What is user experience in web design?

You might have heard of user experience before, or it might be an entirely new concept. Either way, we’re here to explain what user experience is in web design. 

What is user experience? 

User experience is an essential part of your website’s design, and it can be achieved through many aspects. User experience can also be referred to as ‘UX’. Essentially, it’s the experience that your website provides to users. For example, is the website easy to navigate and use or are things difficult to find?

If users are leaving your website very soon after visiting, you may need to work on your user experience. 

A smooth user journey would see users visit the website, use features such as a menu to find the pages they’re looking for, fill out an easy-to-find contact form, and leave when they’ve finished. A poor user experience may include images not loading correctly, pages being difficult to find, and not including accurate contact information. 

What needs to be considered for a great user experience? 

These are the aspects that you need to consider to improve the user experience on your website. 

• Useful - does your website contain helpful information? Updating your website with useful information can also support your search engine optimisation. 
• Usable - Can people use your website easily? Do you have a well-organised menu on the website to direct users? Filters and categories can also help to make your website more usable. 
• Valuable - Can users find the information they actually need on your website? 
• Desirable - Does the website make things easier for users or cause more of a headache?
• Accessible - Does your website have accessibility features to accommodate everybody?
• Findable - Can users find exactly what they are looking for without visiting multiple pages?
• Credible - Does the website have safety features, such as a secure connection and an automatic log-out system?

Why is a great user experience so important? 

Without a great user experience, your website won’t receive much valuable traffic. You’re likely to have people visiting and then leaving soon after due to not being able to use the site effectively. Once people leave your site after a bad experience, it’s unlikely that they’ll return. 

This can impact your site in many ways. Aside from missing out on potential customers, you’ll also damage your SEO. The time people spend on your website before leaving is often used as a ranking factor. This could be causing your website to rank lower on the search engines, which means fewer people will be visiting too. 

How can we help?

Our highly experienced web developers have been creating user-friendly websites for many years. We create stunning websites with UX as a priority, so you don’t need to worry about users leaving your website quickly and feeling disappointed due to a poor experience. Find out more about our SEO services.

Are you planning a new website? Get in touch with us, we’re happy to help. We’ll work closely with you to identify your website requirements and bring your site to life. Take a look at our portfolio here.