UX design – the process of creating a website that is intuitive to the user – is ongoing and must adjust to the needs of your market and users. While you may feel like dropping the mic after getting your site up and running, it’s not over and done. As users and the digital landscape change, so must your website.
In fact, optimal UX could be the factor that determines the success of your company. If your website is struggling to retain visitors, it may be that it needs a UX update. Try these strategies to identify whether your website has a UX design problem and how you can fix it if so.
Put Yourself in the Customer’s Shoes
A central part of any successful business is thinking like the customer. After all, they are why your business exists in the first place. Use the same strategy when determining whether your UX design needs an update. If you are always analyzing your company from your own viewpoint, you may only see the good. Though seeing what’s positive about your site is important, knowing what doesn’t work is just as crucial. The best way to figure this out is by empathizing with your customer.
You can do certain things during this stage of development to make your UX more effective. Think about what aspects of your site may be frustrating for users. Choose a few types of people that are in your target audience. Take time to look at your website from the point of view of each persona. Consider situations when a user would be on your website. The more circumstances that you can address, the more potential issues you will find.
For a more clear-cut way to understand the customer’s perspective, ask your customers. Getting direct feedback about your website will make it easier for you to identify the issue. Pay attention anytime a customer contacts you with a complaint or issue, so you can utilize that in diagnosing your UX design problem.
Define the Problem
Once you have started analyzing your UX design from the viewpoint of your customer, you need to specifically define the issue that you need to fix. By putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, you can realize what is frustrating or inconvenient about your website but not exactly what makes it frustrating or inconvenient.
To fix the problem, you need to determine what the specific issue is. To get the most out of your site, don’t assume you’re able to see all the issues it may have. Do some research and consider avenues where you can learn how to see the problems at hand.
While you are defining the problem, remember that it is a team effort. It is more difficult for one person to figure out the specific problem than for a team of people. Each person will have their own ideas and inspirations about what could be frustrating to your users. When working with a team to diagnose the issue, it might be helpful to create a dashboard where people can put their ideas in an area where everyone can see them.
Create a Problem Statement
A problem statement is where you outline a guide about what the problem is and strategize about how best to fix it. It is extremely important because it is what you and your associates will use to improve your UX design. There are a few things you should keep in mind while crafting a problem statement:
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- Focus on the customer. Some companies, understandably, get caught up in how to best sell their product or service. Instead of framing your business that way, think about how to offer users the best experience. By providing the optimal UX, your sales will inevitably go up. When you are creating your problem statement, focus on the customer. Talk about how to solve the issue so that they will have the most positive opinion of your website possible. The goal of a problem statement is to find ways to improve your UX design.
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- Do not make it too broad. If your problem statement is too broad, it will not be as effective. Make note of the problems specifically because, often broad problems lead to broad answers, and those are often ineffective.
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- Do not make it too narrow. While it may seem that the narrower a problem statement is, the better, this is not the case. One of the most important steps in diagnosing and fixing a UX design is encouraging creativity. Each person on the team working to solve the issue must be able to access creative solutions. If the problem statement is too specific, it could stifle people’s creativity. By limiting the potential solutions, you could reduce the number of ideas that people will have about how to improve your UX design.
Use Tools to Check UX Design Effectiveness
Luckily, there are tools available that will make it easy to determine if your website is struggling and what the specific issues are. Google Analytics offers many possible reports that can tell you which pages on your site are successful along with other information.
Google also has a tool called PageSpeed Insights that will check how long it takes to load your pages, a key aspect of UX design. You can also use Pingdom Tools and Web Page test, which also provide information about the load time of your
website pages.
Specific Areas Where Your Site Might Struggle
One of the most common reasons users will bounce from a site is slow page loading speed. If a user needs to wait for a page or image to load, there are many other sites where they can find what they want – and faster. If you know some aspect of your page is slow to load, fix it. No matter how unique or special it is, it doesn’t matter if your user leaves the site. Also, communicate in ways users expect. Many interfaces include signals for the user that an action has been completed. For instance, Twitter includes a swooshing sound when a tweet has been posted. These small signals of completion have become the norm, so it makes sense that you should include them on your site – users will likely expect them.
Another issue is having a UX design that does not coordinate with the real world. Websites often use overly complex wording or steps that designers believe are intuitive but aren’t. Imagine your users’ mistakes or confusion before they happen by being empathetic. It also helps to be empathetic when you imagine potential user error.
Considering the large numbers of visitors every day, errors are common on most websites. For instance, if your site sells shoes, make sure users can find Tom’s and Toms. It can be helpful to users to offer them prompts when they are searching for things. For example, Google will come up with a list of possible searches after you type just one word of a phrase into the search bar. This helps the user because they don’t always have to remember the specific thing they need to type in.
Other websites struggle with having designs that are too complex. While aesthetics are important, it is just as crucial to avoid making your site cluttered or flashy. Prioritize necessary information so it is easy for the user to find what they are looking for.
If your site is suffering from a high bounce rate or isn’t seeing the traffic you’d like, it might be time for a UX diagnostic text. Don’t lose customers because of poor UX; spend time considering how to make your site user-friendly and intuitive because there’s no time to drop the mic in this constantly evolving tech landscape.
