As we continue to adapt to a digital world, we recognize the need for every business to have a really good website. The objective for your website should be to create engaging user experiences, help website visitors accomplish a task, and ultimately increase conversions. In order to have a great website, you should determine what you want your customers to get from the site through user experience – UX, for short. Whether you are a B2B business owner or a web designer, you must know how to provide your viewers with exceptional user experience.
Let’s look at common UX mistakes your website should avoid, and how you can fix them:
Designing a website with yourself in mind, not the customer
As a B2B business owner or web designer, you most likely have a strong vision of what you want your website to look like. But is it what the customer will enjoy and receive value from? What you want your website to look like and what your audience needs are two different things. If you are finding that your website visitors aren’t spending much time on the site, this could be the reason why.
Solution: When designing your website, do your research! Conduct thorough research on current market and UX trends, what your competitor’s site looks like, your target audience, etc. You could even reflect on the kind of websites you enjoy looking at!
Unresponsiveness
In the world of web design, responsiveness simply asks the question, “Does your website convert desktop UX design into mobile device UX design, and vice versa?”. Your website should be both accessible and easy to use no matter what screen size your customer is using. When a website is not responsive, customers have the right to assume it is out of date or isn’t functioning properly and leave. Failing to remember responsiveness when creating your website can make it impossible for visitors to enjoy the experience when accessing your site.
Solution: Pay attention to responsiveness across all devices. In 2020, the majority of people are conducting web searches from their mobile devices. If your website isn’t built to adapt to any screen size, you could be losing customers, and therefore, conversions.
Making aesthetics a priority over functionality
Ideally, your website should be a perfect balance between creativity and functionality. Are aesthetics important when it comes to UX? Absolutely! But they should not overwhelm the functionality of your site. Customers want to see your creativity, but they also want to be able to navigate your website and find what they are looking for easily. Similarly, your website should be strictly focused on functionality with no creativity. If your website has no excitement or creative aspects, it can make your business seem easily forgettable.
Solution: Your website should have a balance between creativity and functionality, this means being visually captivating, aesthetically pleasing, but also functional and easy to navigate. Your website should stand out to customers and make them want to visit again!
Having too much text
Adding on to the previous UX mistake your website should avoid, another flaw we often see is having too much text throughout a website. Many times, website visitors are looking for information quickly and do not have time to sift through paragraphs of text to find what they are searching for. When necessary, your website’s text should be clear and concise.
Solution: When necessary, your website’s text should be clear and concise. Try to use bullet points instead of long paragraphs. This will capture your audience’s attention for a much longer time and make your web design more effective.
Creating a website made for SEO, not people
While SEO is important for your website to reach more people, it should not be the only motivation for your website. Who is conducting the searches on the search engines we’re trying to get the attention of? People! Google and other search engines analyze UX to determine if your website is worth being ranked on the search engine results page. You cannot have high ranking SEO without outstanding UX.
Solution: Design your website and its content while prioritizing people first and search engines second. Search engines will reward sites that users find well-designed and enjoy visiting.
