How can two online businesses selling similar products or services to a similar market be poles apart when it comes to sales? Generally, the difference can be the user experience (UX) on the company website. UX can get your brand ahead of your competitors.
If you think of some of the great websites we have used recently, do you remember the images or the fonts or colours used (these all help with brand identification) or was it how easy the movement from checking out the website to making the purchase was?
The answer will be most likely the latter although the first impressions visually a website delivers is the first hurdle to clear in UX. It is a combination of these things that separates the stand-out websites from their competitors.
For e-Commerce website owners making that journey as seamless as possible for clients must be their number one priority.
How do you know what works?
The simple answer to that is data. And to speed up the process, look at our blog on the advantages of paid traffic. Data doesn’t lie. It highlights the areas in a website that are working (hot spots) and areas that aren’t working (cold spots). With your analytics set up correctly, the data can show where people are dropping out of the process.
They are the key areas where your UX needs to be improved.
When something isn’t performing, it needs to be optimised.
UX: A key differentiator
User experience isn’t just about having a website looking good, it is about making sure it is performing at its peak in every aspect. It means that every move you want a user to take is clearly pointed out so there is no confusion. In other words, a website needs to have clear call-to-action buttons at each stage of the user journey.
First impressions last
Because you have somebody looking at a screen and not physically able to touch what you are trying to sell, the visual impact on a website is huge. And that impression is made in under 10 seconds according to search engine stats.
That means your website has to have a ‘wow factor’ or users will bounce off the website.
To keep them on the website, you have to make the journey through the website burn as few brain calories as possible.
That is the first UX hurdle overcome.
Apple’s mantra, from its very beginning, was always focussed on user experience.
‘Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is about how it works’ is a famous Steve Jobs quote and good web developers should always have that as their mantra.
It takes specialist knowledge and expertise to be able to combine the visual design and the user interface (UI) successfully.
Building trust
If you have got over the visual hurdle with a visitor, the next step is to ensure they trust you, trust what you are saying on your website, and trust you with their contact or payment details.
Social proof such as reviews and certifications of services or products can certainly help build that trust and help the user move to the next step.
Your new storefront
Before websites were invented, shops spent a sizable amount of money on making sure their shop window attracted passers-by to their stores.
Only technology has changed although it is easier to walk out of a website store and your window display has to reflect your brand qualities.
Standing out from the crowd
Because we all click so many times on different websites throughout the day, it is important to leave a positive lasting impression. It is the key to a successful website and one Revolution puts huge time, effort and care into it.