When speaking of UI or UX design, most people jump to conclusions far too often. While it is true that UI and UX curation is prominent in mobile app development, it doesn’t even begin to explain the terminology. This is why many business owners or site administrators forgo professional UI or UX optimization for a more DIY approach.
However, these elements can have game-changing effects on your website’s perception and first impressions. Studies have shown that 79% of people are ready to pack up and leave a website if their initial impressions are poor. After all, no website is alone in any given niche. Let’s take a look at several ways in which both UI and UX design principles can affect your site’s performance and relevance on the market.
Clearing the proverbial air
Implementing UI and UX into your existing (or future) website is all about understanding the groundwork. With that in mind, let’s talk about what each of these acronyms stands for on their own since they shouldn’t be mixed up.
UI stands for User Interface, or as some would like to say user interface “design”. It covers the literal, technical design of different quality of life aspects of your website, mobile app or any other digital medium. The most prominent UI elements are the navigation bar and its subsequent drop down menus and buttons. This is the most basic and fundamental description of what UI is and how it can be viewed.
UX on the other hand stands for User Experience, or also as user experience design. This process revolves around understanding your core demographic, what their needs are and how you can fulfill them. It leans on psychology, customer profiling and testing above all else, forgoing the literal design process.
While visuals do have their appeal, the UX element of a website usually takes the cake when it comes to boosting sales and popularity. Mixing well thought-out UX principles and high-quality UI elements does sound appealing. With that in mind, let’s take a look at some pivotal reasons as to why you should care about UI and UX in your website starting today.
1. It adds up to your SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) represents the lifeline of online businesses. If you don’t optimize your content per Google’s regulations, your traffic and revenue will suffer because of it. While it may sound drastic at first, Forbes published a convincing argument for SEO in digital content. It highlights the importance of having a lightweight website with as much accessibility and responsiveness as possible.
If this sounds exactly like UI and UX design to you, you are on the right track. Implementing smart, user-friendly UX solutions to your website will ensure that SEO flags your site as positive and ranks it adequately with search engines. This will result in a higher click-through rate and more new visitors each day.
2. Higher conversion rates
Conversion rate represents the percentage of people who stuck around with your website after their initial visit. More importantly, it highlights how many people “converted” into customers, subscribers and active participants. Usually, you will want your conversion rates to be as high as possible to ensure organic growth of your business and website over time. There is no better way to do this than by adding new UX principles to an already well-rounded UI.
For example, one of the best ways to spread your site’s influence globally is to offer different UI languages. Platforms such as The Word Point feature numerous options in regards to translation and localization which can elevate your site above the competition. Remember that your conversion rates represent the end-all metric in regards to your growth – don’t skimp on UI and UX innovations in this regard.
3. It helps your word of mouth
When a product or a service is well-designed, word of mouth spreads like wildfire. People like to talk about the things they love with their acquaintances and family members. In today’s digital age, this translates to social media sharing and liking of good content. By offering a professional user interface solution with user experience features that cater to your audience, you will have achieved just that.
There is no greater pleasure than to see your website’s landing page spread around through blogs and social media platforms without direct marketing. By focusing on your website’s UI and UX instead of advertisement, you will effectively communicate your customer-centric business model to the public.
4. High return on investment (ROI)
It’s true that web design and UX cost money, time and manpower – but so does traditional marketing. Recently, UX Planet published an article which disputes the notion of UX and UI costs being too high to be worth the trouble. In their article, they explained the idea of paid marketing and how it is a one-and-done deal with recurring costs.
When it comes to website design, iteration and development, costs are set in stone and don’t bloat over time. This is great news for small firms and startups with limited budgets, especially for those in competitive industries. By turning your attention to UX and UI innovation, you can forgo traditional paid ads for organic SEO and search engine traffic.
5. Communication and feedback is a given
There is always room for improvement in quality of life features and UX design. In this regard, user feedback and communication play huge roles. Mopinion published a piece about the benefits of feedback in ongoing UX development, touching on the points of costs and brand loyalty.
Your customers are the biggest and most important providers of feedback about usability, ease-of-access and overall accessibility of your website. When all is said and done, you are implementing UI and UX principles to your website for the betterment of the end-users’ experience. Make sure to give them a voice through surveys and live chats, and listen to what they have to say.
In summary
As you can see, the implication of UX and UI principles can make a huge difference in the long run. People want instant access and user-friendly features without the hassle of long load times or mandatory requests.
Do a website audit and see how your site performs currently before making any drastic changes to the formula. First impressions matter more than anything, so make sure to do what is best for your customers and let go of impractical features and design choices.
