Why you need to think of your online user experience, across all devices
With the central role that the web plays within the lives of the many people today, user experience (UX) counts for everything. Gone are the times with just putting up with a poorly thought out website, in today’s cut-throat digital world if a user doesn’t like your online output they’re going to leave, simple.
Customers purchasing online think nothing of taking their business elsewhere. On the web, brand loyalty doesn’t exist, even the slightest imperfection in your online user experience can drive customers well away from your website.
Online user experience should be amongst your top priorities. People have come to expect a seamless experience when visiting your website, and not just on their computer, but also on their smartphone, their tablet and every one of their other devices. Cross-channel consistency is vital.
The thing is, Google is looking out for these features on your website now. They want what is best for users so an effective online user experience is important for your SEO. Even if your site looks complicated on desktop it needs to be simplified and seamless on mobile, check out this casino online for an example on what you can do.
To ensure a positive user experience and successively increase your conversion rate and your sales, your website should be designed for the simplest possible experience no matter the channel your customers are using. Customers now expect companies to supply a useable experience across all channels, while you’ll consider your channels as separate, your customers don’t. There are three key elements to think about when it involves developing a cross-channel user experience, these are:
Consistency
Your customers should be ready to move from channel to channel, i.e. from their computer to their mobile, without having to relearn the way to use your website. Customers want convenience; they don’t want to be having to constantly learn new systems. Consistency across visual design, interactions and content will help your customers move between channels easily.
Availability
Your customers should be ready to complete all actions no matter the channel they’re using to access your website. Whilst your mobile site should be optimised for the device and thus somewhat different, the location shouldn’t be restrictive and offer less functionality.
Seamless ability
Ideally your website should present the power to finish an action across multiple channels. For instance, if a customer places an item within the basket whilst logged into your site on a smartphone, that very same item should still be within the cart if they then continue to login to your site on a laptop.
Online user experience should also take under when completing an order. The checkout process and crucially, measurement of your customers’ experience online need to be taken into consideration. Your brand not only must have a presence across a spread of digital channels, furthermore you may want to be ready to measure your customers’ reaction to your online output. Using analytics, you’ll be ready to analyse how long people are spending on your site, how they’re navigating your site and what the extent of conversion there then is.
Repeat buying and browsing should in fact be analysed too. Neglecting to analyse this data will have an affect on loyalty. You’ll end up placing an excessive amount of emphasis on attracting new customers and not enough emphasis on retaining the purchasers you have already have as your customers.
User experience is all about careful measurement and management; you want to remain high in your customers’ expectations and cater towards these to win new customers and retain people who have previously purchased.
