Your business’s website will function as your company’s virtual storefront, so you need to ensure your target customers have the best possible experience when they pay you a visit. This means you should put a lot of time and energy into ensuring that it provides a fantastic user experience.
This can be easier said than done, though, so we’re going to provide you with our top tips for ensuring your customers have a great time when they’re browsing your products or services online. Read on to learn more.
Use interactive elements that allow customers to personalize your services
Personalization is becoming an increasingly hot topic in the digital and eCommerce space. Consumers want to feel like companies truly cater to them, so they like to shop with brands that allow them to customize their experience. So, if you’re looking to improve the UX of your company’s website, consider whether there are any ways you could provide your audience with the opportunity to make their buying journey more personal to them.
Interactive website elements are ideal for this, and there are a number of different types you could use. For instance, you could create a calculator that allows customers to work out exactly what they need help with, or decide which of your services are going to serve them best. Alternatively, if you sell products that people can wear, such as glasses, makeup, or accessories, you could create a virtual try-on feature that allows your website visitors to try before they buy. This way, they don’t just have to look at your items on models and try to work out what is going to suit them best — they can see exactly what your pieces will look like on themselves, so they can make an informed decision.
Some businesses also provide quizzes that help customers to determine which products or services will suit them best. Depending on what you sell, you may be able to ask your website visitors some simple questions to point them in the right direction. This will help them to feel like you’ve picked out the right pieces or services just for them, which will feel more personal. Therefore, it’s a great way to improve the user experience of your website.
Canadian lender iCASH is one business that does a great job of helping prospective clients to customize their services with an interactive web page element.
Anyone who needs financial assistance from the company is able to personalize their experience by inputting details such as how much they wish to borrow and how many repayments they would like to make.
A lot of other lenders don’t make their services as flexible and customizable — they’ll often have set amounts you can borrow and a predetermined repayment schedule everyone needs to follow. By allowing customers to be fully in control with a web page feature like this, iCASH provides a positive user experience and ensures that their clients are put at ease.
This is also a particularly helpful approach for a financial lender because most companies that offer financial services aren’t as transparent about how everything from their interest rates to repayments plans are calculated. This will, therefore, help the brand to stand out among the crowd and help them to make more sales.
Is there a way you could help your customers to feel more in control when hiring you? Could you help them to create a bespoke package, set up their own payment plan that suits their needs, or outline exactly what they need from you, rather than choosing from existing options? This can help to improve your site’s user experience and win you more sales.
Make it incredibly easy for people to take the next step with you
When people land on your website, you want it to be incredibly easy for them to take the next step. Perhaps you want them to make a purchase, get in touch for more information, or send you their details so you can get started on a project with them. Whatever your desired action is, the easier you make it with an intuitive user interface, the better results you’ll get.
There are a range of tactics you can use to help your customers take the next step quickly and easily, and the right choice will depend on your type of business. Most companies will benefit from adding clear and simple calls to action to their homepages and service pages. These are essentially clear instructions — usually presented on a clickable button — that tell prospective customers what to do. For instance, it could be as simple as “sign up for free” or “buy now”. It may seem very basic, but sometimes people just need to be told what to do, and you would be surprised how effective this can be for boosting your conversion rate.
Alternatively, you could provide a sophisticated search tool that helps people to find the exact products they need. Simply ask for some quick details that will help you identify the right items, and then direct your customers to them. This will help them to shop much more quickly and easily, improving the user experience of your website.
If you always need to speak to prospective clients in person before securing their business, your best option will be to ensure customers can contact you very easily. You could highlight your phone number and email address on every page, or add a contact form to every service page of your website.
Let’s take a look at a couple of businesses that do a great job of providing a fantastic user experience by making it easy for their website visitors to take the next step.
Bounce is a company that offers luggage storage services for travelers across the globe. And, on each location page of their website, they provide a sophisticated search tool to help users find their nearest drop-off point.
For instance, on their luggage storage in New York service page, you can see that website visitors simply need to input the city name, the dates they wish to store their luggage on, and how many bags they have. They can then click “see all locations” and they’ll be shown all of the options that suit their requirements. This takes all of the research and guesswork out of the process for customers and provides a fantastic user experience. People can book directly on the website and then just need to find the location they’ve chosen.
This is an approach you may be able to take with your website, too, if you need to help your customers find physical locations. Just like Bounce, you could simply ask for the city they’re in or traveling to, or you could get more specific and ask for a ZIP code you can use to help people find what they need. This can make life much easier for your website visitors and provide them with a better experience as a result.
The Tinker Law Firm PLLC takes a slightly different approach to ensuring their customers can take the next step with them quickly and easily. As a law firm that specializes in cases involving medical malpractice and birth injuries, the company will typically need to collect more details from prospective clients before deciding whether they’re going to be a good fit. So, they offer a simple contact form website visitors can use to provide some brief details regarding their situation.
The important thing is that this form is incredibly easy to fill out, which will ensure a lot of people drop into The Tinker Law Firm’s sales funnel in this way. People are just asked for their name, contact details, and a brief message about what they’re currently dealing with. The company’s attorneys can then get in touch with prospective clients to discuss everything further and let people know whether they’re going to be able to help.
Again, this is a tactic that ensures the firm’s website provides a positive experience, and it’s a technique most service-based businesses will be able to replicate and adapt to suit their own needs. So, if you typically need more details from potential clients before making a sale, consider whether providing a contact form that asks for very basic details could be effective.
Create content that helps customers make informed decisions
You’ll want your customers to make the best shopping decisions to suit their needs. This will improve your client retention rate, reduce the number of complaints you receive, and lead to more positive reviews for your business. So, you want to ensure that your website provides all of the information they need to make smart and fruitful purchases.
One of the most effective ways you can support your customers in making the best decisions for their needs is by consistently publishing content that will help with this. It can also help to save your customer service team time, as most of the information people need will be on your website, and you’ll have resources your employees can forward over to people who have common questions. Plus, another benefit of consistently publishing high-quality content on your website is that it can be great for your SEO. It will allow you to target more relevant keywords, show off your expertise, and update your website on a regular basis, which is all great for boosting your rankings.
There are a number of content types that are perfect for helping your customers to make informed purchases they’re sure to be happy with. For instance, you could create buying guides that outline everything a reader should consider when shopping, comparison pieces that directly compare and contrast different solutions to a problem your customers may have, detailed guides to what you offer and who your services are for, or even free tools that help people to work out whether you can help them.
To give you some inspiration, let’s take a look at a couple of companies that do a great job of helping their customers make informed decisions with their content.
Helix Hearing Care is a company that specializes in helping people suffering from hearing loss to find and purchase the best hearing aids to suit their needs. And, to help prospective customers to work out whether they actually need the company’s services, they have a free online hearing test website visitors can take to assess how significant their hearing loss is.
This tool is going to help possible clients work out whether they do actually need the company’s help. And, while it might mean that some people decide that they don’t need to invest in the brand’s devices, it will provide a great experience and help to reduce the risk of someone being unhappy with the company’s services because they weren’t quite right for them.
Could you do something similar by creating a free tool, calculator, or quiz that will help prospective customers work out whether your products or services are right for them? It can help you to provide a better shopping experience and get better results.
FreshBooks also aims to help their customers make better purchasing decisions, but this time with an in-depth guide to what cloud accounting software is and who it’s for.
The company offers cloud accounting software for freelancers and small businesses, but they’ll want to provide the best possible experience by ensuring their tool is only used by those who truly need it. And this guide will help with that. It outlines why someone might choose to use cloud accounting software, whether it’s safe, and more. This is sure to answer a lot of questions their target customers have, which will ensure they have a good time browsing the company’s website and investing in their services.
Creating content like this is a technique most companies will be able to use to make their customers’ lives easier. So, consider whether you could publish in-depth guides to what you do and what you offer to ensure that your clients are always happy with what they get.
Showcase reviews from past customers to put people at ease
You may be great at what you do, but it’s unlikely your ideal customers will simply take your word for it. They’ll want to see a second opinion, and you can provide this by showcasing positive customer reviews on your website. This can help to provide a positive user experience as it will give prospective customers more context, answer some of their questions, and help to put their minds at ease.
There are different types of reviews you can display on your website, and the best options will depend on what you sell and how much information your customers will typically need. For instance, if you have a product-based business, you could collect and display star ratings that will help your customers to compare your items and get an idea of their quality. Short and snappy written reviews can also give vital details and help your customers to set their expectations.
Longer written or even video testimonials tend to work better for service-based businesses, though. This is because services tend to be more abstract, and they can differ a lot from customer to customer. So, prospective clients will want to know if you’ve ever served someone with the same problem they have and how it went. Reviews that are longer can also provide more context about what you do and give more room for past clients to rave about how you’ve helped them to get the results they were looking for. Again, this can help to provide a much better experience and ensure your customers are fully informed before investing in what you have to offer.
Ensure your website is accessible
It’s the year 2021 and making your website accessible is now non-negotiable. Anyone should be able to visit and browse your website, which means you’ll need to make some special accommodations to help those with impairments that can make online shopping more difficult.
There are some steps every website owner should take at a bare minimum to make their sites accessible, but you should always go the extra mile to provide the best user experience possible for everyone who might come across your website. For instance, you need to add descriptive alt text to your images so those who use screen readers can still tell what they’re looking at, despite possibly having visual impairments. You should also make sure that all of your copy contrasts well against your website’s background — sticking with a traditional white and black color scheme tends to work best. And it’s a good idea to take steps such as adding captions or transcriptions to any videos you publish so anyone who can’t quite hear what is said can still fully understand your content.
Making your website accessible is a must, so take these steps and learn more about ensuring your site is compliant with all of the relevant laws and regulations to ensure anyone can browse your products and services easily.
Summary
If you run an online business, you need to ensure your website provides the best possible user experience. If people find it difficult to navigate your website or work out whether your products are for them, they’ll be far less likely to make a purchase or revisit your website, so you really need to be doing everything you can to remove any friction. Take the tips in this article on board and it won’t be long before you’re seeing great results.
Author: Aaron Haynes is the CEO of Loganix, an SEO fulfillment partner that supports marketing agencies and professionals. The company specializes in helping businesses to improve their online visibility and ultimately make more sales. The Loganix blog has a lot more information and advice, so make sure you check it out if you found this article helpful.
