Why Your Business Should Care About UX and Usability 

User Experience

User experience, or UX, is one of the most important topics within the discussion of contemporary websites. UX is the overall sentiment a person has toward the entire process of engaging with a technology platform across all touchpoints. This concept applies to other user interfaces, such as tablets and Smartphones.

To understand UX, you need to recognize that every key stage of your prospect’s engagement with your site or app creates an opportunity for joy or the potential for pain. Since people generally don’t enjoy pain, earning a repeat visit from a person is based on your ability to optimize joy and minimize points of frustration.

There are several key factors to consider when attempting to optimize UX for your website or app, including usability, which will be discussed shortly. Others include:

• UX Design
• User Interface
• Content Layout
• Site Navigation
• Features
• Content

In the early stages of website design, companies or agencies can analyze how competitors or comparable sites are structured, and the level of engagement they receive from users. It is also important to note that user behaviors vary significantly by audience. Millennials expect high ease-of-use and compelling visualization, for instance. UX designers look to identify the underlying psychology and motives behind the way targeted uses engage with a website or app.

Usability

As noted, usability and UX are closely related. Simply put, visitors will bounce from a site or app that takes is difficult to learn or that lacks intuitiveness.

Balancing usability with aesthetic appeal is necessary to achieve the desired user experience.

Primary benefits of usability include:

• Increased stickiness (people stay on the site longer)
• Repeat visits
• User Retention

In contrast, low usability leads to high bounce rates, low levels of repeat visits and a lack of revenue growth. For e-commerce sites, usability includes the simplicity of finding the products or services desired by each individual visitor. With other types of sites, the goal is to make it as easy as possible for users to find the information or resources desired. Some sites bury their membership pages deep within their site structure, which is a big mistake if increasing membership is a goal of your organization and website.

To achieve desired levels of usability and UX design, a site must perform well in five key areas:

• Learnability: The time it takes for a user to figure out how to complete the intended task or action upon a first visit.
• Efficiency: The pace for task performance after initial learning is complete.
• Memorability: The ability of users to easily recall task steps at a later point in time.
• Error Reduction: Minimizing the potential for mistakes or missteps as users perform intended tasks.
• Overall Satisfaction: Level of joy experienced based on the blend of design and functionality.

Other factors can impede usability as well, such as a down server or broken links. A user perceives that a site with many broken links is of poor quality and likely has information that is out of date.

Conclusions

Hopefully, you recognize that user experience and usability are keys to successfully compete in the current digital marketplace. If you haven’t already, prioritize these factors in your ongoing business initiatives.