Introduction
“User experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products,” says Don Norman, the person who coined the phrase.
When designing a product or service, and setting up your business, it is important to consider how a user is going to learn about the product or service, how they will buy it, how they will use it and how they will get customer support.
Good UX produces a win-win situation where the user (a customer) is satisfied with their purchase and the company (your business) gets plenty of sales.
The following tips will help improve the UX in your business:
1. Business Name
Choose a self-explanatory business name. This name should be easy to remember and it should also be a suitable domain name.
2. Step-by-Step Instructions
When doing step-by-step instructions, try to keep them to a maximum of five steps.
3. Product Pricing
Price the product or service so it is affordable for the customer but also profitable for the business (somewhere between these two).
4. UX Perceptions
When thinking of UX, think: focused, end-result, simple, comprehensible, non-distracting, accurate, sensible, forward-moving, singular, polite, standard, familiar, longevity, and sustainable.
5. Learn more about UX
Learn the basics of what UX is by doing some web research, especially in how it relates to running a business. Even knowing the difference between UX and UI helps.
6. Test your Processes
Before going live, test all your business processes and notice anything that might turn your customer off. Fix these problems.
7. Be Polite
When you test your systems and processes, notice if there is anything that seems rude from a user’s perspective; correct this. All processes should provide a well-mannered experience. For example, sometimes when you read a webpage, a dialog box pops up and prevents you from reading any further until you accept a cookie, for example. This is a rude experience because one, it isn’t asked for, and two, because it halts you from continuing your reading. It is like someone who shoves their foot at the base of a door so you can’t enter a room until you do what they ask. Remember: cookies and privacy are not that important that you would want to interrupt a new visitor to your website while they are focused on reading something. This is an example of poor UX that can cost you sales.
8. Make it Easy for Customers to Buy
Think of your business processes like a “mouse going through a maze to get a piece of cheese”. You don’t want your client getting side-tracked while they are going through the sales process. Each step of the way should be focused, easy to do, have no confusing elements, be sensible, and go along fairly quickly. Your systems and processes should be focused to get to the end result. For example, when you set up a payment page, don’t have any distractions, external links, or logos, unless the image is linked to one of the steps. Anything that might lure the client away from the purchase process is poor UX.
9. What are your customers looking for?
Find out what your clients or customers are looking for and use this to shape your UX.
10. Be User-friendly
User-friendly is the key operative phrase for a positive UX.
11. What causes website abandonment?
- too much information
- not enough information
- unclear steps
- links that don’t work
- nowhere to click
- lack of authenticity
- something annoying
- a distraction
- having too many choices to make
- something that takes too long to load
- no Thank You or confirmation message after a submission
12. Average Customers
Instead of trying to satisfy really super-fussy customers, try to satisfy the ideal, average, everyday customer because these are the ones that bring in the bulk of the money.
13. Fluid Journey
You want a fluid user journey – from seeing an ad – to signing up with a form – to paying for a product or service – to asking for something else you offer – to getting great customer service. Each stage must provide a complete and satisfactory user experience.
14. How Someone Uses your Product or Service
Ask: “How will a person use my product or service in the real world?” and then take this information to help you shape a positive UX.
15. Web Standards Are the Best
- Background colors should be white.
- Blue is for links only.
- Red is great for alerts and errors.
- Green is a good color for buttons.
- Put key information near the top of the page.
- Minimize the necessity for SCROLLING.
- Black is for important information.
- Grey is for supplementary or additional information.
- Bright colors come to the foreground.
- Dark colors stay in the background.
16. Imagine Being the Customer
Put yourself in your user’s shoes and design things from their vantage-point.
17. Need-to Policies
Use the Need-To Policy to screen all your processes. Do I need to include this step? Does a customer need to have this feature? Do I need to explain this in detail? … and so on.
18. Thank You Pages
Only do “Thank You” pages that come at the end of a process. Dead-ends should never be in the middle of a process.
19. Function is More Important than Images
Don’t sacrifice functionality for great-looking images. A good UX is when the customer is impressed with what a product or service can do for them.
20. Deterrents to a Positive UX
- a too long webpage
- too much clutter
- excessive scrolling required
- distractions from the main goal
- interruptions (like pop-ups that happen right when you are reading something)
- excessive and obvious promotions
- ads that can confuse the user with what is organic information and what is sponsored
- unnecessary or irrelevant information
21. Desktop and Mobile
Always check your web design in both Desktop mode and Mobile mode before publishing it or making changes.
22. Details are for Buyers
Explain all the crucial details. For example, how long it takes to be delivered, when you will respond to an email by, warranty details … and so on. Anything that is helpful for the user to know, or to achieve their goal, tell them plainly and clearly. No customer should ever be left wondering.
23. Layman’s Language
The best language to use for good UX is “layman’s language”, unless your website specifically caters to users using a specialized language.
24. Don’t Make Mistakes
Every mistake you make can end up in a post on someone’s social media site and this can have disastrous consequences. If you do make a mistake, fix it a.s.a.p. and then explain what you did on your website. Remember that the entire Internet and business community is now transparent.
Conclusion
Whether you are starting a new business, or improving an existing business, knowing the user experience of your particular business can help you grow and succeed.
