Characteristic of a User-Friendly Website
Jan 31, 2022
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The quickest way to turn a customer away from a brand is through a website which lacks usability. If navigation is not clear or interactive elements do not function properly, people have no reservation in closing a page and finding their needs elsewhere. The flip side to this is that a website which has been designed with the user experience as a priority will only interest and attract customers more. People do not want to wade through difficulties to attain the products or services they desire. They desire an appealing design and thoughtful layout which provides easy accessibility. Everything on a website should scream intuitive. Ideally, these things in unison will yield an increase in sales and popularity. Programmer Joel Spolsky put it best, “A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would.”What are the characteristics of a user-friendly website? We connected with ten different business experts to uncover their thoughts on this.
Navigation
Rabah Rahil is the CMO of Triple Whale, a mobile-based platform which aims to consolidate ecommerce tools into one area for easy management and understanding. He believes that the entire layout of a website is one of the most impactful elements of user-friendliness.
“A great opening page of a site can speak volumes about a brand but a website must go much deeper than that. Across everybody, your design should pair consistent design with a straightforward structure. This means that visitors to the site should be able to easily understand what each page is and how to find their way to what it is that they’re in search of. The use of industry jargon or an excessive amount of interactive options defeat the purpose of being straightforward.”
Think of the mobile visitors
Winden is a banking company that specializes in supporting businesses and entrepreneurs in the internet space. Their CEO and founder, Daniel Sathyanesan advises website designers to ensure that their site is optimized for smaller devices.
“At this point, people use their smartphones for numerous tasks in their lives and in many ways, these devices have replaced the traditional desktop experience. This change should always be taken into consideration when creating a business website as your visitors will include a large number of mobile users. Because of the technology, your website must be designed in a way that accommodates these viewers.”
Load time
Instant gratification is a real thing in the age of technology. Users do not want to wait around for pages or elements to load simply because this is not something they are used to. 7 Wonders Cinema is a video production company. Michael Ayjian is their co-founder and executive producer while Stephen Skeel is also the co-founder and executive producer. Ayjian suggests paying close attention to the load times of a website.
“Everyone has experienced the endless spinning circle of the loading icon which never seems to end. The longer it goes on, the less likely you are to stick around for the end result. In business, this can result in a lost customer. Be sure to test all the pages on your site to see if they load quickly and properly. Banking on customer patience is no way to go about running a website.”
Readability
Ricky Nariani is the president and co-founder of WANTD, a resource for anyone looking to purchase or research details on sneakers. He believes that every business website should be built around content that is easily digestible by those who visit the site.
“The present reality is that people do not have the attention spans they used to, especially when it comes to reading. Long strings of detailed text are a turn-off for many. A clean and simplified website design that incorporates bullet points, headers, and succinct paragraphs can go a long way towards keeping people engaged with your content. The big picture idea for this is to get the essential information out there quickly and leave behind anything excessive that will overwhelm or disinterest the visitors.”
Aesthetics
Karim Hachem is the vice president of ecommerce swimwear brand, Maxine of Hollywood, which prioritizes products that are inclusive of, and appealing to, those of every body type. He considers the visual appearance of a website to be a defining characteristic which can entice visitors to continue to browse.
“The internet has been around long enough to where people have become intuitively aware of the appearance of a web page. They can spot older designs a mile away and that can leave a sour taste in their mouth because they’ll believe that the company behind the page isn’t up to par. Take the time to put together web pages which are visually appealing in a way that is both modern and accessible.”
Browser compatibility
Diamond Mansion is a high-end jewelry company which specializes in affordable pricing paired with phenomenal customer service. Their CEO and founder, Omid Semino, advises those in web design to thoroughly test their site across a variety of web browsers to guarantee that everything is working properly.
“No two web browsers are identical. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and more, all interpret and display internet data in unique ways. This can create unique problems for each of them. Though the problems may be minor, potential customers will be quick to pick up on any issues they have using your site. If these people are unable to use the site in the way intended, they may be inclined to go elsewhere. Use your website on all these browsers to flush out anything that may be going wrong.”
Forms
Many sites have areas where information needs to be filled out and submitted. One of the most frustrating errors that can occur is when these elements do not function as expected. Hybrid2Go is a hybrid car battery replacement and repair service. Their COO, Cole Steverson, suggests establishing well-designed forms to make the user experience seamless.
“Forms can be one of the most important aspects of any website as they lead to higher levels of interaction between a business and potential customers. However, if they are hard to navigate or there are pieces of it that don’t work properly, they can agitate the user. I’ve seen pages where information appears as if it should be entered there and the page doesn’t actually allow this. I’ve also filled out forms that required far too much time or thought. These are things to consider when designing this portion of a site.”
Calls to action
Chris Gadek is the head of growth for AdQuick, an ad buying company which incorporates out-of-home expertise and data for an effortless experience. He believes that a top-tier website should include components which clearly ask the visitor to participate in something.
“A call to action is one of the better ways to actively engage potential customers in your company and should be part of any business website. Another way to look at this is encouraging a customer to involve themselves. Without some level of influence on what to do, these people may be left in the dark. This can look like pages that say “Download”, “Get a quote”, or “Contact us”. Think about what you want your customers to do on your page and add elements which push them in this direction.”
Errors
MadeMan specializes in skincare products which are specifically designed with men in mind. Their CEO, Jeremy Gardner, considers the way in which a website handles any errors to be one of the more important facets of its design.
“Even the best designed sites can sometimes turn up errors. Old links which lead to deleted pages, a small mistake in the programming, or connectivity issues are all things which should be considered. When these things do occur, the person browsing the site should be made aware of what has taken place instead of being left with a blank page or a general lack of information. Make sure to put error handling methods into place to clearly communicate with the customer and offer them a solution.”
Color design
The use of colors on a website is something that can easily be overlooked. They contribute to the readability and accessibility of any page. BoxGenie is a service that provides custom made product packaging for other companies. Their COO, Jim Beard, advises others to take colors into consideration.
“Have you ever visited a website which has given you problems with reading the content because it’s too bright or the text is layered in a way that makes it ineligible? This is a product of poor color design. Ideally, your colors should contrast each other and not blend together. Don’t go too far off the ledge with this idea when it comes to lots of text - there’s a reason most sites stick with the traditional black on white. That being said, ads and buttons can include a variety of colors but they should still contrast.”
User-friendly website design is one of the key components of any successful business because customer interaction is absolutely necessary. Just like in transactions or product use, people desire dependability when it comes to their web browsing. Web usability consultant and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman Group, Jakob Nielsen, summed this up, “Consistency is one of the most powerful usability principles: when things always behave the same, users don’t have to worry about what will happen.”