Thursday, August 2, 2018

How to Combine Kick-Ass UX with Proper Design to Help Boost Conversions & Sales | Evolvor Media

User experience (or ‘UX’ as it’s commonly called these days) has become a major sales booster for millions of businesses around the world. At least 70% of companies say that UX is one of the most (if not the most) important strategy they use in boosting conversion rate and profit in general, according to a recently released User Experience Survey Report.

That said, UX has also been linked to web design, because no visitor to your site will stay longer than a minute if the aesthetics of the landing page isn’t appealing or if they can’t easily navigate the website. Just how are UX and web design connected to an improvement in online sales though? If indeed they are connected, what steps can you take in order to boost revenue?

Before going into this, you’ll need to keep in mind that the main reason for improving UX and web design is to prevent your customers from leaving after just a single checkout. Making your site easily navigable shows the customer what to do next when they’re shopping at your store. It also encourages them to buy more, spend more and even come back after making a purchase. These and many more, goes a long way helping you overcome many of your business challenges.

So, here’s how to combine user experience with web design in order to boost sales for your online business:

 

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*We are aware this is a watermarked image.

Get a professional Website Design

Web design has transcended from merely having a site filled with colour, copy, GIFs and pop ups. It has to meet the needs of the customer, whilst also be appealing on the eye. As your website is meant for business purposes, you should hire the services of a professional to help design and make it easy for users to navigate. These days, minimalist designs have taken over the colour-heavy types that flooded the internet few years back. Let’s not forget that the constant flickering from the screen of a PC or smartphone can trigger epileptic seizures. Therefore, many customers stick with a page that meets their basic needs, without trying so hard as to look like an art exhibition. Certainly, getting a professional designer will markedly improve the appearance of your web pages.

Use a Better Web Hosting Service Provider

Reports show that customers are likely to ‘bounce off’ an online store that loads in more than four seconds. This means they will consider other competitors who have far more responsive sites and whose pages load in less than three seconds. IT expert, James Cummings, explains perfectly that “loading speed is a major part of user experience. Once your site isn’t fast enough, it gets a higher bounce rate and Google (amongst other search engines) will rank it low in the fifth or tenth page of search results.

In truth, who really wants to go beyond the second page when looking for a product or service? One of the major causes of slow page speed is using an unreliable web host. A hosting service provider makes sure information sought by customers pops up as quickly as possible when they click on one of your web pages. Ensure it’s a web host that backs up your site and allows for updates, without the need to shut down your website until this operation is completed. Businesses these days use affordable hosting from WordPress, cheap website hosting through DiscountDomains, through Microsoft Azure, and my personal favorite and sponsor WP Engine.

Include an SSL Certificate (Is Now A Must)

In business, you need to gain the trust of your customers and this can be achieved by adding an SSL certificate. It gives visitors coming to your site the notion that you can be trusted with sensitive data such as their home address, personal information and credit card details. Due to the growing rate of online fraud, many users are wary of sites without an SSL certificate, as they feel their personal information might be misused, sold, stolen or intercepted.

If you’re wondering whether any site actually improved their sales after adding an SSL certificate, there are indeed a few; for instance, Symantec released a report stating that the conversion rates of their clients’ sites increased by more than 75% after they added an EV SSL to their sites. Furthermore, Central Reservation Service also reported a 30% rise in online hotel booking after including an SSL badge on the ‘Welcome’ page.

Add Reassuring Statements

When designing a website, you’ll need to provide the right statement or copy of content to entice any prospective visitors. Aside from images and colors, words also matter. You can also add a reassuring statement near to your ‘Call to Action’ buttons. This could be ‘Buy two and get free shipping’ or ‘Buy three and get one free’. This encourages your customers to take the action without just seeing the CTA as some kind of cliché. According to Adobe blog, customers in the US typically expect free shipping from e-commerce stores. They state that once customers notice that shipping is free, over 92% are very likely to purchase more items from the store. So, whilst designing the CTA to be attractive, provide a good UX as well; you can do so by letting the customer know they won’t be paying additional charges for delivery. Besides free shipping, you can also add a privacy policy next to the CTA buttons. You could hire a competent copywriter – or even a lawyer – to draft one for you, so you don’t use any inappropriate terminology. Notably, the privacy policy reassures customers that their information is safe with you.

Personalize the Experience to Create Engagement

This can also be considered as personalizing sales. For example, when shopping on popular e-commerce stores like Amazon and eBay, you’ll notice that they tend to recommend items they feel you’d want to buy, based on what you searched for during your previous purchase. For instance, you initially search for ‘HP laptops’; the next time you visit, you’re likely to come across a CTA to purchase a HP portable printer, amongst other gadgets that are related to the last purchase. This is also why it’s important to use a good developer who can develop ways to help boost the user’s experience. Customers like having the feel that your website remembers them. It makes them want to keep coming back. This even helps boost your SEO.

You Better Be Mobile By Now

Finally, you should ensure your site can be easily accessed via a mobile phone and PC. Since Google announced mobile indexing, many sites are now making their pages even more mobile friendly. More than 70% of online shoppers make purchases from a mobile device. So, make sure your web designer keeps this in mind, unless you intend to only cater for 10% of the population, who tend to wait until they get home and to access the internet from their PC.

The post How to Combine Kick-Ass UX with Proper Design to Help Boost Conversions & Sales appeared first on Digital Media News & Training.

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