It takes an incredible amount of time and skill (and, admittedly, some luck) to get people to visit your website. All that effort risks being wasted, however, if your ‘shop window’ fails to make a good impression.
User interface (UI) specialists often talk about the interaction cost, which is how many times a person must click a button or access a menu when they navigate your website. If it is badly signposted and the information difficult to find, each click adds a bit more friction and frustration, increasing the likelihood the user will simply exit.
Never underestimate how easy it is for prospective clients to leave, especially those who are merely curious.
Even people who are motivated and genuinely interested in your products and services will be put off by a clunky experience.
Afterall, “if this is what their website is like, how good can their service be?”
Tried and tested layouts
Think of your website as a supermarket. Pretty much every single one you visit has a similar layout. Fresh fruit and veg are displayed together at the front, there is a freezer section usually near the back, breakfast cereals can be found on the same aisle and there are often signs pointing shoppers in the right direction.
But what if the items are not where you expect them to be? Or you walk down an aisle and unexpectedly come to a dead end? No matter how good the produce is or how appealing the prices are, few shoppers will stick around long enough to buy.
And it’s the same with your website. How clearly is it signposted? How intuitively can a user – new or returning – navigate it? How much is it supporting (or hindering) your marketing and lead generation activities?
Redecorate or renovate?
There are a number of tools you can use to measure how many people visit your website, where they go and how long they stay. This information is half of the equation.
Understanding their pain points, how your navigation hierarchy may be imbalanced and what steps to take is the other half.
When it comes to website optimisation, there is a common belief that it means rebuilding your site from scratch or, at the very least, undertaking some fairly hefty renovations.
This is not necessarily the case – don’t get me wrong, sometimes it is.
At White Marble, we have undertaken a number of website review projects that have made recommendations for adapting existing infrastructure and also some that call for wholesale changes.
If you are interested in finding out more about how we can help optimise your website, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.