I recently bought a set of coat hooks
that had to be screwed to the wall. All was going well until I came to do the
really important job of screwing in the screws. The screw holes were covered by
part of the coat hook. So, whilst I could get the screw in the hole, I couldn’t
get the screwdriver into the slot of the screw because the hook was in the way.
Now I’m not an expert in this area, but
that seems like a pretty fundamental design flaw in that particular coat hook.
It is, if I may be so bold as to put it like this, a classic example of a
manufacturer ignoring the end user’s experience. This is a physical world
example of something that has its counterpart in the virtual world.
Good design places the user’s
experience at the top of the list when it comes to designing the usability of
your website. People who specialise in the design of websites that place the
user experience at the forefront of what they do are sometimes referred to as
UX (user experience) designers. Let’s
look at some UX design considerations and what they mean for your business.
Your Website Is for Your Customers Not Your IT Techies
You must have experienced something
like this. You go to a website. It’s got some interesting stuff on there, or at
least you are pretty sure it has. You can’t be absolutely sure because
navigating the website is pretty close to impossible. It wasn’t designed for
the benefit of the consumer. It was designed by a techie for techies. And
that’s fine if techies are your customers. If not: all you’re going to do is
alienate your potential customers.
Don’t misunderstand my point here: I’m
not saying that techies do not need a
usable and reasonable navigation structure. Of course they do. But what is
usable and reasonable for a technical mind may be quite the opposite for your
customers. UX design places the needs of users first across all aspects of your
website design, including, but not limited to, the ease of use of your
homepage, the ease with which products can be added into the customers’ baskets
and paying for the goods.
Step
into the Shoes of Your Customers When Designing Your Website
Good UX designers step into the shoes
of your customers. The phrase “to step into another’s shoes” is a cliché. The
reason clichés become clichés is because they often accurately sum up, in an
exaggerated way, what we want to say. In this case, what I’m saying is that UX
designers will view things as your customers will view things.
As far as it is possible to do this, UX
designers will imagine that they are endowed with the skills and knowledge of a
reasonable user. That person does not exist, he or she is no more than an
abstraction, but that is part of the challenge for UX designers. The reality
is, however, that there is no ideal user. Customers vary in their skills and
experience.
We talk about websites being intuitive.
But what exactly does that mean? Well, frankly it could mean just about
whatever you want it to mean. What it should mean is that the website works in
the way that your customers expect it to work.
Okay, so nothing’s perfect. However
good the design there will be occasions when users need help. Let’s use an
example from the physical world. If you were in a bricks and mortar store and
you couldn’t find the underwater basket weaving section: what would you do?
You’d ask for help, right? And if the person giving you directions spoke in ancient
Aramaic what would be your reaction? And that’s the reaction your customers
display when they get help from your website that is rich in IT techno-babble
jargon. The point is that when customers need to ask for advice, the advice
should be understandable.
Of course, here we run up against the
challenge that customers will vary, sometimes greatly, in their abilities and
experiences. As well as making the advice easy to understand, being consistent
in how the website design helps people learn is vital. Good design, for
example, will use similar approaches for similar processes and place similar
things in similar places.
Make the User Experience a Pleasant One
Why
do shops put up decorations at Christmas? Quite simply, because their customers
like it. Decorations are visually pleasing. Bricks and Mortar traders also make
sure that their premises are attractive all year round. One aspect of good UX
design is the visual appeal of a website. UX designers know that a website that
is visually appealing will attract, re-attract and keep customers.
It’s
wise to keep at the forefront of your mind that your website says something
about you. You want it to look professional and have visual appeal. Your
website may well be the first (or only) thing your customer sees that
represents you. Like it or not: first impressions count. It has to be said that
visual appeal is not everything. If it looks great but is impossible to
navigate your potential customers will not stay long on your website. However,
easily readable text, good use of colour and good quality, relevant photographs
and images will go a long way.
Make it Clear What You Want Your Visitors to Do
Marketers talk about a call to action.
What do you want your customers to do and how do you inform them about what you
want them to do. You might want your website visitors to buy something, or sign
up for something or give feedback about something. Whatever it is, good UX
design makes the call to action clear and simple. If people visiting your
website know what they have to do, they are more likely to enjoy the
experience: and making website experiences enjoyable is part of a good UX
design.
Whatever the call to action is: make it
stand out. Customers come to your site with an expectation that they will be
guided about what to do. They do not enjoy having to search for this guidance.
It is good practice to use action verbs that tell your customers what you want
them to do. Examples could be: “join”, “donate” and “register”.
If there is a place where you want your
customers to click: make it stand out. There is something psychologically
satisfying about the clicking action.
Restrict the number of calls to action
that you provide for customers. Choice is not always a good thing. If you have
more than one option you are far better placing them together on the page.
Pop-ups
Pop-ups often appear on websites. You
have to decide about their use. There is a school of thought that suggests that
they are fundamentally detrimental to the user experience (a view to which I
should subscribe). They distract, disorient and dismay visitors: and that is
not what you want.
One type of pop-up that I should suggest
is not a bad thing and may well be considered a feature of good UX design is
the help popup. (See point 2 above for the importance of websites providing
clear, sound advice.) With a help pop-up there is an advantage about being
taken away from the page that is causing problems for you.
In Summary
We don’t live in a perfect world and
there is probably no perfect UX design. The point is that good UX design will
enhance the user experience: it may never make it perfect. If customers visiting your website have an
experience like I did with those coat hooks they will not return to your
website in a hurry. I may not buy coat hooks every week, but one thing is for
sure, next time I do buy coat hooks they’ll be a different make.
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