User Experience (UX) in website design

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Tick… Tick… Just getting you this far into this page has chewed up two of the 8.25 seconds-long attention span that you’ll give me.

8.25 seconds?

Yep. That’s your average customer’s attention span. And according to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, that is down from 12 seconds in 2000.

For us humble website designers, this study is significant. It means to help you make money, we must figure out ways to:

  1. Connect with your potential buyers, so we can beg a bit more of their time
  2. Communicate your UVP (Unique Value Proposition) succinctly
  3. Fulfil whatever their intention was for coming to the page
  4. Encourage them to take the next step down your Sales Funnel

There’s more to it of course.

But let’s share some of the basics here, so you can see why the Crockford Carlisle team do the things we do to help you prosper.

Website design and your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

On a page about User Experience, you might have thought we’d talk about colours, design and whether your logo should be 300 or 500 pixels wide because your neighbour said it should be. (Seriously, we have had this discussion).

After all, User Experience is all about creating a great first impression, right?

Sure, a good first impression is key. We all know that. Miss Grinch told us in primary school.

But what next?

Like everything in marketing, User Experience isn’t about you and what you want to say. It is about your potential buyers, and what they want to know.

And let me tell you, what they want to know – quick smart – is your Unique Value Proposition.

For your web page to work, convincing your potential buyers that the VALUE you offer merits their full attention for more than 8.25 seconds is vital.

If you can’t do that quickly… well, you can kiss that potential customer goodbye.

Convincing your potential buyers about your value so they will stick around is not easy to do.

Here’s the challenge you face:

  • You know that you are good at what you do.
  • You know that you an honest, upright citizen who does excellent work.
  • You know that your products and services are great value.

The problem? Put all your competitors in the room and ask about THEIR business, and they will all chirp, in unison:

  • THEY too are good at what they do.
  • THEY too are honest, upright citizens who do excellent work.
  • THEIR products and services are great value too.

Your potential buyers have heard it all before.

On page after boring ‘me too’ page.

You must differentiate yourself. And in this cynical, marketing-weary world, your UVP won’t work if it is just a bland motherhood statement.

It has to be a succinct message that clearly explains how your product or service solves their pain points, how it specifically benefits them, and why they should buy from you instead of your competitors.

The less well-known your business is, the more memorable your value proposition needs to be. It needs to be thought about from the start with your website design.

Which brings us to The Big Revelation About User Experience…

Website content is a big part of the mix for good UX design

That understanding, right there, is one of the strengths you’ll find when you make Crockford Carlisle your Brisbane digital marketing agency.

We are marketers. Not just website designers.

From our very first meeting to talk about your website design, you’ll get a feel for the way we approach things. Our world revolves around your sales funnel, and what we can do to help you keep it full — with Sales Qualified leads being consistently generated.

Our “help you sell” thinking flows through to the design of each page, and is a major part of the briefing the UX Designer takes on board when designing your website.

When you think about it, it isn’t rocket-science. If you want a website design that contributes to your sales funnel, our approach to User Experience is just common sense.

(Well OK, we DO have some rocket-scientists on the team. So yes, what we do is clever stuff.)

Our writers really, genuinely care. They care about your goals. They care about your products and services. They care about the User Experience on your website.

And it shows.

How we design more effective website pages

Eye tracking research shows that the upper left of the page is where people’s eyes often fixate first, before going left to right, then further down the page.

Great! Let’s bung everything up in the top left hand corner. It will stand out like crab’s eyes. Job done.

If only.

Your business’s story is a complex one. Aside from your overall value proposition, you have lots to communicate about:

  • What you offer,
  • How you do it, and
  • What’s in it for your potential buyers.

When we think through your User Experience, we discuss priorities with you to determine what goes where.

The obvious issues are making sure your website isn’t a cluttered mess. That’s a no-brainer.

What isn’t so obvious? Figuring out what those priorities should be

To keep things on track, we go right back to basics: The Buyer’s Journey.

If you’ve read a few pages on our site, you’ll know that at Crockford Carlisle we’re passionate about including your potential buyers in our thinking. They are, after all, the reason we all get out of bed each morning, right?

With User Experience design, our first step in planning your ‘what goes where’ priorities is figuring out what role each page plays in the Buyer’s Journey.

For example:

  1. Some pages will be aimed at the Awareness stage, when your potential buyers are just starting to learn about the types of solutions on offer. User Experience will be improved if we give priority to ‘big picture’ information. This should include the basics about how things work and the key problems you solve.
  2. Some pages will be aimed at the Consideration stage, when your potential buyers have done some research and know some stuff. User Experience will be improved if we give priority to specific information. These pages should include options and comparisons, getting down to the nitty-gritty of why you are a better option for your potential customers.
  3. Some pages will be aimed at the Decision stage, when your potential buyers are now deciding whether to buy from you — or from a competitor. We can improve User Experience by giving priority to case studies, pricing and service options. And of course, there must be a clear path towards the next step — either to an enquiry form or to your shopping cart.

This process isn’t black and white. Testing, over time, will ALWAYS suggest things that need to be moved on the page to increase engagement and conversions.

Don’t neglect the technical side of website UX design

By now, you’ve got a good grasp on the way we think about website UX design here at Crockford Carlisle Brisbane.

We’ve talked about your UVP, about content, and other issues that you may not have previously thought were User Experience related.

But there’s also the ‘under the hood’ work that we put into coding your site — again, with User Experience in mind.

One example is page load time.

Remember the measly 8.25 seconds you have available to engage people on your site?

With that short attention span, 40% of users will simply abandon a page won’t load within three seconds.

Three. Seconds.

Your website’s loading speed has such a huge impact on brand impressions, that it can become one of the characteristics a customer associates with your business.

Your potential buyers want near-instantaneous response times. To help them get it, we make sure that we:

  • Optimise image files that are too big
  • Optimise any bells and whistles so they don’t drag the site back
  • Minimise embedded media from external sources
  • Write lean, mean code that isn’t bulky and slow
  • Minimise HTTP requests
  • Enable compression and browser caching, and
  • Optimise CSS delivery.

It is meticulous work. It needs people who know their stuff. And that’s why we don’t even begin to offer websites like the ones that some folks buy from India or wherever. The quality simply isn’t there.

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Talk to us about the User Experience design of your website

At Crockford Carlisle, you can be confident that quality, well-planned work will be done — ALWAYS with a ‘marketer’s eye’ — ALWAYS with your success clearly in our sights.

No matter where you are in Australia, please call our Brisbane Digital Marketing team today on (07) 3891 3800 and have a chat about your website, your sales funnel and your Inbound Marketing strategy.

We’ll be happy to give you a heads-up on what works, what doesn’t and why. And if you feel comfortable with our approach, we’ll be happy and delighted to give you a proposal to help you to improve your digital footprint and build on your success.

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“Are you thinking what we’re thinking? Brilliant idea!”