User Experience is one of the most effective internet marketing strategies that helps to achieve better results not only in website positioning, but also conversion optimization. Despite this, many people do it chaotically, without a specific plan, and without specialist knowledge – the result is mistakes that can be completely counterproductive. What are the most popular UX mistakes? Check out our article and make sure you don’t commit them!
What is User Experience?
User Experience, also known as UX, is an internet marketing strategy that involves designing a positive user experience on the website. As part of UX, the main focus should be on the attractiveness of the website, usability and leaving a good impression. This strategy is important because regardless of whether you take specific actions on the website or not, the client will leave your website with some experience pool. It is up to you whether you create a positive image of your brand in his mind or a negative one.
UX design is focused on making the website intuitive, logical, with simple transitions, presenting the offer in an attractive way, ensuring efficient and safe payment, and providing users with the most important information quickly. By implementing good UX practices, you can make the user more likely to return to the store to perform the conversion again, and also recommend your online store to other people. The biggest advantage of User Experience is that you have the ability to quickly transform your audience into customers.
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The most common user experience errors in e-commerce
On our blog you will find many articles on how to effectively implement good UX practices in your online store to achieve your business goals. We know, however, that many entrepreneurs still make many mistakes when trying to act independently. If your conversion result, ROI, website traffic are not satisfactory, even after implementing the UX strategy, make sure that you are not making the mistakes described below.
Inappropriate use of pop-ups
The so-called pop-ups are a great way to attract the attention of the recipient and effectively convince them to buy. Such banners can contain information about the current promotion, a special offer or an individually assigned purchase discount. Unfortunately, many people abuse them, making them irritating and providing the opposite effect – the customer wants to leave the site as soon as possible. The problem is also displaying windows at inappropriate times. Limit the number of pop-ups and make sure that they only inform you of the most important information. For example, you can use one box at the beginning of a user’s session and / or one at the time the user tries to leave the site without converting.
Unattractive presentation of products in the store
UX design is based on, inter alia, effective, interesting presentation of the offer on the website to encourage users to make a purchase. Users are unable to view or touch the product before ordering, so your photos and videos should help them visualize what the product actually looks like. Good UX practices say a lot about the fact that you should ensure high quality of recordings and photos, as well as enable customers to zoom in on the image. However, many people forget about the importance of the product presentation formula. By using artistic shots, you can interest the public, but you are unlikely to convince the average customer to buy. Users want a real presentation of the product they are interested in, so that they can identify with the brand.
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Limited product information
UX is largely focused on content clarity and placing only the most important information on the product page. A block of boring, overly complex text will not interest the recipients – on the contrary, they may omit it. At the same time, however, it is a mistake to limit the information on the website too much. The customer needs extensive knowledge of the offer before making a final purchase decision. Focus primarily on providing users with comprehensive information on the technical aspect of the product. Whenever possible, also make your content unique.
Descriptions on the page too long
Earlier, we wrote about the information deficit, now we will pay attention to overloading the page with text – the key to success is finding the golden mean! At the same time, users want to find a comprehensive answer to the question asked and to obtain this information as soon as possible. The usual result is that long descriptions are only scanned by users with regard to their needs. When a block of text makes it take too long to find an answer, the user will not visit. If you are not sure if your content is long enough, use heatmaps for your analysis. You can also verify in Google Analytics how much time users spend on a given page.
No contact information available on the website
One of the ways to ensure a positive user experience while interacting with the website is to ensure efficient, smooth contact with customer service. In user experience articles, you can find many ideas on how to improve this aspect. Chatboxes, contact forms, and the possibility of contact via social media are great methods. These are good practices worth implementing when developing your business. However, it is worth paying attention to how many people make the basic UX mistake – they do not provide contact details for their company. This is important information that should be easily accessible to your users. Thanks to this, you make your brand credible, users will trust you more willingly, and thus the probability that they will convert is higher.
Illegal site navigation
When a user visits your website, he wants to find specific information or a selected product as quickly as possible. If you do not take care of logical navigation on the site, you will quickly lose a potential customer. A lot of people focus on additional UX improvements while forgetting the basics. As a result, there are still many pages that do not have well-designed site navigation. It’s a good idea to make the category names in the menu intuitive and tell you what can be found at a specific URL. It is also worth implementing a hamburger or sticky menu.
Defective search engine on the site
One of the most popular UX mistakes is the on-page search function. It often happens that the website is completely missing this function. However, an equally common mistake is that the existing search engine does not function properly and does not allow users to find the information they are interested in. As a result, the user will most likely leave the site and go to the competitor’s website. Moreover, a bad experience will make him unlikely to come back again.
Complicated purchasing process
Too long and complicated purchasing process effectively discourages potential customers from converting and generates negative purchasing experience. A perfect e-commerce transaction should be intuitive and as short as possible. UX design specialists suggest requiring the user to enter only basic personal data in the purchase form. The goal in e-commerce should be to shorten the purchasing process to just a few clicks. Meanwhile, many entrepreneurs still provide a long, multi-stage checkout process on their websites.
The website is not adapted to mobile devices
It is increasingly said that users are more likely to use the web from a smartphone or tablet. In 2019, mobile e-commerce accounted for 67.2% of global sales in the e-commerce market, while already in 2021 it was responsible for as much as 72.9%. Nevertheless, nonresponsive websites are still a popular error. If you take care of designing user experience only from a desktop computer, you will achieve the opposite effect – you will lose more and more potential customers over time. It is worth emphasizing that adapting the website to mobile devices is important not only in terms of user experience design, but also in terms of website positioning. Google takes into account whether the website was designed with mobile devices in mind, and it favors such websites in search results.
Ignoring the needs of your target group
Designing user experiences is a strategy that presents universal business solutions. However, when implementing any marketing strategy, you should prioritize the needs of your own target audience. Not every solution that works for most websites will be appreciated by your target audience. Find out what your customers expect, what their needs and habits are. Also, check what makes them give up their purchase and what encourages them to convert. UX designing should always be based on knowledge of the target group.
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The most popular UX errors. Check if you are committing them! Summary
Designing user experiences is very important in achieving sales success in the e-commerce market. If your client can easily and smoothly meet all his needs, he will probably remember it positively, so he will be more likely to come back to it and recommend it to others. Thanks to this, you can effectively increase your conversion rate! Make sure that you do not make the mistakes we have mentioned and that you effectively implement UX practices in your company.