Turn website visitors into paying customers: Easy tips to improve conversion – BDC.ca

BDC uses cookies to improve your experience on its website and for advertising purposes, to offer you products or services that are relevant to you. By clicking ῝I understand῎ or by continuing to browse this site, you consent to their use.To find out more, consult our Policy on confidentiality.How to take your website from clicks to customers with user experience (UX) designUser experience design, or UX design for short, is the process of designing products, services or systems that are easy and enjoyable to use. Whether it’s a website, app or physical product, UX aims to anticipate problems and offer seamless experiences.When it comes to your website, the UX should help customers find what they need easily, complete transactions smoothly, and feel good about choosing your business. Ultimately, it should support web conversion: the process of turning site visitors into customers.Designing the ideal UX involves putting yourself in your customers’ shoes to understand their challenges, preferences and goals. This allows you to design solutions that improve their experience at every touchpoint. It’s about creating positive interactions that leave lasting impressions.The better the UX design is, the higher your conversion rate is going to be and the more brand loyalty you will build.Françoise Sonnet Senior Business Advisor, BDC Advisory Services Excellent UX design for your website is crucial because it influences how users perceive your company. Visitors are more likely to stay on your site and complete their objective when the navigation is intuitive, pages load quickly, and transactions can be achieved in just a few steps.A site with a user-friendly design also builds trust and credibility, encouraging users to engage with your brand, says Françoise Sonnet, Senior Business Advisor, BDC Advisory Services. If your website feels outdated, confusing or slow, potential customers may leave and seek out a competitor.“The better the UX design is, the higher your conversion rate is going to be and the more brand loyalty you will build,” she adds.Excellent UX can also reduce your costs by minimizing the need for redesigns and diminishing the likelihood of costly customer support issues.UI refers only to design aspects, like colours, buttons, menus, icons, images and typography, whereas UX refers to a user’s overall journey on your website—including ease of use, functionality and even emotional response. In other words, UI is one component of UX.Jason Mann, Senior Business Advisor, BDC Advisory Services, offers a restaurant analogy.“Think of the UI as the décor, lighting, music, table settings and overall ambiance—the aesthetics of the dining experience,” he says. “The restaurant’s UX includes these, but also how warmly the customer is welcomed, how well the servers know the menu, how quickly the food arrives, how easy it is to change an order, and so on.”Delight is the outcome of all your UX design principles working together. If you’ve got everything in place, users will have a great experience.Jason Mann Senior Business Advisor, BDC Advisory Services There are seven standard principles of UX design. Here are the practical steps you can take to implement them.“Delight is the outcome of all your UX principles working together,” says Mann. “If you’ve got everything in place, users will have a great experience.”In addition to these seven key principles, consider:Developing a persona can unlock information about how people are likely to use your site.Jason Mann Senior Business Advisor, BDC Advisory Services Think about your ideal customers. Who are they? What do they like? What are they looking for? How do they buy? A well-designed UX is built on a solid understanding of your customers’ needs, often developed through research, testing and iteration.One way to get a deeper understanding is to build personas—fictional individuals who represent your ideal customers. Personas allow you to visualize the types of customers you want to attract and use that vision to shape your website. It’s about putting yourself in your customers’ shoes to understand how they think and shop.“Developing a persona can unlock information about how people are likely to use your site,” says Mann. (You can also use personas to create more effective marketing campaigns.)A related idea is to get real people to give your website a try. This could be a formal test group or just friends or family members. Either way, the principle is that a second set of eyes can be invaluable when it comes to finding pain points and making valuable suggestions.Find out how your website measures up with BDC’s free website assessment tool.Subscribe to receive, via email, business advice, articles and tools as well as information about our solutions and events. 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