Have you ever wished for a call to action redirecting you to get what you want? Or had problems in trying to navigate a website that just seems ridiculously cluttered with information that isn’t important?

At the end of the day, nobody is infallible, and some projects are just complex – but it is important to be aware that your audience may not always be as clued up as you are. With this in mind, we’ve chatted to our in-house UX ninja to compile a list of common mistakes and how to improve user experience.

 

Designing for yourself

Half of the time we find ourselves designing to please our eye. It’s a lot like written copy that appeals to the audience, and so too should your designs – appeal and captivate your audience. If you aren’t a web design guru, not to worry, enlisting the help of a website designer will help you build your ideal website with an objective lens.

“Get others from different departments to scan through your designs – chances are they will use it more than you.”

 

People don’t read, they scan

Content is king, but to be honest copywriters can get carried away sometimes. With that in mind, you need to take into account the way people read (or scan). So focus on the typography, text division and order to optimise your site to ensure that both your audience and copywriter are pleased!

Asking users for too much information

There is a reason why your users come to your website – don’t interrupt and spoil their experience by overloading your site with forms that contain too many fields. In fact, forms should contain as few fields as possible and with questions that are most relevant to your business (i.e., sometimes a phone number is not necessary).

In reality, this is a tough task, because more fields mean more information for your sales team, but too many mean less interest on your website. Catch 22 right? Best thing to do is to test!

 

Rules aren’t the same for mobile

We don’t need to be reminded that mobile is on the rise, and if you do – just an FYI: YouTube has started to roll out YouTube TV where you can watch television from your mobile device straight from YouTube. So what are the important things to remember?

  • Cross-device testing – make sure your website loads and functions properly on ALL devices.
  • Test your mobile and desktop separately.
  • The simpler, the better – fewer the taps on your screen the better.

 

Large, fixed headers

Large is okay, but then you get TOO large. Make sure not to go overboard and stuff the header with too much content. A fixed header should still allow for comfortable browsing, and it most certainly shouldn’t overpower the content when you scroll.

Like our ninja says “use your judgement, think about what the customer wants, and do not be afraid to improvise.”