Your visitors need to be able to navigate your website intuitively and effortlessly. A website which is hard to use can frustrate visitors, drive them away, and ultimately cost you potential customers.
But when website visitors instinctively know where to find key information and what to do next, they’re more likely to take action towards becoming a client or customer.
Predictability is powerful
A few weeks ago I was navigating the Romanian website for buying train tickets. I didn’t need to switch the language to English to understand how to use the site - it was predictable and user friendly, and I knew exactly what to do and where to click, even though I didn’t understand the language.
It’s a perfect example of how sticking to familiar web conventions allows visitors to navigate easily through your site without having to think too much.
Quick usability checklist
How many of these can you check off?
✅ Your logo is in the top left-hand corner of the page
✅ Your logo links back to the homepage
✅ The primary navigation menu is along the top of the page
✅ The navigation bar and main menu is always visible on desktop (users don’t need to click to view it, or scroll up to find it)
✅ ‘Home’ is the first item in your navigation menu
✅ The last item in your navigation menu is a way to get in touch with you
✅ Your pages scroll vertically (not horizontally)
✅ The website footer is a home for utility links and business information (privacy policy, company number etc)
✅ Icons for common actions are standardised: a magnifying glass for search, a shopping cart for purchases, and an envelope for email etc.
If you got 9/9, that’s great! If not, it might be time to make some tweaks to your site.
I know, I know. It all sounds very boring. But not sticking to these standard web conventions could lead to that small extra bit of friction for your website visitors, and could end up costing you a customer.
And what would you prefer: a showcase of your creativity and cleverness, or a user friendly, accessible website that leads to more sales?
Is your website a maze or a map?
‘Good user experience’ is more than just using standard web conventions for your website.
It’s about making your visitor journey smoother, reducing friction, and allowing users to get from point A to point B as easily as possible. Here are a few ways you can do that:
Keep your navigation simple
Follow the standard web conventions I mentioned above, keep your main nav menu to 7 top-level links or fewer, and then use my 3-bucket method to streamline your services and display them in a user friendly way
Here’s a guide to the 3-bucket method
Make it easy for visitors to get in touch
The contact page of a website is often overlooked, but it’s really important. You don’t want to lose potential clients because it’s hard for them to book a call, or ask you a quick question.
Here’s how to create an irresistible contact form
Don’t sacrifice speed
I know you might be tempted to fill your site with beautiful images and engaging videos, but they can lead to a lot of bloat and sluggishness, and believe me, your website visitors won’t stick around for slow pages to load (it’s not 2005 anymore). Keep things simple and follow best practices for uploading images and videos to your website.
Here’s a guide to optimising images
And here’s a guide to adding video to your website
Make sure your site is optimised for mobile
Websites are built on desktop, which means the mobile version is often an afterthought, or it gets neglected completely. But with more mobile users than desktop these days, you can’t afford to give your visitors a bad mobile experience.