In today’s virtual world, it’s not enough as a business owner to simply have a live website, the user experience (often shortened to UX) is key to having customers effectively use your site (especially for e-Commerce businesses who are aiming to convert every visit to a sale).

A positive UX experience can lead to improved engagement, higher conversions, boost your brand and customer loyalty and more. Conversely, a poor UX experience, especially for customers who are visiting your site for the first time, can turn buyers away from your business and even cause long-term harm to your brand image and reputation.

So, what does the user experience entail when it comes to your business website?

In essence, the user experience boils down to the overall experience that a user has when they land on your website – and with so many options of online retailers and businesses to choose from, you don’t want to have your UX let you down.

Many business owners don’t appreciate the value of a streamlined web interface and experience until it’s too late, and it can be a costly exercise to rebuild your site. To avoid this pitfall, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can enhance the user experience for your site, and how they will create better brand awareness and engagement.

Speed it up

We’ve all got shorter attention spans than we did 10 or even 5 years ago, and this is reflected in how we anticipate websites to operate. Website speed is widely accepted as one of the most important UX factors – if your customer lands on your site and finds themselves waiting as the loading bar crawls along, they may well exit out and go elsewhere.

It’s easy to do website speed tests to determine if yours can be improved – if you do need to make some changes, consider reducing your image size, having compressed video if you need to showcase this, reduce CSS & Javascript files and ensure every page is responsive for all devices.

Finding your way

Navigating your business website should be easy – this means that users can quickly find what they are looking for as well as their way around the site as a whole. This means streamlining your website menus, highlighting popular pages or products, and avoiding duplicate or error page results. Easy search-bar tools are helpful, especially if you have a complex site with lots of product ranges and prices.

Mobile-friendly

We’ve touched on this within our series on mastering your business website, but it remains pivotal that your website is easy to operate on a mobile phone. After all, we often engage with websites on our phones more than any other device. Be mindful of copy sizing on a smaller device, as well as touch-responsive integrations.

Copy clarity

Even if you’ve got a flair for the written word, overly lengthy product descriptions or business backgrounds can have the opposite impact that you’re hoping for. Use language that’s clear and concise, don’t assume prior knowledge and use clever styling like bullet points and defined headings to encourage a better user experience as customers read. Remember, easily-digestible content is always best!

Crystal clear

While we’ve emphasised the user experience value of quick-loading images, don’t skimp on the quality and look of the final file. Use clever image formats or WEBP files if you need higher-res images that maintain small sizes, and ensure the key product or venue details are easy to see – we recommend engaging some expert support if you’re finding it a challenge to balance quality with size.

Support

As a final failsafe for good user experience on your site, ensure your customers can easily engage with you if they are having trouble navigating to where they need to be. Live chat is a simple and easy way to get more connection with your customers, with email and phone as a responsive backup.

User experience may not have always been woven into your business website from the start, but you can make some simple changes and upgrades which can elevate your website to the next level. Make UX a priority for your site, and enlist the support and feedback of both users and web developers to get the best out of your business URL.