As the global market continues to expand, the world is brimming with more and more options for consumers. It’s undoubtedly an exciting time to be online. However, the abundance of available content allows users to be more selective than ever when deciding where to invest their time and money. A website that’s even remotely clunky, confusing, or disorganized can cause visitors to lose interest immediately and navigate elsewhere. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure your website is user-friendly and optimized to give potential customers the best possible experience.
To successfully employ a user-friendly website design, you need to have a solid understanding of what users look for and expect. So, what makes a website user-friendly? Essentially, a user-friendly website is one that provides all of the information visitors want in a way that is quick and easy to access.
According to research from Stanford, 75 percent of people judge a business and their credibility based on the way their website looks. Therefore, you should also make sure that your site accurately reflects your company and the products or services you provide. An outdated website design with nothing but vague details about your brand can leave users with the wrong impression about who you are and what you offer.
User-friendly web design comes with a variety of benefits. For starters, sites that offer a great user experience often receive more traffic than poorly designed ones. This is because quick load times lead to better Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings, making it easier for people to find your website in the first place. Once they’ve landed on your site, you can inspire confidence and trust with them through relevant and organized design. This helps to turn leads into loyal customers, increasing your conversion rate.
Now that you know why you should make your website user-friendly, you might be wondering how to do so. Luckily, there are several ways to go about making a website user-friendly. Here are some specific areas you should focus on:
Speed is one of the most important factors of a website, as it heavily influences users’ first impressions. Eighty-three percent of visitors expect pages to load within three seconds; therefore, it’s worth it to invest in this aspect of your site. If any of your pages take longer than this to load, you risk losing people who don’t have the patience to sit around and wait to view your content.
Users access websites in many ways. With multiple browsers, operating systems, and devices available on the market today, it’s not safe to assume which ones your visitors will be using. A website that doesn’t load properly on a user’s preferred platform is going to result in frustration and loss of interest.
Visitors only need about 50 milliseconds to form an opinion about your website – and this first impression is 94 percent design-related. Therefore, it’s crucial that your information is easily understood at a glance. This means investing time and effort into the user interface (UI) of your website, choosing colors that don’t clash and fonts that are easy to read, and arranging your site in a way that is coherent and intuitive. The UI of your site should take user experience best practices and user flows (the path taken by a typical visitor to complete a task) into account to allow for seamless navigation.
There are many strategies you can apply to address all three of the key areas of user-friendly web design. While some tactics are simple, such as changing the background color of your homepage, others take a little more effort and expertise. Luckily, Zero Gravity Marketing is here to help.
Our team has extensive website design experience and can assess which solutions will work best for your specific needs. We draw on our years of experience and research to help clients in nearly every industry create beautiful, user-friendly sites.
For more information about our web design and other creative services, contact us today!