Apart from great content and amazing products and services, another important factor that helps your business website retain your customer base is the experience they have on the site. This is a time when people want everything to be simpler, easier and faster. While this has already made huge changes in the nature of business and supply, we have reached a point where we have moved on from the ease and comfort that the internet had initially provided to us. Now, internet users have moved on to a new level where they expect a smoother, faster user experience on websites as well!
Take the example of E-commerce websites such as Amazon or social media sites such as Facebook. If you have noticed carefully, these websites constantly upgrade their features and processes, such as check-out. Why do they spend so much time in doing this? With each upgrade, the UX is better and richer. Each new change that the websites bring out focuses on improving areas that users were not happy with.
The reason is pretty simple – businesses always strive for market dominance. Businesses that have a huge online presence have an increased need to give their visitors a wonderful user experience to make sure that they stay loyal.
So, what do Internet users expect in terms of UX?
1. Fewer clicks: Lesser the clicks, better the UX. Your website has to be designed in such a way that your visitor can get the job get done in as few clicks of the mouse as possible. The more your visitor has to hunt for information on your site by clicking various options, the more likely he is to opt for some other website instead. Single Application System(SAP) is one possible solution for this.
2. Fewer steps: Users are happier when there are fewer steps to complete something on the website. This is especially true of online stores, where there is a checkout process involved. Checkouts can be made faster using features such as “remember my card” so that users can complete transactions quickly.
3. Faster loading: A page that loads too slow is the surest way to drive users away from your website. Internet users today do not have the patience to wait for the page to load, and end up closing the tab without bothering to know what the site has to offer. Besides, the user would automatically assume that he/she will have to waste time waiting for the page to load each time he/she clicks on something – which is often the case!
4. Personalized attention: Thanks to technological advances, it is possible today to track the interests and likes of internet users. Websites are using this to offer content that is more tailor-made to the users, which makes them feel important. This is the same principle which works for physical businesses such as hotel chains, which try to personalize their services in the hope of retaining their customer base.
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