When it comes to driving conversions, one of the most important issues any business faces is that of user experience and interface (UX/UI). Simply put, if your customers struggle to use your company’s platform, particularly elements like project tools and order forms, you’re not going to seal the deal. If you’re concerned that clients are struggling with your platform, it’s worth evaluating the following elements to determine how you can improve customer access and increase conversions and loyalty.
Mobile Access
Despite the rapid growth of mobile ecommerce over the past several years, a significant number of sites still don’t work well on mobile. Sure, your site may technically be “mobile responsive,” but if your site uses interstitials, lacks mobile-friendly navigation, or if you haven’t optimized your forms to work well on small, mobile screens, you’ll likely still encounter problems.
You can improve UX on mobile platforms by ensuring that all elements of your site are optimized for touch and that your normally reliable forms don’t develop glitches on mobile. Remember, if customers get halfway through an order on mobile and discover they can’t complete it, they’re not going to patiently wait until they can get to a desktop – they’re going to abandon the cart, and they won’t come back. That’s why it’s critical that you fix frustrating mobile pages right away.
Focus On Function
UX/UI are, at their core, about function, which means that when you’re designing your site, you need to be cautious about emphasizing aesthetics at the expense of function. While they’re not always the most attractive, basic drop-down menus and forms are still around because they work well. For example, this book printing estimate form from Printing Center USA makes it easy for customers to plan and review their project – much easier, in fact, than an order form that makes you fill out each step on a different page, even if the latter may be more visually interesting.
Another benefit of creating easy to use forms on your website is that, in addition to increasing conversion rates, good UI also decreases support costs to your business and boosts customer retention. While customers appreciate a well-designed site, they appreciate a functional one even more.
Access Evolutions
Finally, as you continue to tweak your site’s UI, it’s important to recognize that the web environment is constantly changing. As part of that, more customers are using voice search to participate in ecommerce and your website needs to be optimized for this new approach. That includes changing the phrasing of certain search terms because how people search in text is often different than how they approach the same question verbally, as well as learning the search standards and norms used by different voice assistants and programs.
The growth of voice search is also a key accessibility issue, as this search shift will likely make it easier for customers with certain disabilities to use your site, so be sure to consult with access experts as you develop this new feature. Many visually impaired and disabled individuals have been using voice to text for years, and their insights will be invaluable as voice becomes the new normal.
Building a beautiful website and building a site with great UI are hardly opposing goals, but function needs to come first. Once you’ve ensured that your customers are having a great experience from a technical perspective, then you can move on to the aesthetics and tie all the elements together.
