A website needs to do more than look good to drive conversions. A big part of achieving this is the user experience (UX). Website UX, if poor, can certainly hamper conversions. If you’re gaining traffic but not seeing results, UX could be the problem.
What Makes UX Poor?
Several elements can be the culprit of bad UX, such as:
- Slow-loading sites: If your website speed is subpar, users will abandon it. People expect websites to come up quickly, whether on desktop or mobile. Several things can cause slow load times, like extra code that’s unnecessary or not resizing images.
- Difficult navigation: When people land on your site, they expect navigation to be clear. This issue is mostly on mobile, where it can be hidden or hard to find. This frustrates users, and they’ll leave.
- Barriers to completing actions: If you require registrations for checkout, that can dissuade purchase. Gating content on landing pages is a lead generation tactic but consider what you’re willing to share without barriers.
- Illegible text: In a responsive website, the text should automatically fit the screen. However, that doesn’t mean it’s always readable. Pay attention to this with dark text on light backgrounds or vice versa.
- Dated design: If your website hasn’t had an update in a while, your prospective customers may think you’ve gone out of business. Consumers have high expectations around modern, clean design. If your site doesn’t measure up, they’ll consider that a poor UX.
Metrics That Indicate Bad Website UX
Do you know if your website is engaging or detracting? The answer is in the metrics.
- Bounce rate: Does your bounce rate keep going up? Is it more than just the homepage? Bounce rate isn’t always tied to bad UX, but it can be indicative of it. You’ll need context from some other metrics.
- Time on page: The more time people spend on your website, the better. Monitor this metric. If it’s going down while the bounce rate increases, that’s a clear signal that the UX is disappointing users.
- Average pageviews: How many pages do users visit while on your website? If that’s declining, users aren’t sticking around to learn more about what you do, meaning they won’t convert.
How to Improve Website UX
If you determine that poor UX is sinking your conversions, it’s time to redesign your website. These are the things to do to ensure better UX.
- Optimize for mobile: More people use mobile devices to go online than desktop. So, that’s where you should focus. That means building a mobile-first website, considering layout, navigation, font, buttons, and other elements.
- Ensure your website is fast: Remove any unnecessary code, reduce the size of images, and lessen redirects.
- Keep the layout simple: Your business website needs to be easy to understand. Unnecessary design elements don’t make it more appealing. Rather, it makes things confusing, so classic design, lots of white space, and easy-to-read fonts are a must.
- Consider how your user will flow through the site: Flow is so important for website UX. Don’t think about the experience as you, the business owner. Do so as a visitor. That will help you build a better framework that will resonate with visitors.
Need Help With Your Website’s UX?
If UX is keeping you from earning conversions, we can help. We’re experts at website design that’s affordable and fast. Contact us today to learn more.
