Contrary to the ordinary clinches; “don’t judge a book by its cover,” or “what on the inside matters the most,” the reality of the digital world is that “38% of the people will stop engaging with a website if they find the content layout unattractive. Most of the ecommerce web development agencies often undermine the importance of aesthetics, and they focus on more on web design usability and accessibility. The fact is that aesthetics itself is an integral part of usability design as it influences the website’s credibility and perception.
Why Is Web Design Usability Important?
Who doesn’t want to make millions of dollars online? This is the age of internet and today we have got lot more opportunities to make millions of dollars without tons of investment. But it’s not easy as it seems. Once you come across an idea that could help people or solve their problems; there are two approaches, two ways to make that idea successful.
- The solution you create is cheap and affordable.
- The solution is easy to use for your customers.
It has to be one way or the other. If your solution is neither easy to use nor affordable, there are minimal chances that people use it. This is where web design usability kicks in. In the above mentioned two ways, the more favorable approach that you have more control over is ease of use. In fact, online customers prefer the ease of use and convenience over price and affordability.
What Makes a Website Usable?
Due to the wide range of options available, today customers have more control over the buying process then marketers. And the competition is so intense that a user will ruthlessly abandon a website if it fails to meet its expectations. This means that a usability and user-centered design is no more an option, it’s a must-have.
There are four important characteristics of a usability design, i.e., simplicity, customer centricity, naturalness and ease of use. When customer centricity is integrated into a simple and minimalistic web design in conjunction with visual attractiveness, you will achieve the website that positively affects user behavior.
However, as an entrepreneur or a beginner in the industry, you may find yourself at the crossroads deciding what areas to focus on accessibility. Here is a simple five-way guide to make your website accessible.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Firstly, you need to analyze the behavior of people you want to target. These can be your clients, customers or any other individual that might use your website. You need to step in your customer’s shoes and understand his demands and expectations for a user-centered design.
2. Improve Navigation and Speed
Navigation and speed are two of the most important factors that determine a website’s usability. Set your navigation that suits your target customers and loading speed must be optimal.
3. Design Clear Calls To Actions
Clear Call-To-Actions encourage customers to do what you want them to do. It can be making a purchase or requesting a quote. In the infographic below, designed by GO-Gulf, a web development company, you can see that 70% of small business websites don’t have Call to Actions on their home pages. This is the reason why they fail to convert visitors into customers.
4. Mobile Friendly Design for Web Design Usability
Your website experience must be optimal for all viewports. 85% of Website Visitors expect the Mobile Version of the website to be faster. Moreover, if your website is not mobile friendly, search engines will penalize you. Accelerated mobile pages have a positive impact on SEO.
5. Choose the Right Web Design Usability Tools
Thanks to developers, there are hundreds of design tools available that will help you make your design more appealing to the target audience. You must use the usability testing methods and techniques to select the right theme and the best design tools.
Find more information about web design usability in the infographic below.