Don’t make users think!
You don’t want anything on your site that will make your visitors think too much. Technical terminology, too much text, garbled graphics, cramped web pages, or needing to spend too much time scrolling to get to the information or link that they are looking for, are examples of easy ways to lose a potential customer’s interest.
Well, nobody is perfect. Every website has its’ limitations. But what we aim to do is to eliminate as many obstacles as possible, in order to improve the user’s experience.
What you see in the image above is a print screen of the web usability tests we did for SeoEver.com. The red dots on this image represents how many times the users looked over those areas of the site. We had run both the Stand Up Areas tests – which is the way the people move their eyes over a page – and the Five Seconds test – representing what people remember after 5 seconds of viewing the web page.
These two are the methods we are using to find out what visitors are seeing when browsing a website. As you have already noticed, our efforts to make a site as visible as possible includes showcasing the order button, which brought back major rewards. The users have noticed it as well as other important areas of the page.
Talking now about your website, we will run similar website usability tests on it to evaluate the major area that users are interested in, and if those areas are not the right ones we will suggest some modifications. These will be able to get the things into the right track.
We run fifteen web usability tests after every major web page change, with different users with different professional backgrounds, some of them with a good approach to computers, others just simple computer users and web enthusiasts.
If you are still unsure of the function or importance of web usability, take a quick look at a major corporate website, such as Amazon. Notice how they are easy to navigate and use, despite the millions of products and services offered. This is a prime example of web usability. Over the years they have changed a lot to improve their layout and design, and we at SEO Toronto never fail to be impressed with their website. Also, the BBC website has been redesigned not long time ago in the same idea to make it more enjoyable, so the user can get even more easily the information they need.
Users don’t read web pages! They scan them.
People tend to look at websites the same way. That was the conclusion of Web Usability specialists that were using eye-tracking technology to observe the user’s behavior when browsing. There are thousands of “heat-maps” that show how much users looked at different parts of a web page.
The users mostly gazed into the red areas, started to lose interest when scanning the blue, and showed no interest in the color-free regions of the site. Far from being worried by these results, we still believe this can be a good start when designing a website.
Putting the important things in the most “visible” areas of the page will significantly improve your traffic. Also, creating a clear visual hierarchy by using headers – H1, the most important, will be your page headline, while H2 will be reserved for other important sub-titles, H3, H4, etc. This will help users to find their way through pages of information, helping them understand what your website is all about.
Help the user to find the “Buy NOW” button
On very busy pages, we recommend placing of a “panic” button. When clicking on that button, the user will be sent to a help page, where you might have some very useful information about the website, such as what products are you selling, how to place an order, the price for shipping to each country, and methods of payment accepted. This list can be longer for big companies. Don’t forget to provide the user with the links to all these resources.
Another good idea is to provide a wider Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. You can answer all of the most important questions and answers, so people can find it all in one place. Putting a “Buy NOW” on this page can lead to quick rewards for your efforts, as it will stare users right in the face as they learn what they need to know about your product.
If you are good at video tutorials, try making one to show your users how they can use your website. Go with them, step by step, through the entire process of purchasing your product until the final click of the payment button.
Nothing will make the customer happier than giving them the right info in the right place, and making their experience a simple and pleasant one.
Read even more interesting articles on our Web Usability Blog.
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