Last Updated on 26/02/2025 by Caroline McAuley
What makes a good user experience on websites?
At Icarus, we know your website is the first impression of your business or your brand. What is also important is how your web visitor got to your website and who that person is, will they get the best user experience and will they engage with your calls to action. Our goal is to see our clients do well with their digital assets and campaigns and with over 45 active clients we’re keeping busy and pushing ourselves to stay ahead of the pack in a competitive industry for both ourselves and our clients. One of the most important aspects of a website is the user experience.
No matter what kind of business you run, when you’re designing your website, you’re not really designing it for your business – you’re designing it for your customers. The users of your website need to be able to easily find your website and navigate it to find the solution to their problem. This process is all part of their user experience and providing them with a positive experience should be your main motivation behind every design choice you make.
A website is no longer a static page on the internet. It builds and grows with your company and develops with your users. You need your online presence to be a seamless user experience and an easy way for people to find out everything they need to know about you; essentially a rabbit hole of information for them to fall into.
What is the User Experience?
The user experience is how easy your website is to navigate. Ever been in a situation where you couldn’t close all the popups or click that button? That’s poor user experience and we have all been there. Understanding user experience allows for a measurable response from your audience – are they returning to your site, spending a good amount of time on the pages and are they sharing the content? It helps you to understand what aspects of your website could improve and often when user experience is done well, you won’t even notice it in play. Having a good idea as to what your user expects from your website sets the foundations for conversions, and improved rankings – both of which affect your bottom line. In this article we will look at how to ensure a good user experience.
Navigability
Users won’t convert unless they can quickly and easily find the information they need to make a decision, so your site needs to be well organized. The navigation menu should be easy to find on desktop and mobile, be clean and not over detailed. Some ideas for great navigability are:
- Use menu categories, and simple, descriptive menu names that are relevant to your website
- Use menu conventions like About, Services, Contact, etc., so users know what to expect
- Include a search bar so users can find what they’re looking for anywhere on your site
- Use ‘breadcrumbs’ to track user journeys, so they easily retrace their steps
- Include links in copy, with descriptive anchor text
- Make pricing clearly visible, so customers don’t have to contact you to ask
Differentiate Hyperlinks
Links are often overlooked in the digital world – and in UX. Links are the basis of interaction on the internet and how those pesky little SEO bots crawl your website. Users expect a clear differentiation from hyperlinks and other text. Having hyperlinks in a different colour or underlined helps denote they are clickable sources of content. There are many ways you can style and design your hyperlinks, and testing can determine the best design for your site.
Keep It Simple
When designing a better user experience, you need to remember the importance of simplicity. Keeping the interface clean and intuitive enhances usability and reduces cognitive load for visitors. This principle shapes the final design by guiding decisions on the layout, navigation, and visual elements. You should prioritize streamlining information and delivering clear messaging. Simplicity enables visitors to find what they need quickly, understand the website’s purpose, and engage effortlessly. e
Website Design
When evaluating your page purposes, layout, and navigation for your UX, remember that people like familiar. You want your website to be intuitive for your users. An intuitive design is a familiar design, familiar is trustworthy. Your page layout, navigation, and website flow should follow the normal cues people are used to. This doesn’t mean your website should look the same as every other organisation but ensure that your core elements follow familiar patterns.
Be Consistent
Use the same fonts, colours and layouts throughout your website. This helps the website appear simple and appealing to the eye. Every page of the website should give off the same vibe, which creates a central theme for the website. The user should feel comfortable on each page they visit. It’s fine to have a unique website design if it is consistent!
The Homepage
Many business owners make the mistake of thinking their homepage must be everything to everyone. Your homepage should appeal to a variety of users but doesn’t need to detail every scenario that could ever possibly happen – this isn’t doomsday. The homepage of a website should clearly, and quickly, explain who the organisation is. While pushing users to a clear call to action (CTA) or path for them to find the additional information they want/need from your website. Less is more to achieve this goal. Focusing on fewer things makes it easier for your user to make the decision of what they should do next. Utilising whitespace and hierarchy of text in your design clearly defines the important aspects of the page and pushes the user to landing pages where – if optimised – conversion will take place.
Focus On Functionality
Focus on function over aesthetics. Is your website mobile-friendly? How quickly will your page load? Is the overall design and feel of your website consistent? The website layout should be clear and consistent. The language, message and positioning should also be clear. Will your website guide your prospects or make them feel dumb? An intuitive layout, design and messaging will convert your visitors into customers by addressing their problems and providing them with solutions. But being intuitive and thoughtful doesn’t translate into being boring! Just because it’s purposefully designed doesn’t mean it should be boring and predictable.
Remember That Speed Is Key
One rule to have when trying to design a website that offers a better user experience is to come up with a site that loads instantly. The average visitor expects a website to load in three seconds or less. It’s important that the website is not heavy so you can offer a decent experience to my visitors. This means that you must be extra careful when selecting a website theme and its customization. Plus, it is important to consider moderation when it comes to the use of visual content, such as videos, as well as optimise the images for the right size to ensure that the website’s load time isn’t affected.
If you would like our advice or to engage with us, please do contact us on projects@icaruscommunications.co.uk or contact owen@icaruscommunications.co.uk
