Ellie
They say online shopping is easy and fast. With only one click of your mouse button, you can place an order right away. But this is not always the case. Have you ever struggled to find the buy button or the checkout process? Did you have to close popup ads that kept appearing despite your best efforts to finalize your purchase?
Either you remained determined to complete the purchase or went away looking for another online store. Small businesses lose potential customers because of a bad user experience (UX). Fortunately, a UX designer knows exactly how to fix your website. So what does a UX designer do? Scroll down below to learn more!
Before we proceed, let's get one thing straight: User experience or UX is not limited to apps and websites. Whenever you interact with any product or service, you enter the realm of UX design. For instance, did you have a positive experience with a desk lamp? Which part of the journey did you like the least? How would you describe the experience in one word?
These are only some of the concerns that UX designers dwell on. Their entire profession aims to improve the experience of the end-user constantly. In your case as a small business owner, UX design encompasses the experience of a potential customer before, during, and after purchasing your ecommerce platforms.
Establishing an online presence is of utmost importance for any business to succeed. However, propping up a website and a number of social media pages isn't enough. Similar to a brick-and-mortar store, your online store has to give your prospective customers a pleasant experience, from browsing through the catalog to seeking after-sales service.
Here are more benefits your business can reap from overhauling your current website's UX:
Have you ever had to leave a website because it was confusing and difficult to use? There could have been popups everywhere, missing buttons, and a labyrinth of links to click through. These are the hallmarks of a badly designed website.
As you may imagine, you can lose customers because of a poorly developed website. When they can't do the things they set out to do, they will leave and look for better alternatives. This loss of potential customers can be easily prevented by a well-thought-out user experience based on identified user needs and user flows.
Because of how saturated the market is, offerings from various brands can be hard to distinguish from one another. No matter how good you believe your offering is, there will always be another brand with an indistinguishable alternative. So, what else can you do if you can no longer make the product itself stand out from the competition?
You can massively overhaul your brand's website so your customers will have a seamless and enjoyable experience. For instance, browsing and selecting product offerings from your online catalog shouldn't feel like a dreaded chore. Moreover, the checkout process should be instant and effortless to complete. A positive UX will make customers loyal to your brand.
If you're in a rush to establish a foothold in the online space, you may end up with a half-baked website. Your web developers should be able to address issues on your website as soon as they appear. There could also be lost revenue because of the issues brought about by a rushed job.
A competent UX designer can hasten the development of your website by ensuring that your would-be customers will have a positive user experience from the get-go. Instead of going back and forth with the web development team days and weeks after the launch of your website, a UX designer can eliminate most UX issues before they even appear.
When visitors navigate your website, they don't want to be stuck in a maze of links and buttons. Rather, they want to get to their destination sooner and with little to no effort. If you put obstacles in their way, whether intended or otherwise, they are more likely to abandon the journey before they even see the finish line.
The UX design process considers the steps that the user takes from the point of first contact with your website up to the checkout button. Depending on your website's intent, this “user flow” can take many shapes and forms. Nevertheless, the entire user journey begins with a starting point and ends at the finish line. Good UX design shortens the gap between these two points.
You might think you can do web development, web design, and UX design yourself. The thought is surely tempting as it can save you money by not hiring a UX designer. However, UX design is not as plain sailing as you may think. A user experience designer is equipped with experience and UX design skills that will be worth investing your money in.
These are some of the multitude of things that a UX designer can do for you and your business:
Many innovative products fail because of one reason: there's no need for them. No matter how ingenious the design of your product is, it won't get any traction if it fails to solve problems that your target audience face. That's why before launching a product, you need to conduct user research to ensure that your product has problems in the real world that they can solve.
Conducting user research is one of the many responsibilities of UX designers. In fact, user research is crucial for the success of the UX design process. Through conducting user research, UX designers identify the need for your product and analyze competing offerings from rivals. Data gathered from this research will inform the design process later on.
Identifying user personas is an indispensable part of the UX design process. Since your product and your website cater to real users, you have to know who they are on a deeper level. Conducting user research will enable you to do just that. UX designers can nip future problems in the bud by conducting focus groups and interviews to gather information.
All this information will influence your website's UX and UI design. UX designers can use this valuable data to redesign their user flows and reimagine the entire user journey on the website. Meanwhile, UI designers can make changes to the user interface design and the overall visual design to address the problems and weaknesses identified during the UX research.
A website launch could be catastrophic without testing it first on a pool of select users. If you happen to give a go signal to launch a half-baked website, the issues and problems that come with it may irreparably damage your brand. You may have already lost customers without them even considering purchasing your product, all because of a poorly made website.
A user experience designer can do mockups and prototypes to test the waters for you. Which user interface design looks better and on brand? What does the user flows look like? Is the entire user journey seamless? These questions can be answered through user testing and usability testing conducted as part of the UX design process.
One way to boost your brand's visibility (and, in turn, increase your revenue) is by gaining the top spot in search engine results. This is what has been termed “search engine optimization” or SEO. SEO is one of the many digital marketing strategies that a good UX design can complement. SEO rankings consider a plethora of factors, a few of which fall within the realm of UX design.
For instance, a fast-loading and mobile-responsive website will not only make your customers happy but can also raise your SEO scores. Another way to bump your SEO rankings is by lessening your website's bounce rate and improving its dwell time. Both can be accomplished by adopting UX design best practices and principles.
Don't underestimate what a good UX design can offer to the table. UX designers can work with your digital marketing team to assess the entire user journey across your platforms, including your website and mobile apps. They can identify pain points and implement remedies, resulting in a better and more enjoyable user experience.Reap the benefits of a good UX and book a consultation with Mesmeric web design agency today!
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