With more than 26 million ecommerce sites estimated to be live around the world by the end of 2023 competition to engage and convert users is fiercer than ever. If your business doesn’t understand what your target audience wants and how they behave online, it follows that you’ll struggle to provide a high-quality user experience - and that’s when your potential customers decide to go elsewhere.
At MMT, our experience design experts provide an end-to end service that includes elements such as strategy, research, prototyping, testing and optimising your digital channels. It’s a proven approach that we’ve implemented successfully for many brands.
In this blog we identify why you should turn to the six cornerstones of user experience (UX) to give customers an online journey that satisfies, and turns their interest into sales.
1. Stay digitally up-to-date with UX strategy
We're all users in a digital space when looking for information or buying products online. As a user, have you ever been turned off by sites and web pages that appear as if they were uploaded at the dawn of the internet, or display articles or images several years in the past? If so, you are not alone; according to research a huge 94% of consumers don’t trust outdated websites.
To address that, you’ll need a clear vision to get the most value from your digital assets - and that means a data-driven approach to UX strategy. User research, competitor and market analysis are the first steps, with insights informing the user experience your customers desire. Then we move on to road mapping and establishing a cycle of continuous user testing throughout the process to ensure you keep capturing data to inform decisions as your digital products develop. At this point we also consider how to measure the user experience to capture vital metrics.
2. Audit your digital estate to optimise current UX
According to PwC 32% of customers would ditch a brand after having just one bad user experience. A further 39% of consumers click away without checking out if a site loads too slowly (or not at all).
With that in mind it’s time you reviewed the current user experience on your site - and that means conducting a full UX audit. We can help improve your existing web platform by examining how your users interact with your content across your digital products.
How easily can they navigate to the pages you want to visit to aid conversion? Do they convert through your current calls to action? The answers you’ll glean to these questions and more provide a robust foundation for future improvement.
3. Smart design is key to a great digital experience
First impressions count: 94% of visitors making their debut on your website notice the overall look and feel before anything else. Our UX team combines brilliant creative ideas with functional design that is of visual and practical value to users.
It’s a case of supporting your web development teams with every aspect of the digital development journey to ensure user experience is as good as it can be. That means generating ideas using sketches, concepts and wireframes to inform prototypes that we build in high-fidelity designs and code.
To code with the end user in mind we’ll keep testing the prototype with your customers and analyse the results, feeding learnings back into design.
You may also consider using AI tools for UX to further enhance your custmers' and your team's experience.
4. Testing prevents UX outcomes being left to chance
Studies suggest that almost half (45%) of companies aren’t conducting any UX testing. The danger of this is that you won’t know how consumers are responding to your digital design, and won’t discover what they really think of the user experience.
Whatever digital solution you’re building your customers are the ones who will make the final judgement on whether it really helps them find and buy what they’re looking for. To de-risk the effectiveness of user journeys we test prototypes with users, then test them again and again to optimise the user experience.
We employ one-to-one testing, guerilla testing and online testing strategies. With the findings to hand we’ll analyse the data to understand how to influence design for future iterations.
5. Holistic digital experience means designing for all
Universal accessibility and inclusivity are at the core of web design provided by MMT’s expert team. That’s vital, because it seems nearly all websites (98%) don’t currently comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
We look at accessibility from a universal point of view, meaning we tick WCAG boxes while also analysing our clients’ audiences on a much deeper level.
Through this approach we consider chronic health conditions that may limit the digital user experience along with other issues such as socio-economic factors, culture and community, and wide demographic factors.
6. Unlocking insights to deliver experiences
It’s always fascinating to see how wide-ranging the reasons are for users abandoning their on-site journeys. According to this study some of the top issues include: hidden costs only explained at checkout; the need to create an account; and crashing websites.
The way around user experience problems is research. This should focus on unlocking customer insights into your current and prospective users’ practical and emotional needs, as well as their behaviours and perceptions of your site.
Using insight builds clarity into the design process, pinpointing priorities and creating more efficient workflows. We use a range of user research techniques, from web analytics to one-to-one and group user interviews, along with surveys and validation testing where appropriate. All in the name of better user experience outcomes.
So, there are six fixes for your digital user experience. Taken as a whole they offer a comprehensive UX strategy - the critical pillar of any digital transformation.
If you would like to discuss how MMT can elevate your user experience get in touch today.
