The following is a guest post by Cherryl Pereira, Head of Content atChisel Labs
The website you are looking at right now is the result of a lot of hard work.
We have spent hours brainstorming, designing, coding, and testing to create something we hope you enjoy.
But why do we go through all this trouble?
What does it mean for your user experience?
In this blog, we’ll cover:
What makes a good user experience?
Ruthie Kwon: “A good user experience means that there’s less friction.”
Annette F.: “No matter how long the wait time is, as long as I’m getting what I need from it, then it’s worth my time.”
What do you think determines a good user experience?
Web designers and developers know that designing a website is no easy task.
It takes an immense amount of effort, creativity, and drive to come up with a site that people enjoy using.
This article will explore what some Google users think about this concept of a “good user experience.” We hope you find these insights interesting.
Google is one of the most visited websites in the world, so we asked some Google users what they thought about their experience with Google.
Many people said that a good user experience for them was to be able to find what they were looking for quickly.
Other people said that it was important to have a website that was up-to-date and had information relevant to their search terms.
One person even mentioned how helpful it is when websites are easy enough on the eyes, while another person talked about how annoying pop-ups can be.
Why is it important to have a good user experience?
This is pretty simplistic yet key information that plays into the user’s decision to access your page, or not.
If you want people to stay on your website for a long time then it is important to make sure they are satisfied with what they see at first glance.
What do you think about Google’s current homepage?
The homepage has changed over time and now there is a graphic with a search toggle bar.
This is a pretty common design and the search function is made to be extremely easy for users.
This is something that almost all spaces have adapted for themselves too and it just makes sense.
Not just that, a good user experience ensures sales and traction in a way that no other venue can offer.
Creating a website is a challenging discourse and takes a lot of effort and drive. The top six things that people said were:
1) Security:
Security is the most important thing for people on their website.
It’s unfortunate but true.
People like to be secure when they’re using the internet, and (almost) nothing will make them leave your site more quickly than if they feel like they aren’t secure.
It must be as easy to access and navigate for users to use effectively without giving out a lot of personal information which may be irrelevant for the site.
2) Content:
This is the single most important thing to users on websites, and it’s something that you should always keep in mind.
If your website lacks content, people will leave quickly if they can’t find what they’re looking for or whatever reason.
Content makes the site engaging and interesting which is why all sites must have relevant information about products/services offered by them so that they stay present throughout the site.
Without the backing of compelling content, no website can stand out from the crowd.
3) Design:
Design is one of the most important things because it can either make or break your site.
Good design is important for a website as users tend to leave the site quickly once they see that there’s no relevant information about products/services offered by them.
Design should be simple and attractive so that it keeps visitors engaged throughout its duration on the web page.
4) Loading Performance:
Why this is essential must be noted with significance. If your content takes time to show up, the user loses what is the whole point.
In a world where attention spans are getting shorter, all you need is to frustrate your visitors with delayed loading time and they will soon close the browser window.
So it’s best to avoid such things as much as possible so that users can load information in no time without any hassle or inconvenience whatsoever.
Google Users let us know about this with an insight into how even Google displays how fast they show the searched information which adds to the good user experience.
Their experts have a deep insight into how they can make sure that the users receive information quickly and easily without any hassles or cumbersome ways of going about things.
This is why Google search works fast because it understands what its visitors want and then gives them exactly that with ease which no other site can compete with at this point.
5) Visual Stability:
What does this even mean and why is it important for an effective user experience?
Users should feel safe and secure while using the site.
This is why visual stability is important because it gives them a sense of freedom knowing that they can do whatever they want without any fear or worry about things like crashing down on their heads unexpectedly which will make for an unpleasant user experience.
The design has to be attractive but something they can familiarize themselves with over time. The UI has to be friendly and accommodative of the user’s mental and physical capability.
Accessibility provided, even within the disability spectrum is important so you can adjust for as many users as possible.
It has to be intuitive and easy on the eyes. The content should always lead, while design follows suit somewhere down in a harmonious balance that is both pleasing for the user and beneficial for your business goals as well.
6) Mobile Friendly:
This is an obvious factor.
Mobile browsers are much more accessible because they can be used on the go and on various devices and platforms, which is why it has become the number one most popular way for people to access their internet.
A website should be able to adapt accordingly if users are accessing from a mobile device or tablet.
A good user experience is determined by the user depending on the things that they think are important to them.
Good user experience can be determined by several factors such as ease of use, content quality, and design among other things.
Users decide what is good or bad for them because after all, it’s their perspective that matters in deciding whether a site has been successful in offering optimal usage and in terms of what is relevant to them.
The users are the base of every successful website so companies need to have an understanding of what they think about their experience and how they can improve upon that.
How to create a good user experience?
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Optimize your homepage and make it as accessible as possible.
According to Maile Ohye, “2 seconds is the threshold for e-commerce website acceptability.
At Google, we aim for under half a second”. This implies that when you create a landing page, it must load within a few seconds and must be free from bugs or errors.
According to other users, we can also say that if they are not able to find what they are looking for in the first attempt, they consider it too complicated.
Another recommendation is to increase social media exposure by using tools like Twitter Cards which allows websites’ to link and create an algorithm most accessible for most people. The key word here is ‘access.’ The wider the access with one touch, the better the frame and potential of your website.
Another recommendation is to use the right format and size for the pictures you input. This is not only because it will improve your website’s SEO but also present a uniform look.
An important tip was that if you are selling products, use good quality images and try having an understanding of the customers’ needs beforehand so that they have something in common with them.
Browsing caching also helps and is of vital importance. It loads input faster and makes the experience delightful.
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Ensure your site is easy to reach and use
The text must not be too heavy and the navigation bar should be visibly available.
The fact that the website is easy to use and navigate will be a good step forward in achieving user experience. Internal linking is also a factor of contribution in ensuring this.
How it works is that you link the current page to another one on your website.
Read up on anchor text optimization. It helps to have sorted this out before your website goes live.
For the images on the web page, crop them to size and ensure they are not too heavy in terms of weight or file size.
Do this before putting up any image online as it would only be a disappointment if you realize after uploading that what you had was actually unsuitable for use.
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Make your website mobile-friendly with responsive design
What does this mean?
Well, it means that the website will appear in a different format depending on whether you are trying to access it from your phone or computer.
It is important not only for Google but also for users who can get frustrated when they cannot click links because of how small the screen is and the fact that there might be too many links posted at once in one singular space.
Understand that each time a user is frustrated, it reduces their experience quality and we do not want that.
This also means that images, videos, and call-to-action buttons look just as optimal on your phone device as they do on a PC.
Many websites are now being created with mobile compatibility in mind.
This gives the user a better experience and for some businesses, it has helped them tremendously in their searches to find new customers or clients.
Conclusion
A good user experience must be easy to use, engaging, informative, and interactive for a company site visitor or potential buyer/client to make informed decisions.
A good user experience will create a lasting impression and impact on the site visitor so they can remember it in positive terms for future reference.
To have an effective web presence, companies should be able to convey their message clearly through appropriate content with relevant images/videos and graphics.
All of this results in an enhanced and desirable user experience.
Cherryl Pereira is the Head of Content at Chisel. Chisel Labs is a premiere agile product management software company that brings together roadmapping, team alignment, and customer connection.
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