21 Simple Tactics for Improving Website UX in 2020

Why Improving Website UX is Essential

User experience is vital to the success of any product or service, and websites are no exception. Having a meaningful online presence is as essential as having a clean and tidy storefront; a business’s website is its face. Nowadays, users are savvy about web design and have come to expect a certain level of sophistication. And that makes improving website UX essential in 2020.

As mobile consumers become more demanding and sophisticated, many businesses feel overwhelmed by expectations to provide a well-designed website UX. However, improving website user experience is not as difficult as it may seem. Even a small effort can provide significant benefits.

Over the years, we have noticed that improving website UX will lead to better search rankings, more business leads, and increased revenue. Improving website user experience simply follows certain user expectations. While the specific expectations of your audience may differ, we found the following tactics for improving website UX applies to every website or online store.

21 Simple Tactics for Improving Website UX

1. Be Responsive & Mobile-friendly

The single most effective tactic for improving website UX is a mobile-first website. Smartphones are driving massive traffic to many websites, making it essential for your site to be responsive. To serve the browsing needs of mobile internet users, going mobile-friendly is now an easy way for website owners that ensures better visibility.

Be sure to focus on the mobile-first user experience. It will ensure an outstanding experience for your website visitors and mobile consumers. Never compromise on this website UX design trend. Here is an excellent tool to help check the responsiveness of sites.

2. Provide Information Concisely and Efficiently

Visitors go to websites intending to get some sort of information. The previous statement might seem redundant, but some businesses don’t seem to understand this based on their web design. By providing information in an elegant and structured way, you can ensure that a user can complete their objective. Concise information is also profitable, as businesses can ensure they convey the intended message successfully and draw attention to appropriate elements.

3. Be Consistent

Developing a consistent website means matching everything in a way so that it looks correctly structured and balanced for your audience. Web design includes everything from your headline to design elements like font choice and button style and coloring. Everything should be themed to enhance the looks of the website. Consistency will add to the user experience and user satisfaction of your website visitors.

4. Use Layout Strategically

When it comes to styles, brutalism continues to be on the rise in 2020. Brutalism involves a fresh and minimalist approach to layouts with a focus on user experience. Alternatively, a beautiful, artistic site, can go a long way in establishing your brand as a leader in the market and a real risk-taker. If you want to be more conservative, how a layout can help a visitor understand the presented information is the way to go. Other trends that have popped up are minimalism and broken-grid layouts.

5. Focus on the Journey of Conversion

Improving website UX must include a lot more than merely engaging content and compelling visuals. It is equally important to work on other aspects of your site. Factors such as site structure and information architecture have a considerable effect on user experience.

When website visitors first arrive on your site, they may not know very much about you and your business. They are starting their journey of conversion. Your job as a website owner is to make that journey as simple and engaging as possible.

Humans base all decisions on two simple conditions, for personal gain, or to remove pain. Therefore, your website homepage should clearly explain the benefits of doing business with you. How does your service or product benefit consumers? What problem do you solve? Be sure to answer these questions before your target audience looks for answers somewhere else.

6. Speak to Your Target Audience

Another tactic for improving website UX is to change your site content. When you are writing copy to impress your website visitors, many website owners tend to fall into a dangerous trap. The content is ‘we’ and ‘our’ focused. You may be showcasing the ways your business might help because of how great you and your products are, but it is not going to get your point across.

Strip out the “we’s” and “our’s” and replace them with “you’s” and “your’s.” Your potential customers want you to meet them eye-to-eye, understand the pain points they have, and directly explain what you can do to solve them. This grammatical switch may seem insignificant, but subconsciously it will affect the way customers see your business.

7. Provide Engaging Content

Providing engaging content is key to improving website UX. Nowadays, visitors want more than a purchase; they want an experience. A great way to achieve this is by adopting an engaging content strategy. Familiarity increases trust; 82% of consumers are more likely to trust a business after reading their custom content.

Effective content strategies focus on telling a brand’s story to establish a connection between a business and its client. With the right approach, content can come in any format, such as a blog post, vlog, or even a separate website. Using content to establish a brand identity helps to ensure that potential clients know more about the business.

8. Create Unique Offerings

Improving website UX is a crucial step to increasing website conversions. Converting visitors is how you can evaluate how many users are moving down your marketing funnel. Many websites and online stores typically convert visitors by presenting offers, demos, or items that their target consumers will find attractive.

But with so many resources out on the internet, it’s more complicated than ever to rise above the digital noise and convert your target audience. It is more important than ever to pay attention to what incentives and resources are out there within your service area. Equally important is determining if there is an unmet need you can fill. Creating a unique offer is one of the single most effective tactics for improving website UX.

9. Create Effective Page Titles

Your page titles must establish a connection with your target audience. They need to be relevant and of interest to your visitors. When creating titles, be sure to include keywords to target the message to the right audience. Keywords are crucial for attracting potential clients, and they also help websites rank higher in search engines. Search engines give titles more weight. Therefore, including keywords in page titles and subtitles will help any website rank higher.

10. Use Bullets and Lists

Bullets help website visitors quickly get information about the essential products and services of your business or product brand. Therefore, using bulleted lists is an integral part of improving website UX. You can get creative and include images to help visitors better understand the bullet points. Images will also make your web page more engaging. Using bullets is also beneficial as it forces web designers to focus on essentials.

11. Use Attractive CTAs

Providing your visitors an easy chance of finding and reacting to CTA (Call To Action) is a simple tactic for improving website UX. Your CTA needs to be accessible on every page of your website. It will help in reaching higher conversion and improving user experience. Another important consideration is to place your Call To Action above the fold so that users can easily view the button and reply to the same in case they are willing to.

12. Use High-Quality Images

Another way of improving website UX is to use lots of images. The human brain responds to visual clues. Pictures will help communicate your message much better than written words. But pictures will not do you any good if they are not high quality. Only use high-resolution images and optimize them for web use. Make sure they establish any connection with your website. Avoid using stock images as they are not as effective as the real ones. Instead, take photos showcasing your business, team, and products, or hire a professional photographer.

13. Consider Adding Videos

While images play an essential role in improving website UX, videos can engage visitors even longer. Videos can provide potential consumers with a realistic sense of what you have to offer. For example, if you are showcasing the launch of a new product, it can be challenging to present all the features through content only. Videos, on the other hand, can easily make people understand all product features. Videos of satisfied customers using your product or service are also highly effective.

14. Use White Space

Another effective way of improving website UX is using empty or white space. White space makes content easier to digest and helps visitors focus on other elements of the website. This design element is the website’s breathing space, which makes other features stand out. But be sure to create a balance between the length of content and the white space you are planning to have on your website.

15. Add Motion and Animation

Including motion and animations has several advantages. Subtle animations can help in directing visitors towards a call to action. Animations are also useful for attracting attention to other critical elements on your website. Try to use this design element to grab the attention of your site visitors. But be sure not to overdo this. Using animations for page titles and text content is usually not recommended.

16. Use Hamburger Menus

Hamburger menus are highly effective for improving website UX as they indicate that there is something users are not seeing. This type of menu creates an urge for visitors to find out more about the features and the functionality of their website. The hamburger menu icon offers an easy way to engage the clients on your website, keeping them longer, and contributing to user satisfaction.

17. Use Color Effectively

The use of color plays an essential part in improving website UX. But you need to think about the psychology of color and the effect colors may have on your audience. Different colors evoke different messages and, thus, consider the information you wish to convey to your users while choosing a color for your website. For instance, studies have shown that soothing colors help in increasing website conversions. Bold colors create a sense of urgency.

18. Improve Page Load Time

A fast loading website is an essential step for improving website UX. A slow site will frustrate consumers and visitors and will ultimately hinder conversions. Page load time also plays a crucial role in helping website visitors decide how much time to spend on your site. If they have to wait longer than 3 seconds for your site to load the first time, chances are they will ignore your website in the future as well. Improving website UX must include the following best practices for speeding up your website.

19. Increase Website Security

Online consumers will trust you if they have an assurance of the safety of their payment information saved on your website. Robust site security is a simple way of improving website UX by guaranteeing a secure browsing experience to site visitors. An SSL Certificate or other security seal is another way of instilling trust in potential consumers. Here are a few simple tips for increasing website security.

20. Fix Broken Links 

None of your website visitors is going to like 404 errors. Therefore, finding and fixing broken links is an essential step for improving website UX. Visitors expect to find relevant content by navigating to a specific page. If the desired page or content is no longer available, or if the page or content has moved, you need to let your visitors know. There are numerous tools for finding and fixing broken links on your site. And be sure to create a custom 404 page to direct website visitors when they do get a 404 error.

21. Don’t Annoy Your Visitors

Up until now, all our tactics for improving website UX have been about things you should do. However, it’s equally as important to discuss what you should avoid at all costs when it comes to web design and user experience.

Many websites expose visitors to pop-ups, autoplay, and information bombardment. This type of design element is very annoying. Website visitors appreciate when a site avoids the temptation to implement these annoying features.

When designing your web presence, steer clear from clutter, walls of text, background music, and videos that play automatically. These factors certainly don’t help visitors feel at home.

Improving Website UX Yourself

We hope you like our tactics for improving website UX. Keep in mind that you may want to consider other website improvements based on your specific needs or requirements. Depending on the nature of your business or industry, you may need to add additional features and design elements to satisfy your audience.

When it comes to improving website UX, the important thing is not to go overboard and adding every web design or usability trend. Ensure that every element on your website has a purpose, instead of adding features and design elements because someone tells you they are cool!

The best approach is to optimize your website to meet or exceed your target audience’s needs and expectations. Ask yourself what your visitors expect to find, and then give it to them. Otherwise, you simply risk losing existing and potential consumers, which could hurt your business.

Improving website UX is critical if you want to provide the best possible user experience. This fact is especially valid if you’re going to attract and engage ever more demanding mobile consumers. We are here to help.

Do You Need Help Improving Website UX?

Here at PixoLabo, we offer a full range of mobile-first business website consulting and design services, including mobile-first web design and development, e-commerce solutions, search engine optimization, brand strategy, and design, and business website hosting and maintenance.

Feel free to reach out to us and learn more about our business website design and redesign services. Our team will listen to your concerns, evaluate your needs, and come up with a list of things you need for improving website UX.

Did You Improve Your Website to Provide a Better User Experience?

Did you try out any of our suggestions for improving website UX? Which ones did you try out, and what kind of results did you achieve? Do you have any other tips or ideas for improving website UX? Please feel free to comment below so our audience can benefit and grab our feed, so you don’t miss our next post! And feel free to share our post with your audience!

Thank you! We appreciate your help to end bad business websites, one pixel at a time!

By Gregor Schmidt
Co-Founder / CXO
@gregorinsendai