Where You Can Improve Your Web UX Right Now

Graham Ericksen, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer

Graham Ericksen

Partner | Chief Strategy Officer

A man looking at his computer

Today, only 55% of online businesses perform some sort of UX testing. This applies both to ecommerce sites that completely live off their digital platforms, as well as conventional businesses with a digital presence. This means that a significant amount of businesses are lagging behind in terms of the overall potential of their web UX — which will become critical to optimize when Google updates their algorithm to favor page experience in 2021. The good news is that there are a lot of small, relatively low-effort steps that companies can do to start trending in the right direction. Here is a closer look.

Brevity matters

Research shows that your average online user today has an attention span of only 8 seconds. As a result, you need to make sure that your UX is designed to capture attention and potentially drive conversion in that amount of time. This means making sure that your homepage or landing pages have essential details. In those 8 seconds, it should be clear what you offer and what makes your offerings superior. Of course, you may need supporting information or a place to take those customers after they are interested. This is where links and anchors come in.

A consistent look

One of the simplest ways that your website can lose customers through UX is simple visual inconsistency. A basic website audit should be checking things like headings, fonts, colors, styles, and spacing to make sure that everything is consistent and themed. Failing to do this can either confuse users if they are on the right page or diminish their trust in your site as a quality product.

One area where a lot of website owners fall short here is losing sight of inconsistency in favor of what seems like minor wins at first. For example, say an A/B test shows that you get a slightly better conversion with a color for a button versus your brand color. That minor conversion increase may be a small win, but if it hurts your brand consistency, that’s a loss overall. A/B testing is a useful tool for UX, but you can’t treat the results as if they were in a vacuum. 

Use original images whenever possible

Your average online consumer is probably using dozens of different sites in a given day. This means that they have become subtle experts in terms of detecting stock photography versus original photography. Many users ignore these images, and they can potentially make your business appear non-trustworthy. This is especially the case if you are trying to get people to buy a product on your site. What you use for your original images can vary based on your goal. If you are in ecommerce, products should be front and center. If your site is more educational, pictures of your employees may make more sense.

Of course, original photography isn’t always within budget, and stock photos are sometimes necessary. Alternative ideas include hiring a freelance photographer or illustrator using a service such as Fiverr, outsourcing branded content creation through a service such as Shutterstock Custom, or utilizing user-friendly design tools like Canva to create infographics. Just be sure that the images are of high quality and SEO-optimized with appropriate alt-image tags.

These fundamental tips and guidance are something that every company can use to improve its UX right at this moment. However, there’s a major difference between smaller steps like these and major overhauls, which may be what your site really needs. In this case, you need deep research and analytics to figure out the best use of your time and resources. We can help your site get the insight it needs at Modus.

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