Did you know that 7 out of 10 users would leave a website following a bad experience? On the contrary, a quality user experience allows the company to improve lead retention and conversion, build customer loyalty, promote its brand image, and thus boost its sales performance. Here are our 5 tips for improving the user experience on your website.
As a reminder, user experience (User eXperience – UX) is defined as all the feelings of an Internet user with regard to a website, a product or a service.
Improve the loading speed of your site
Often neglected, the site’s loading speed is nevertheless one of the essential levers to guarantee a good customer experience. It is estimated that 40% of Internet users abandon a site if the loading time is longer than 3 seconds.
But it is also a key criterion for obtaining a good Google referencing. Indeed, a site whose loading time is Higher than 3 or 4 seconds is likely to be misreferenced, and will experience a higher abandonment rate.
To speed up browsing, it is possible to use a more powerful host, lighten the images, remove any unnecessary plugins, optimize the code… In order to know the speed of your website and identify the causes of a possible slow loading, the Google PageSpeed Insights site is very helpful. A site is considered to be quite fast if the charging time is between 500 milliseconds and three seconds.
For the web interface to be effective, it must also be free of bugs and error pages which have a considerable impact on the user experience (as well as natural referencing). To do this, it is possible to Use a crawler , such as Oncrawl.com, which will identify 404 errors, orphan pages, duplicates, etc.
Rethinking UX Design
UX Design is a conception of the design of a site that is centered on the user experience, with the aim of improving the customer experience. Faced with a drop in traffic or conversion rate, it can therefore be very beneficial to Rethink the design of your website.
To do this, it is first necessary to ensure that the design (graphic charter, typography, visuals, etc.) reflects the values and identity of the brand, but also that it is aligned with the expectations and tastes of the target.
A preliminary step is therefore to know the profile of your audience (the use of a CRM and the creation of personas can, for example, facilitate customer knowledge).
In addition, the design must be attractive, airy, harmonious, impactful, and designed so that the user can quickly find the information they are looking for and so that they are guided through each step of their buying journey (in the case of an e-commerce site).
For smooth and intuitive navigation, essential information must appear in the foreground, the menu must be clear and uncluttered, the contact page easily accessible, and CTAs (call to action), must appear in strategic places. In addition, the visuals should be unique and of excellent quality, and the pages should not be overloaded with text.
Create high-value content
Another central factor in improving the user experience is to create high value-added digital content, and which respond to the problems of Internet users. These can be blog posts, but also case studies, interviews, white papers, newsletters, videos… This content must be varied, of quality, and well referenced to attract qualified traffic. In particular, they must be accompanied by a Strong presence on digital channels such as social networks, in order to promote exchange and interaction. You will also have to think about facilitating dialogue, thanks to a chatbot, a contact form and contact details in the footer. This can also be optimised by setting up an omnichannel (or cross-channel) journey, with both physical and digital points of contact.
These different tools will greatly contribute to creating a memorable user experience and an optimal customer relationship.
Analyze user behavior
In order to make your site evolve in line with users’ habits and expectations, it is necessary to regularly analyze the behavior of Internet users.
Google Analytics is, for example, an essential tool for evaluating the number of unique visitors, the bounce rate, the conversion rate, the abandonment rate, the most visited pages, the number of sales made, etc.Satisfaction questionnaires and feedback are also very useful to better detect flaws and areas for improvement in your site.
Depending on this data, it will then be necessary to adapt its digital interface : rethink the design and the user journey, rework the wording, rebuild the architecture of the site, optimize the referencing…
Create a responsive website
According to the 2019 Digital Barometer, 51% of French people use their smartphone as a priority to browse the web. In the age of Mobile First, a responsive site (= site designed and developed to be able to adapt to all screen resolutions) is therefore essential to provide a good user experience. This makes it possible to offer Responsive design and intuitive navigation regardless of the device (mobile, tablet and computer).
A multi-media website is also an important factor in boosting its visibility in search engines. To check if the site is mobile-friendly, it is possible to use the tool Google Mobile Friendly.
