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May 10, 2015

User Experience: Creating a Great User Flow on your Website

user experience

Why is User Experience Important?

The user experience (UX) on your website is critical. Not only is a website that is easy to navigate more likely to be a site that customers will use more frequently, but having a good user flow is also vital. What does the term “user flow” mean? Basically, it refers to the path that a user follows to complete a task or get to a certain point on your website. Almost every website has a goal. Whether you’re selling a product, advertising service, or promoting an event, there is an objective that you want your visitors to accomplish. It could be making a purchase, filling out a form, contacting you, joining an email list, or various other goals. The user flow of your site is how a visitor gets from their entry point to this objective.
Here are some tips for designing a great user experience.

What is Website Design?

When a lot of people think of “website design” they think of how a website looks. However, the appearance of your site is only one aspect of its design. It’s also important to consider how your website works and how it feels to use. If you’re only designing your site for its appearance, you’re missing out on several important parts of its design.
Also, for a better user experience, remember that the look of your site influences how people use it. Graphics, icons, colours, and other visual aspects can guide visitors in certain directions or cause them to make certain choices. Think about a large red box with bold text compared to a small grey box with thin text. The red box will likely be more eye-catching and people will more likely be drawn to it. Of course, this doesn’t mean you need to place all important text inside a big red box, but it does show how the design of your site influences visitor decisions.

user experience importance

Establish Objectives

Before you can create your user experience plan, you’ll need to fully understand the objective of your site. There may be two different objectives at play: your business objectives and the objectives of your visitors. In some cases, these two objectives will be the same. For instance, if you sell shoes online, your objective will be to sell a pair of shoes and your visitor’s objective will be to buy a pair of shoes. If this is the case, your goal is to design a user flow that ends with a purchase. This is important for user experience. Contact us today!
However, in some cases, your objective may differ from the user. For instance, you may want your visitor to sign up for an email list, while your visitor may be looking to read articles right now. If your objectives and your visitors’ objectives do not match, you’ll need to create a user flow that nudges a visitor in the direction you’re interested in without alienating them.

Design the Flow

There are many aspects to consider when creating a user flow for user experience. The first is how a visitor arrived at your site. There are many different ways to find a website, including organic search, paid advertising, social links, press or news links, direct links, and various other methods. Remember that a visitor may not end up on your main home page either. They could follow a link or a search result and end up on an article or a subpage. How someone ends up on your site, and where they arrive, is important not only because it improves user experience, but also because it affects the overall flow of the website.

No matter how they get there, or where they arrive, your goal is to direct them to the objective. This is done by optimizing your content and your design to highlight the value of your organization, by including clear calls to action and minimizing friction. You want your users to easily navigate through your site and land on the right page.
For more information on how great web design improves user flow, please contact us today. Our Eggs Media web development, content writing, and user experience teams can work with you to perfect your website’s user flow and boost your business.

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