The Strategy of User Experience

A website strategy centered on the user experience results in satisfied visitors that will return again and again for your latest information, service and content.

In setting out our design strategy for a new website, we focus on keeping the user experience primary. This always begins by addressing  the purpose of the site and never forgetting that the site will be used by real people.

All too often all of us have come across websites with stunning designs and graphics that are all but impossible to navigate. Somewhere along the way, the simple fact that websites are used by people got lost.

Keeping the site user-friendly and logical gives us a much better chance of winning a return visit and building loyalty with visitors. The result is simple: visitors that return.

This becomes all important whenever one of the objectives of the website is to encourage the visitor to take action. All too often, the process of getting the visitor to take this action (buy our product, submit information, sign up for a service or newsletter) simply does not occur on the initial visit.

Repeat visits are often necessary in order for the visitor to reach the comfort level needed to take action. Site design should encourage the visitor not only to explore – it should create an environment that the visitor will want to re-visit over and over.

An effective strategy will also include  layout that encourages building that comfort level and  also follows some general guidelines.

When someone visits your site for the first time, they tend to have certain general expectations. As an example, they expect the site to have a name and they expect to see that name in one or two general locations.

Frequently when we make too radical a departure from these general expectations, we can lose that visitor. They will simply hit the “back” button and most likely never return.

There are exceptions to this example, of course. If you’re building a personal site, then pretty much anything goes. After all, it is personal.

Receiving unsolicited comments from visitors concerning the ease of use and overall appeal of our sites has been a distinct highlight of our work.