Think about the websites you use every day or at least every week. Now think about some of the sites you visited and then left right away. How much of the content on each page was relevant to you and your interests? How hard was it to find the information that you were looking for? How difficult was it to perform the task that you wanted to complete?
When it comes to the internet there are two types of websites. Ones we want to go to, and ones we have to go to. If you look at the sites you use often, I would bet the ones you want to visit supply a lot more information you desire in a way you desire it, then most of the ones you just need to go to.
Why does this happen? It can be broken down to one major reason: the site wasn’t built for you (the user), it was designed for the masses – or worse – a site was built to be what the company stakeholders wanted, and not what the people who use the site wanted. Here are some of the telltale signs:
- • Very little of the site is about why you came to the site
- • The homepage seems to be more for the company, then for you
- • Hard to follow and understand the flow of the page
- • It takes too many clicks to get to the content or it’s an “adventure” to find anything on the site.
This is one of the biggest challenges to anyone who manages or builds websites. Sorting through the many voices, and making sure people stay focused on the end goal and not on what makes them excited or what they want to see. This is one of the reasons we try to walk with our clients through a full and detailed as possible user experience session before we start. If you’re looking to create your first website or redo your current one, it’s important to learn about what your users want, and what type of experience they expect from your website. It is important to look at who you hope to attract and then build out a product they will enjoy and want to spend time using and interacting with. Taking the time to do this, can and most likely will, lead to an increase in sales and customer satisfaction!
If you would like helping building a website or have your’s audited for user experience we would love to talk with you at Serious SEM!