Good UX Turns Visitors Into Customers and Help Your Business Succeed

UX, or user experience, is every interaction your business has with your audience on your website, mobile site, apps, and online properties and/or services.

UX is about paying attention to small details so you can create enjoyable online and app experiences for your audience.

At first, it might be tempting to only think about details that help communicate what YOU want people to know (like information about your products and services) and what YOU want them to do (like clicking the "buy now" button).

But you also need to think about how your online and app experiences are making people feel. Are you confusing them? Are you coming off as cold and uncaring? Are you rushing them or being too demanding?

Strong UX arranges all your information and interactions in a way that's pleasing to people. And, when the UX of your site or app makes people feel good, they're more likely to stick around and become your customers.

Many businesses find it helpful to hire a UX designer. Even if you decide to go this route, it's a smart idea to get into the "good UX" mindset on your own. An essential part of this is thinking like a potential customer instead of a business owner.

As a potential customer, what actions would you want to take on your site or in your app? Write all of these actions down on separate sticky notes.

For example, some actions would be: find information, watch videos, make comments, research products or services and buying those products or services

Arrange your actions/sticky notes in the order that potential customers would do them (AKA a user flow). You may need to make duplicate sticky notes since some actions can happen multiple times on your site or in your app.

Make sure each action can be completed in 5 steps or less. For example, to "make a purchase," people would need to: 1) land on the homepage, 2) click the product category, 3) click the product page, 4) check out.

It's smart to do this exercise even if your site or app is already live. To help, you can have a friend go through your site or app and give you feedback. Use the sticky notes to write down actions that your site or app currently has, and any actions you need to add.

Now, use different coloured notes to map out what feelings or emotions you want people to have when they complete an action.

For example, when people land on your homepage, you might want them to feel welcomed, excited, and curious. Or when they make a purchase, you might want them to feel satisfied and happy.

Your UX can evoke these different feelings via a combination of shapes, colours, navigation, content, and/or sounds. The right mixture of elements depends on your brand's identity, voice, and style, as well as who your target audience is.

You're now ready to sketch out how each page or frame of your site or app should look. You can do this using a whiteboard or a notepad.

This will help you get a better sense of what actions need to happen on which pages, and what elements need to be on each page to help people complete those actions.

You can use the UX flow you created on your sticky notes and sketches as an outline or plan for building your website, mobile site, or app.

If you have the budget, you can hire a designer to create your site. But, if you'd like to go it alone, you can use online tools like Squarespace, Wix, or Weebly to build your site.

If you're building a mobile app, you'll probably need to hire both a designer and a developer to help you out, unless you've got some serious coding skills.

The marketing that leads to your site or app should match your UX. If the UX of your site is designed to give visitors a relaxed, no-pressure exploration of your offerings, then you should probably avoid online ads that say, "TIME IS RUNNING OUT! BUY NOW!!!"

How do you know if your UX is working as hard as it should? By testing early and often, and making any tweaks or changes as necessary.

If you have the budget, you can run user experience research before you launch your site or app. This type of research gives you usability feedback from people who are representative of your target audience.

Also, A/B testing different UX designs for your site or app can help you determine which UX best helps you and your customers reach your goals.

If you don't have an extra budget for testing, you can still do an informal version of A/B testing while you're in the sticky note phase. Just come up with different options for actions and flows, and test them with friends and associates.

Ask them which actions and flows work the best. Have them show you how they'd complete each action. Make sure the questions you ask are open-ended (not yes or no) and focus on clarity and efficiency.

To-do list

• Define your target audience
• Determine your budget for creating your site or app
• Decide whether or not you’ll hire a UX designer
• Define your brand Identity
• List emotions or feelings you’d associate with your brand identity
• List every point of contact between you and customers before, during, and after their site/app visit.
• List all actions potential customers would want to take on your site/app
• Identify friends or associates you could rely on for informal A/B testing

Once you’ve finished your to-do list, the next step is to grab a bunch of sticky notes and start putting your actions into a user flow.