User experience has been receiving more attention in the past couple of years in the digital marketing world. More and more companies are putting resources towards their website and stores to make them appeal to website visitors. This is more than just graphic design and persuasive copy, user experience looks at how the person interacts with the website and makes it a seamless and positive experience for them. Here are a few reasons why this should be important to businesses.
Users are critical to your business
Users are the people that visit your website or digital page whether they purchase your product or service. They are your customers and leads and the people whom you give credit for your revenue. Without users, businesses cannot succeed or pay employees. Users are critical and because of their importance to your business, their experience with your business should be considered.
Users make the decisions
While businesses make products or provide services, users (visitors or potential customers) are the ones that decide whether to purchase your products or services. Just because a business has a service does not mean that customers will buy it unless it solves a problem for them.
Instead of solely focusing on communicating the business’s brand and message, the business needs to look at how its customers will interact with its website or page. This includes looking at the layout, navigation, how easy is it for them to pay you, and having the information they need to decide to purchase from you.
You do the same thing
The same process of looking at your website from your customer’s point of view is less difficult when you consider that you are a potential customer of other businesses. Anytime that you are shopping online, you are a website user and are looking for the same things, ease of use, purchase, and the information needed to make a decision.
There have been many times that I have opened a website only to leave it later without purchasing because I didn’t have something that I needed. I have seen where it was difficult to complete a purchase, or the store didn’t convey a sense of security and legitimacy. Lost sales due to bad user experience happen a lot and can be minimized, if not eliminated.
You don’t want your customers to leave with a bad impression
Because customers are vital to the success of a business, their experience with your business should be considered from multiple angles. Good customer service emphasizes making sure the customer is satisfied whenever possible and reasonable. Several companies are known for good customer service, like Pal’s or Disney World.
Before customers need to talk to customer service, they interact with your website. Their experience with your website can lead them further down the customer journey to purchasing from you, or they can leave before giving you their business. A bad experience on a website leaves a lasting impression and is not easy to win them back, while a good experience can leave them feeling satisfied with giving you their business.
It can be hard to view your website from your customer’s perspective, so a fresh and more objective set of eyes is a good idea to catch areas to improve user experience. Contact us today! We provide evaluations for user experience and offer strategies to improve it. Need assistance updating or upgrading your website? We can do that and incorporate user experience strategies as well.