How User-Friendly is Your Website?

Why is it so important that your site be user-friendly? Your site is there to better serve your customer, right? It’s there to inform, advertise, sell, or market something to your target market. Your site should be geared to customers and what they are looking for. Avoiding confusing usability, cutting confusing features, making sure all your links and buttons work, and designing your site so that information is easy to find are all things that you can focus on during the design process. According to one Hubspot study, 75% of people said that ease of use is the most important feature in website design. There are a few things that you may not be considering when looking at your existing site or having a new site designed – these are definitely things that a trained web designer would be aware of during the design process. Here are some things to think about in terms of user-friendliness and your website:

  • Is your site compatible across multiple browsers? When looking at your site, you may be using the same browser every time. It’s important to check it out on all browsers because they are not all the same and certain features may be displayed differently or may not work correctly.
  • What happens if there’s an error? You don’t want your customers to get a boring 404 page. Adding a little creativity, even on an error page, can keep people engaged with your website. In addition to this, making sure that the site is coded properly and there are no bugs is something that a skilled and knowledgeable webs designer will be sure to do.
  • Your logo should be in the left-corner of your site. There have been studies done in user experience (UX) using eye tracking cameras that monitor where the eye moves when looking at certain pages. Heat maps are generated to show where the eye goes the most. People typically make an “F-Pattern” when they look at sites. Putting your logo in the left corner is the first place people’s eyes go and then from there information can be placed accordingly.
  • Always include your contact information! People get frustrated when they can’t find the pertinent contact information quickly. You should always make your contact information easily accessible. If you have a contact form that goes directly to an email, make sure you actually check your email and respond! Also, including your social media buttons will give people the opportunity to connect with you on a more social, personal level.
  • Going back to the F-Pattern point, navigation bars should also be placed either at the top of the page or on the left side. This way, your navigation bar is in the direct line of sight of people checking out your website.

Overall, usability is huge for websites – especially considering your website is designed to convince people to do business with you. Tweaking your design here and there to make it more functional and easy will benefit your business. People visit your website to get an idea of what your business is like, it’s their first experience with your brand so you want to make it a good one! If you are thinking it’s time to overhaul your site or design a site that is tailored to your customer base, call Fusion Group USA. We have talented designers and developers that know what they are doing!

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