Be honest: is your user experience messy? If your website is clunky and cluttered, it could be keeping you lower in search engine rankings— not to mention driving people away from your site. [Best UX practices]
There’s a web design company called EyeQuant that uses artificial intelligence to study websites. Their goal? To determine what about a particular site keeps users engaged, and what sends them running the other way.
When they conduct research, their bots give a “clarity score” of 0 to 100 to each website they read. That score–in a nutshell–is based on how clean and simple the site design is. Tons of text, ads everywhere, or complex menus on every page give a site a low score. But sites that take a minimalist approach (simple layouts, intuitive design) always top the list.
Not surprisingly, their latest study connected what their bots like to what users look for in their most-visited sites: the cleaner and more minimal the look, the more likely a user was to stay on a site (and the longer they explored it). Conversely, sites with more clutter tended to have a higher bounce rate– users glanced at their website, but “bounced” off, and didn’t remain there.
Of course, no one wants a messy website, right? But how do you know your site is clean? Here’s what our marketing team suggests for your user experience:
Be clear
on what you’re selling, why people should care about your product or service, and how to engage with your site to buy it. Don’t overstate it. To convert, keep things simple. Overcrowding your site with lengthy text and too much media will dilute your message. Plus, with so much information handed to them, the user will have little reason to engage further.
Be careful
about what you include. Don’t do too much. Too much text, tons of tables, or clusters of ads could all keep search bots and potential customers off your site for good. As an alternative, try less text and a few well-chosen, high-quality images.
Just say “No” to Carousels.
Slide carousels don’t convert: they’re confusing, they change too quickly for users to get a cohesive sense of your brand and message. Plus, they take up space on your site that you could be using more efficiently. And, they often increase load times, one of the major no-nos in SEO. They don’t work. You’re better off peppering your images throughout your site, along with the rest of your brand story, for users to explore at their own pace.
Encourage creativity.
If your brand encourages creativity and innovation, that will extend to improving the user experience for your site, too. When it comes time to evaluate your site, make sure a diverse group of creative minds, not just the ones in charge of the purse strings for a project, have a seat at the table.
Test before you commit.
No matter what I say, there could be things listed here that don’t work for cleaning up your site and opposing tips elsewhere that do. The only way you know for sure what works for you is to get scientific with your web design. Try testing the waters with a survey, or use A/B testing to compare the performance of one-page design to another. The more you learn, the more intelligent your site and your branding strategy become.
The most important thing about any marketing design or endeavor is to try, try again to find what works. Don’t let overwhelm bog you down. Take it one thing—and one day–at a time, guided by your sales and marketing priorities. If you’re not sure where to start, we have the resources, and the experience to point you in the right direction.
