Everything boils down to customer experience today. Whether it is a mobile application or a website, there is absolutely no way you can turn a blind eye to UX and UI.
The result of weeks of toil, your website is refreshing and visually engaging. However, if you overlook the user experience factor, it is as good as carrying water in a sieve. It will be a huge turn-off, capable of tarnishing your digital presence and brand reputation.
In a digital world where businesses are vying for an audience, UX/UI should take precedence in design and development.
Gone are the days when users would sit for a few minutes stretching, waiting for a website to grace them with its presence. Gone are the days when websites, too cool to fit into mobile screens, were tolerated.
Although much has been said about UX and UI in the past few years, many fail to incorporate it. In fact, only 55% of companies conduct user experience testing before launching.
Why is it Important to have a User-Friendly Digital Presence? Let’s see.
1. Saves Money & Time
If your website or mobile application leaves a user scratching their head, you have been successful at bewildering them.
But will they stay with it? Chances are, they won’t.
This is a potential customer slipping from your grasp. It irrefutably leaves a negative impact on your conversion rate and ROI.
You will have to upgrade your mobile application or revamp your website, if the conversion rate is to be improved. Had you pondered over the importance of UX and UI during the development stage, you might have been able to save a significant amount of cost and time.
It is always best to conduct research from the customer’s perspective before designing a website or application. Statistics tell us that every $1 spent on UX yields a return between $2 and $100. In other words, user experience is an excellent investment.
2. Throws Light on Client Mentality
A variety of techniques, methodologies and tools are employed in user experience research to understand users and their requirements.
Which buttons do users look for while moving across the conversion funnel?
Why does font size matter?
What color palette best suits your industry?
These are just some of the questions you will need to inquire into. Surveys, interviews and usability tests will not only reveal the various ways you can improve your mobile application or website, they will also assist you with improvements to your products and services.
User experience research will unearth any aspects of your brand presence that does not go down well with the audience. You will be able to divide your customer base according to their preferences and cater to each accordingly.
3. Aids in Brand Building
In the digital world, user experience is closely linked to customer relations. A wise and well-planned user experience makes customers happy whilst a terrible user experience leaves them irritated. Smearing with negative reviews on social media pages and app stores are not unheard of either.
If your website makes customers happy, they are more likely to recommend you to their friends and loved ones.
Great user experience turns leads into customers and customers into long-term clients. Branding elements in design stick in their mind. People like building-long-term relationships with businesses that place them a step ahead.
How Can You Boost Your Business With Great UI / UX?
1. Improve Usability
Does your website or mobile app take too long to load?
Is your website mobile-friendly?
Do you have CTA buttons in the right place?
How hassle-free is your site navigation?
These are some of the questions you might want to inquire into if you want to understand how usable your website or mobile app is.
Take a look at this website for example:
It looks bad. Wait till you open it on your mobile phone:
Own a website? Then never make this mistake. Even if visitors identify with a brand, 50% of them are unlikely to use it unless the website is mobile-friendly.
So, what does a mobile responsive website look like? Take a look:
Do you notice how effortlessly the page fits on both devices, without disrupting the flow of information?
Customers should be able to find what they want on your site without racking their brains or having to showcase the dexterity of their hands. Conversion rates are boosted by as much as 400% after implementing intentional and strategic user experience.
2. Incorporate Designs that Speak
Designs have more to them than meets the eye.
Interactive designs include various elements from aesthetics, color, font, to graphics and sound. To cite an example, let's identify some common aspects among fast-food chain branding designs.
Here is the landing page of KFC:
Here is the landing page of McDonald's:
Notice anything similar? Yes, you guessed right.
They both use the colors red, yellow and orange rather lavishly. The reason? These colors trigger hunger.
Interactive designs influence users in more ways than they are consciously aware of. Incorporating them into your UX would be a clever decision.
When choosing your color palette, make sure you don’t go overboard. For instance, take a look at this abuse to the eyes:
3. Pay Attention to Information Architecture
Does this home page make any sense?
Not to me.
This website fails to convey what its company does - 46% of online shoppers cite the inefficacy of companies revealing what they do, as the reason for leaving a website. Adhering to the principles of information architecture resolves this matter to an extent.
The web is brimming with information. Unfortunately, the human brain is incapable of digesting huge chunks of information at a time. This is why you should structure your content intelligently.
Content should be comprehensible. Information Architecture (IA) deals with increasing the readability and comprehensibility of content. Depending on your audience and the products you sell, you can put a variety of IA techniques into practice.
If you take a look at the landing page of Platinum Software Development company, you will see how the content is structured judiciously.
The call-to-action button is the first thing a visitor sees. The landing page then goes on to intuitively reveal what sets the company apart from its counterparts, its history, services, client base and more.
Before venturing into the history and features of the company, it is important that users are provided with a means to contact you. Not everyone is there for the first time!
4. Build a Trial Version
Wireframing ensures that your product is functional and user-friendly. It identifies overlooked factors and resolves last-minute dilemmas. Ask a select number of people to test your product before you launch it. Gathering their feedback and working towards resolving any problems they encounter, will help immensely in developing a glitch-free final version.
Conclusion
The role UX plays in building your digital presence can’t be stressed enough. Users land on your page to meet specific purposes. Enterprises that successfully help them achieve it, win their hearts and convert them into loyal customers.
Factoring in the boost in sales resulting from clever user experience and the number of clients lost due to ineffective user experience, we can rightly conclude that it is an investment worth making.