There are a number of things that an organization puts effort and resources into. All these are done to make the client or customer feel that the product or service is very easy to use. Almost all the products and services under the sun want their customers to have a good experience with the products. Likewise, companies that host a website, an app or any other human interaction service want their users to have a great experience with the software. You may spend eons designing a website or developing an app. But any user will only consider how easy and usable the software is. And this experience is titled “user experience.” This article will further discuss the user experience. We have also included its importance, factors affecting it, new trends and user experience design.  Continue reading this article if you want to improve the user experience of your software. 

What is User Experience?

User Experience is the way a person feels when interacting with your website, mobile application or any other software. Aspects like visuals, responsiveness and the information added matter a lot. Nowadays almost all brands have a website. Apart from the quality of the products, the user experience website is also very important. 

Why is User Experience Very Important?

When you design software and make it available to people. They will use the website, if it is easy to use and also has some useful elements then they will continue to use it. If they do not find it useful or easy then they may not come back. Hence user experience is the most important factor that needs to be worked on very carefully. If your website lacks a conversion rate or returning users, then improve user experience on website. 

What is UX design?

UX is the abbreviation of User Experience. Blueprint of UX is created by the team to provide the users with a positive experience. Designing involves adding visual elements to make it attractive. It also involves adding ample information, brand identity, usability and function. 

You may also read our blog: Call to Action | CTAs Importance in Business Website

Factors that will Influence User Experience

6 main factors will influence the user experience of any website. They are as follows. 

Useful

A website, app or software must be useful for the user. It can also be entertaining but should be beneficial in some or the other way. If it is not, users will think that it is a waste of time. 

Usable

When a user is reaching out to your website for reading blogs or buying a product, the result must be achieved. It is the usability of the software. If the end goal is not achievable, then there is no point in creating a website. 

Findable

Every website must have a search option. It will enable the users to search for their items of interest. The website should be able to list the items that are related to the user’s search. This is one of the major factors that will influence the user experience. 

Credibility

Any website should be credible so that the customer can trust it properly. This is yet another major factor that can decide not only the user experience but also the reputation of the organization. Adding brand identity and customer reviews can make the website look credible. 

Desirable

When a website is created it must have some visual elements that should create the desire to use the website again and again. This factor majorly depends on the aesthetics of the website. 

Accessible

Any website must be accessible to most of the population available. This can include adding many languages so that people with various mother tongues can use the website. You can also have voice commands so that the visually impaired can make use of the website. This is one such factor that is usually not considered while making any website. But it is a very useful aspect that will get huge applause for the inclusivity.

The UX Design Process

There are four main stages in the process of building a user-friendly website. They are explained below.

Stage 1: User-Research

It is the first and the most important step in user experience design. One must know what a user must need to build a website or software with the best user experience. Start by researching the user behavior, user needs and expectations.  You can analyze it by conducting surveys and interviews. Empathy is the key here. You can put yourself in the shoes of customers and note down the expectation that you will have from a website. Your team members can also provide some insights into this. At the end of the research, you will have an idea of what goals to achieve. 

Stage 2 – Designing the Wireframe & Prototype

Wireframing is drawing the website look on paper to get a rough idea of how the website will look. You can add the content that you need to add and decide on the space that is needed. It must also have colors and images to let the designers understand what is needed. Make a template. This will not be the final design; you can add some visual elements while designing the website. 

A prototype is the first design that is made. With the help of the wireframe, a prototype can be developed. This will give a clear idea of how the website will look and feel. With this, designers can use and improve usability or aesthetics if needed. Add some more visual elements and animations if needed. Make it as perfect as possible. 

Stage 3: Testing

Once we have the prototype designed, share this with a good amount of people. It can be your friends and family. Ask them to use the website and state the user experience. You can conduct some surveys, interviews or questionnaires that will give you insights into the user experiences. The main motto of testing is to know how to improve the user experience. This process can take some time. But it will make sure that the product is foolproof. 

Stage 4: Implement & Launch

Once testing is done, you can implement the changes that are suggested while testing. You need not take up all the suggestions. You can implement the suggestions that are given the most. Once the changes are implemented. Launch the website. The process will not stop here. Once real customers start to use it. Make sure to conduct surveys as much as possible and try to continuously improve the website.

Tips that will help to create a better UX design

There are many web designing tools that will help you create a good website. But here are some quick tips that will make the UX design look and feel even better.

Use Small Paragraphs

When writing information on the website, make sure to include pointers and listicles. Do not write the information in paragraphs. Users will not have the patience to read huge texts thoroughly. Hence, shorter sentences are usually preferred. 

Headings

Add some creative and catchy headings. Do not add generic side headings. It may not be attractive. Headings will also highlight the most important information. Thus, great headings will increase the user experience to the next level. 

Basic Functionality

When you concentrate on the aesthetics and other aspects to improve user experience. Do not forget to focus on the basic functionality. Keep some functions of the website like searching or ordering basic, clean and neat. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best aesthetic. 

Make Homepage attractive

We have all heard and know that the first impression is the best. When you open a website the first page that you land on is the homepage. Hence make sure to make it attractive. Involve some important information about the website or products. This will give some clarity to the users on what kind of brand you are. The best home page will more likely improve the user experience. 

SEO

Add some keywords to the website. This will help people to find your website easily. Make sure the headings also have keywords. This may not directly improve the user experience. But it will help your website to reach more audience thereby giving you some profits. 

Mobile Compatibility

Around 60% of website users visit websites via mobile phones. Opening a desktop website on mobile can be irksome. Hence make sure to optimize the website for mobile use. This will improve the user experience for mobile users. 

Use Rich Media

Add as many images as possible. Involve product shots, texture shots and so on. This will give the users an idea about what they are buying. It is a feature that is usually preferred. Hence it is much needed to improve the user experience. 

Pay Attention to Fonts

Fonts used in the website must be easily readable. Sans Serif is the most preferred as it is easy to use. Times New Roman, Helvetica and Lato are also some of the easily readable fonts. 

Retouch Often

Make sure to add new information often. You may receive numerous suggestions from the users of the website. You can take it into account and do the needful. When regular users see fresh information now and then, they will get attracted. Hence it is yet another tip to increase the user experience. 

UX Design Trends 2023

Every year new trends arise in almost all industries. The below mentioned are the UX design trends 2023. 

Hover effects

Revealing the products in hover effects is the trend right now. The hover effect is a transitional effect that will take place when the user is over a certain element on the website. This will be the best trend to follow. Animatedly revealing the products or services will increase the user experience to a greater extent. While you are adding these effects, do not add different shots of products. Add a shot on how to use it or the materials used in it. 

For example, if your product is a protein powder. You can add images of how the product looks from the outside. Then, transitioning to how the actual protein powder looks. Then transitioning to how the drink will look once it is reconstituted. This will give the users an overall idea of the product. Hence it is one of the UX trends that will be very interesting for the users. 

Sophisticated Scrolling

Cutting-edge scrolling and Parallax scrolling were the trends of last year. This year there is a new trend in scrolling called sophisticated scrolling. In sophisticated scrolling, there will be many layers to the page. Each layer will have some information. Unique visual elements will be added. This is intended to give more information on the brand. This can connect with the user on a personal level. It is one of the best trends of UX designs.

Decreasing Dwell Time

Dwell time is the time that a user will spend on a particular page. Most of the time, it is because of searching the CTA’s. The website now has a page with minimal designs. The pages will have one or two CTA options. It will be easy for the users to find the CTA keys and proceed with the website usage. 

Creative Navigations

This year adding some creativity to the navigation buttons is going to be the trend. Normally, navigation will be on the top or the bottom of almost all the websites. If your website has the same. It is time to change it. Add navigation in the middle of the page in different shapes. Transitions or images can also be added to navigation. This will increase the user experience highly. 

Say negatives in a creative way

Sometimes things go out of control. Your website may be down for a day or an hour. In this kind of situation, sprinkle some creativity to show the status of the website. Errors like 404 can be displayed creatively. You can add some visual elements. Even though it is frustrating, visual elements may treat the users a bit. Loading pages can also be annoying for some. Add some animations to make the 3 to 5 seconds beautiful. 

The best example of this is Google Chrome. When there is no internet connection, Google provides us with a Dino game, which is an endless survival game. Although “No Internet” is bad news. People love this game. There is a survey where 96% of chrome users said that they like Dino Game. Likewise, turn the negative news into something positive to improve the user experience.  

AI-Powered Chatbots

Chatbots are used widely on almost all websites. The advantage is they are available all the time. Earlier chatbots used to answer ineffectively, and most of us got irritated to use them. But in recent times, developers are concentrating more on machine learning. Thus, in recent times chatbots are one of the preferred customer services. They can provide effective solutions as fast as they can. They can also guide us on how to use the website or product. Hence they will increase the user experience.

Voice-to-Speech Command

Searching for something with a voice command is much easier than scrolling or typing. Most of the websites these days will give back answers in the form of speech. It will be most useful for the visually-challenged people. Hence it is one of the trends that will improve the user experience. 

Maximalism

Maximalism is one of the latest design trends. It is basically adding so many colors and elements to the design. It is loved by Gen z a lot. It brings some energy to the whole website. Hence it is one of the trends that need to be followed in 2023.

Conclusion

User experience is the feeling that a user will get while using a website. User experience is the most important factor to consider in recent times. Since there are many websites and brands that offer similar products, user experience is also a determining factor of customer retention. The website must have useful elements and be easy to use. UX is the abbreviation of user experience. There are many factors that influence UX. This includes usability, credibility, accessibility, credibility and much more. 

There is a 4 step process in designing the UX. The first step is user research. Wireframing and prototyping is the second step. The next step is to test the design. The last step is to launch it. There are some quick tips that will help to improve the user experience. We have listed the best tips in this article. The article also discusses the UX design trends in 2023. 

FAQs

1. What is user experience?

User Experience is the feel or experience that a user goes through when using a website.

2. What is UX design?

UX design is the design created by the website designer. It intends to provide the best user experience. 

3. What is the difference between UI and UX?

UI

• UI stands for User Interface. 
• It is the screen, navigation keys and other visual elements.

UX

• UX stands for User experience. 
• It is the overall interaction that you have with the website or product.

4. What are the factors to consider while designing a website to give a positive user experience?

There are six factors to consider. They are,

• Usable
• Useful
• Desirable
• Findable
• Accessible
• Credible

5. What are the steps involved in the UX design process?

There are four steps in the UX design process.

• User-Research
• Wireframing and Prototyping
• Testing
• Implementing and Launching