How to improve the user experience of your website

And get the results you want

Sara Lorien Smith, May 2014

“UX (user experience) is really just good marketing. It’s about knowing who your market is, knowing what is important to them, knowing why it is important to them, and designing accordingly.”

Joshua Porter

Who are your customers?

NOT everyone

Jerry, male, age 43Farm ownerMarried, 3 children, 2 dogsEtc.

Instead …

Start with an educated guess

Then validate with research

User Research

GOAL – To discover what your customer’s REALLY want and need

NOT – what you think they want/need

User research methods

SurveysInterviewsUsability Testing

Ideally …

• Choose people who represent your target audience

A survey example

Which category below includes your age?

A survey exampleHow would you describe your relationship with this organization?

A survey exampleHave you ever done any of the following on this website?

A survey exampleIn your own words, what do you primarily use the website for?

An interview example10 minute phone interview, existing user

• female, age 41-50• Stewardship volunteer for aprox. 2 years, previous ad-hoc

volunteer for 2 years prior to that.• Primarily uses website to login to Stewardship area, view

calendar, and log hours• She doesn't really read/explore the other content on the

site• Feels that site is too cluttered/busy. Too many links. Finds it

overwhelming• Appearance wise, thinks the site looks dated• Would like to be able to use site/log hours from mobile

(uses iPhone 4), but doesn't even try because of site being too busy/cluttered

User Testing Example – Memory Test

User Testing Example – Preference Test

• Which do you prefer? Why?

User Testing Example – Click Test

Where would you click if you wanted to buy more than 1?

User Testing Resources

Verify – http://verifyapps.com

SurveyMonkey – http://surveymonkey.com

UserTesting.comUserzoom.com

Once upon a time

What is Conversion?

The percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action

Sample Actions

• Signing up for a newsletter• Filling out a contact form• Buying something• Making a donation• Registering for a free workshop• Following you on Facebook

Most won’t buy on 1st touch

The higher the price or buyer commitment for your product/service

The more touches needed before you make the sale

An effective websiteIs a communication channel between you and your customer

yoWassup?

Your 1st conversion goals

Should focus on getting a customer into the sales funnel so that you can continue the conversation

Sales Funnel

Process for turning someone who is aware of your product (a prospect) into a loyal customer.

Which is better?

• 5000 visitors• 1% conversion

= 50 customers

1% increase = 50 more

• 1000 visitors• 5% conversion

= 50 customers

1% increase = 10 more

Getting Started– Reality Check

What is REALLY happening on your website?

Opinions don’t count for much

Analytics is your best friend

Analytics tells you WHAT your website visitors did

User research tells you WHY

We’ll talk about both

Analytics Dashboard

Analytics Engagement

Analytics Location

2nd Step

5 Usability Musts for ALL websites

Fix these things before you do anything else!

1) User-friendly navigation

Make your website easy to navigate

Do– Keep main navigation to no more than 7

items– Put navigation near the top of the page– Keep the placement and appearance

consistent on all pages– Show users where they are by

highlighting the active menu item– Put menu items in a logical order

Make your website easy to navigate

Don’t– Place navigation where it’s difficult to

find– Blend it in with the design–Move the position of the menu around– Use low contrast between background

and font color– Use ornate, difficult to read fonts

2) Spread Out

Spread Out

• Increase spacing between lines (line spacing)

• Increase spacing between paragraphs and page elements (padding)

Bad alignment and line spacing

Good alignment and line spacing

Slow page loads = high bounce rate

3) Speed rules

Tools.pingdom.com

http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

4) Get to the point

NO

YES

YES

Your message should

• Be clear and concise• Focus on the benefits to the

customer• Guide the customer to next steps

(your conversion goals)

5) Make sure your contact info is prominent

6) Use images to enhance the message

Test and reiterate

Revisit analytics

Did your bounce rate go down on key pages?Did users spend more time on a page?Has your conversion rate gone up or down?

A/B Testing

Also known as split testing

A/B Testing

https://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ab-testing/

Optimizely – http://optimizely.com

A/B Testing

A/B Testing

Buyer Psychology 101

Give me too many choices and I’ll choose

nothing

Buyer Psychology 101

I like FREE stuff

Buyer Psychology 101

I trust my best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend more than I trust you … at least in the beginning.

Buyer Psychology 101

Show me rather than tell me

sara@saralorien.com@slorien