand image.
5 Steps to Better UX Web Design
Cultivating a user experience that customers will enjoy can be time consuming, because each step of the process requires an understanding of audience data and each customer’s unique journey. Ultimately, proper UX design supports users as they navigate through the website, while poor UX design only causes frustration. Implement the steps below to improve your website’s UX design for a fresh, effective final product.
1. Evaluate Your Website
Before you dive in and begin to address the current state of a website's user interface, you'll need to understand who is using the website and whether or not their needs are being met. When you're evaluating the website, consider the target audience persona, and answer the following questions:
- What is the target demographic? When designers and developers understand their audience, it enables them to create a better user experience. Who is the company's ideal customer? What's their gender, age, and profession? With this information, you can tailor the user experience to their liking.
- What are the users' interests? The more information UX designers have about the target audience, the better. Is the company's ideal customer interested in food, fashion, gaming, or traveling? When UI/UX designers understand how users think, they can make the accommodations necessary to improve the user interface and experience.
- What products or services are they currently using? Knowing which other products, services, or apps the company's target audience typically uses will allow you to create a website that users enjoy. Ask yourself, how do potential customers respond to competitors, and how can you improve upon their current experiences?
Although it's tempting to skip in-depth research, this is the foundation of cultivating an excellent user experience. Data should support every step of the UX design process. Learn more about your target audience with surveys, statistics, and any other user analytics that you can uncover. It's much more beneficial to create a user experience for a specific group of people rather than making a generic website and trying to convince specific people to use it.
2. Identify and Address Pain Points
First impressions are everything, and these days, websites are often the first touchpoint that a potential customer will have with a company. If users have trouble with navigation or slow loading times, they may quickly lose interest and fail to move along the desired user journey. UI/UX designers should take note of any pain points that users may experience and address these issues as soon as possible. The most common pain points include the following:
- Inability to Find Relevant Information. One of the most common user pain points in web design is the inability to find important information. Put yourself in the user's shoes, and consider which information will be most immediately relevant to them upon loading the website for the first time.
- Slow Load Time. In today's fast-paced world, don't expect people to stick around and wait for a webpage to load. Many UI/UX designers focus on graphics and brand, negatively impacting load times. Ensure that your team tests load times to avoid this issue.
- No Mobile Experience. Over 50% of web traffic comes from users browsing their mobile devices, so designers and developers must prioritize creating a stellar mobile experience. Ensure that all user actions are updated to facilitate mobile visitors and desktop visitors alike.
When UX designers identify user pain points, they have the opportunity to enhance a company's overall customer experience. Focus on any potential problems and empathize with the user. From there, you can begin to address potential issues before they happen.
3. Use Simple and Responsive Design
When users interact with a website, they should be able to reach their objectives easily. While it can be fun to experiment with new design techniques in moderation, professional UI/UX designers understand that simplicity is always in style. Essentially, creating a simple design means eliminating extraneous components so that users have a smooth, seamless, and intuitive experience.
With proper UX design, users are more likely to take your desired action. Don't expect visitors to hang around for too long if they find your site challenging to navigate. Exercise simplicity by working with a clean layout, such as a two or three-color scheme with ample white space. Most importantly, each website page should have a clear goal that the user can easily understand without instruction.
4. Ensure That Your Site Supports Customer Service Goals
If customers are having an issue with your product or service, they should be able to get assistance quickly and easily. Customer service is an inherent part of the user journey, and it is the UI/UX designer's responsibility to consider any questions they may have. If users have a poor experience with your company, the customer service team has the opportunity to turn the situation around, and UI/UX designers can ease the process.
With accessible customer service tools, companies can obtain valuable insights into the customer experience they're creating and make improvements. UI/UX designers should ensure that there are chatbots or live chat features where users can get answers to any questions they may have. Furthermore, links to contact forms should be visible no matter which pages a user is on.
5. Include Engaging Details
As technology becomes more accessible, people have higher standards for their online experience, and even the minor details can have an impact on their experience. Microinteractions meet this need by engaging the users in a way that is almost humanistic. As places where the UX and aesthetic design interact, microinteractions are typically details that add value to the overall experience, such as by communicating the status of a user's actions with instant feedback.
A few examples of microinteractions include:
- Current System Statuses allow users to understand the state of the website in real-time. With system status updates, users will know if the web page is loading correctly or their desired action is successfully completed. These statuses enable companies to gain and retain user trust.
- Animated Buttons assist users as they navigate throughout the website. With the right placement, colors, and special effects, animated buttons will help guide their path and polish the user experience.
- Data Input Feedback, such as a feature evaluating the strength of a user’s proposed password, helps guide visitors’ actions for an easier and more streamlined experience. By instituting a microinteraction that provides real-time feedback, users no longer face the frustration of repeating a screen multiple times to get everything right.
Close attention to detail separates average websites from extraordinary websites. Microinteractions help ensure a rewarding user experience while encouraging interaction with the content. When microinteractions are well done, they have the power to cultivate positive feelings towards your brand.
We Can Improve Your User Experience Design
When experienced UX designers implement thoughtful and cutting-edge design strategies, it helps create a better overall experience for users. On the other hand, with poor UX design, customers quickly grow frustrated, sales may drop, and your company’s image may seem lackluster at best.
Don’t risk disappointment with a subpar user experience. Experts can help guide you through the UX design process and create something truly spectacular for your brand. Our professional web designers and developers at CodigoDelSur can elevate your website with an unparalleled user experience.
Since 2007, CodigoDelSur has helped nearly 200 US-based startups design and develop a wide range of mobile apps and websites. Our team of web developers leverages their technical expertise and knowledge of usability, engagement, and growth hacking to scale your business exponentially.
Through the consistent creation of stunning, functional websites and mobile applications, CodigoDelSur is rising to the forefront of our industry. We’re always ready to apply the latest developments in new, exciting technologies and designs to create valuable user experiences that will keep your customers coming back for more.
Ready for an engaging website that represents your company in all the best ways? Contact our team today and find out how we can revolutionize your brand’s digital experience!
