The last thing you want when you spend a tonne of effort getting people to your site is for them to have a terrible experience.
Cluttered design, bad colour combinations, slow loading times plus a selection of other designer and user experience mishaps all negatively impact on user experience for your small business website.
So, as a business looking to increase leads and grow sales, it goes without saying you’ll want to avoid these user experience pitfalls. Instead, you’ll want to use design, copy and page structure to improve how people feel when they visit your website and explore its content to encourage them to interact with your brand and eventually buy what you offer.
In this article, we’ll give you simple tips to improve your SME website user experience and how people feel when they visit your website.
So, let’s dive in.
Tips to improve SME website user experience
Your goal as a business owner is to improve how people feel while navigating your website. A good user experience will lead to positive digital interaction that eventually results in a customer paying for your products or services. It will also help you create relationships with your clients, contributing to your brand’s image.
A lot of elements can impact this experience, and there are several tips you can easily follow to improve it.
Know your customers
Before improving your website experience, you should get to know your customers. You can use questionnaires, polls, and surveys to learn about their habits, needs, and search intent to create relevant content that appeals to them.
Ask your previous and current customers about their opinions and study their reviews to find areas for improvement. Then, using several qualitative and quantitative tools, you’ll be able to create a website that your users find engaging.
Declutter your website
Using white space is one of the best tools to increase your web pages’ readability and improve your website user experience. It can help you draw attention to the most important elements on the page, like a CTA or a survey, and users will be able to get the message easier.
Leaving space around elements on your page and giving them room to “breathe” is one of the easiest ways to make your website look modern and clean. Yet, you should also ensure you’re providing the necessary information, so users can still benefit from visiting your web pages. Having a clean and simple design doesn’t mean not getting your message across.
Keep it simple
You don’t want to confuse your website’s visitors, so ensure every web page has a single yet clear goal. This also means eliminating all unnecessary elements that might puzzle your website’s visitors.
Use two or three fonts and a limited colour palletre. You should also ensure that all your visuals serve a purpose and support your messaging, as they highly affect your website’s speed.
Be consistent
Design your web pages so your potential customers can easily find their way. People want to be able to explore your website, products, and services on their own, so offer a straightforward design that they can easily understand.
Following standard web design practices means people are used to certain elements being where there are on every website – think logo on the top left hand corner.
A precise call-to-action will also help people find what they’re looking for. As you add more content, things can become too complicated for some users. Use relevant CTAs to remind them of what every web page is for and allow them to navigate your website easily.
I’m a marketer based in Wales, UK. I love working with ambitious small businesses and helping them unlock the full potential of proper marketing. I created Brandspace as the starting point for doing this, and while we focus on websites and search, I can provide full strategic marketing support for your business.