User experience. Time to stop second guessing…

You know it looks great, but is it working how you expect it to?
As a digital agency we are often faced with clients telling us how they want their website to look; ‘ I like this, i don’t like that. Can we try this?’ Our job is to guide them into thinking more about the end user, as after all, this is who we are really designing for.

When approaching a new project, whether it be for a small brochure site or an e-commerce site, it is so important to make informed decisions based on all the facts you’ve been given, even if this means you have to do a bit of digging. Everyone is guilty of thinking they know best, assuming that they know what their customers want. But is that really what they want? Is that really how they interact with your website?

UX and UI seem to be the biggest buzzwords in the digital industry but actually you can see why.

As is found on Wikipedia:
” User experience design (UXD or UED) is the process of enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty by improving the usability, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the customer and the product. “

Do people click round your website with ease? Can they find what they need or are they getting frustrated and therefore you’re losing them to a competitor?

Like UX, UI design is multi faceted but serves to compliment UX concentrating more specifically on the graphic and front end elements. Is the visual intuitive whilst also representing the brand? Good user interface is crucial for any digital product as it can make or break the trust with the customer.

A few tips to help you along the way:10 characteristics of bad UX ( from usabilitygeek)

1. Slow-loading sites – make sure you optimize large images and videos.
2. Frustrating user experience – if in doubt keep the layout simple and clean.
3. Bad stock photos – everyone’s tired of seeing the same cheesy images.
4. Good user experience is never enforced, make it as frictionless as possible.
5. Unnecessary complexity- the less clicks the better.
6. Lack of engagement- create a dialogue, it’s a two way street.
7. Boring – even corporate companies can create engaging websites.
8. Lack of contact information – make sure it’s easy to find!
9. Infrequently updated content – keep it fresh, relevant and interesting.Don’t let it go stagnant.
10. Only about sales – add value to enhance brand trust with additional information.

These tips skim the service of improving general usability on a website but it’s time now everyone involved began to think more strategically, whether you’re a designer, developer, project manager and even clients too! All good websites start with knowing your end user, so if you don’t then it’s time to stop second guessing!