Boost Your Conversion Rate with Intuitive UX

You are probably thinking: ” Huh? User experience AND conversion rate optimization? Well, that’s basically the same thing.” 

CRO and intuitive UX aim to help users get things done with minimum effort. They both involve tailoring the product to the user and user testing. However, they are not the same.

With so much terminology flying around and technology evolving incredibly fast, it gets confusing sometimes and these terms get mixed up. Let’s get you up to speed and optimize your business through the power of UX!

What Is Intuitive User Experience?

Have you ever used a streaming service with no option to turn autoplay off?  Have you felt iffy about purchasing a product because it “feels” like a scam?

Even when  landing on a website, we are all sick of those spammy questionnaires and cookies.  We get annoyed when we’re forced to navigate through pages without structure where we can’t find helpful information and end up wasting time. All of these things go into account when we talk about user experience. 

User experience includes users’ overall journey, feelings, thoughts, and behavior patterns when using our product. It is everything a user comes up against when interacting with your brand. 

The Balance Between Good UX and Conversion Rate Optimization

We love and believe in our products, so it’s only natural to share them with people and work toward  having as many conversions as possible. This is where Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) kicks in, and we optimize every nook and cranny and leave no tables unturned and no buttons un-tested. 

By definition, conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of increasing the percentage of users or website visitors to take a desired action (such as buying a product or leaving contact details).

Now, you might think: “Where does UX come in then?” This is where it gets interesting. 

Your potential customers don’t want to be pigeonholed into decisions and seen as a walking bag full of money. UX provides the “human” element, forcing us to think about the user’s feelings so we keep in mind that we are designing products for real people.

If you do UX right, in return you get a loyal recurring customer who will not only enjoy the service but be more than happy to recommend your product to their peers. Great UX gives you a chance to build a genuine connection that can spark even more business opportunities.

So to sum it up, CRO optimizes towards more conversions, but it has to rely on UX to achieve sustainable improvement. And UX optimizes towards higher user satisfaction but relies on CRO to show which pages are essential and where the focus should be.

Why Details Are Important in UX

Because you can’t fix the roof without plugging the small holes first. Details are always the foundation of a website that converts.

When planning, it’s easy to focus too much on the “profitable” side of the product; this is somewhat of a success measurement for many companies. This, however, can lead you to miss out on some potential value!

Making your product super convenient for the user will give you more leeway for potential mistakes, tests, improvements, etc. Here are some most easily overseen sections on websites and apps: 

Awards and Partnerships

If your product has won awards or you are partnered with a strong brand, you can use those things to generate additional users. This is the first step of a subject we will keep referring to – social proof. 

Example of social proof: If you are selling smartphones, having Apple or Samsung co-sign will grant you a boost in trust since you are using their well-established brands as the most prominent mobile phone retailers in the world.

User Reviews

One of the most common mistakes we see is the neglect of user reviews. Over 50% of websites we audit have reviews at the bottom of the page, buried beneath fluff information. It goes without saying that fake reviews are always bad.

Of course, the biggest tragedy is when websites have hundreds of user reviews but don’t provide a link to read them all. If you are lucky enough to have so many reviews, you are sitting on a gold mine! This is your most potent tool in giving users reassurance.

So to summarize:

1. Place user reviews as high as possible in the page hierarchy.
2. Have a button/link that leads to ALL reviews.
3. Never ever use fake reviews.

Simplicity

You might have noticed a minimalistic trend everywhere, ranging from architecture, furniture, design, art, and even websites and applications.

Why? Because it works. This is where most businesses go wrong, cluttering their websites and apps with unnecessary content.

The best example of simplicity is a tool we use every day – Google. Right from the start, Google has kept its consistency with simplicity. You have a search bar and a few links in the header and footer, but that’s about it. The design is always the same; most importantly, you don’t need tutorials on how to use it. You just type what you are interested in, and poof! You are searching the web; talk about a great user experience.

Onboarding

A common mistake most businesses make when creating their product is not providing enough information on how to actually use it. When making a product, we get so involved with it that we can use it in our sleep. 

However, this gets us disconnected from the user since they see it for the first time when we release it. When creating a good user experience, we must go the extra step and try to make usability as smooth as possible.

There are a couple things we can do here:

Email onboarding

Emails are a great tool to constantly onboard new and existing users. With IT currently being the way it is, rolling out updates to keep up with the expanding technology is a must. That’s why we need to keep informing the user about all the possibilities our product offers and how to do it better than through a channel they check daily – their email!

Guides

Whether we like it or not, people nowadays get most of their information online, and content is king on the internet. That’s why a practical way to onboard your users is through guides, which can be in the form of blogs, videos, or downloadable resources.We do it on our website, too. Here is one guide on how to write PPC ad copy like a pro.

This can also become an excellent thing for your business as you may inspire content creators to play around and create guides for your product, thus creating a loyal community for both themselves and you!

Checklists

Checklists are a good form of bite-sized content that you can constantly produce to educate your users. In some situations, checklists can be a better option than guides since the content is easily digestible and fun for the user, as it encourages them to “check off” things they have learned. It gives them a feeling of progression and accomplishment.

What can I do to improve UX on my website right now?

Now that we have gone over some of the most common mistakes, we will give you a couple of tips you can use to improve user experience on your website today.

1. Optimize load speed

One of the first things you can do is to optimize your load speed by reducing image size, cutting out unnecessary scripts, etc. If your website is too slow, it will cause frustration among the users, who will exit without even looking at your product.

2. Be mindful of 404s

Even though there is no actual harm with search engines when it comes to 404s, users can find them frustrating since the links don’t lead them where they want to go. We suggest installing software on your website that detects 404s and removing as many as possible.

3. Make your website responsive

Not only will Google penalize you if your website is not responsive, but it is also really bad for the user. Think of it like this, the better job you do across all devices in presenting your information and providing a good experience for the user, the better chances you have for a higher conversion rate.

4. Use white space

It is common for businesses to have little white space on their website since they feel like it looks “empty” or it’s an unused space for content. However, statistics show that presenting your content to be more readable and segmenting it into sections using margins and paddings provides a better user experience since the user can consume information easier and with greater speed.

5. Use images

 “A picture is worth a thousand words,” but not a stock one. Even though stock images are helpful from time to time, research shows that having images of your products or your employees using that product provides a better user experience and reassures the user. 

Since many businesses use stock photos, the user is bound to sooner or later recognize that you are using the same image as other businesses, which can reflect poorly upon you, so remember to use as many HD, in-house images as possible! 

6. Use icons

From the moment the user enters your website, you have only about 10 seconds to draw their attention, so we want to give them as much bite-sized information as possible. Icons can help you here since you can use them to replace words or even entire sentences; just make sure the look aligns with your brand.

7. Unify and think through your CTAs

Being the most valuable part of our funnel, we should dedicate extra time to our buttons. You can do two things here: make sure the copy on the buttons is optimal and unify the colors. This will create consistency in the user’s mind, reducing second-guessing. 

Additional Steps for UX

Now that we have pointed out some of the most common mistakes and provided some quick UX tips you can use on your website immediately, let’s talk about further steps. Providing a good user experience is ongoing, so we must keep optimizing our product through various methods.

1. Surveys

The first thing we can do is implement surveys. This is an excellent way for the users to tell you their needs and what they want to see. This is a real gold mine of feedback since it’s coming from the people using your product.

We recommend using Hotjar since it offers excellent surveys and bonus features, like heatmaps recordings, etc. We should also mention it is used by the likes of Adobe, T-mobile, Microsoft, and Nintendo, which gives it valuable social proof!

2. Tracking

The second thing is implementing tracking software. By doing this, we can see heatmaps, recordings, and other helpful information and use that to create a smoother experience for the user. 

In our experience, Google Analytics and Hotjar should be enough for all your tracking needs. A combination of Google’s reports and Hotjars sessions should give you more than enough information to provide and optimize a great user experience. 

3. Testing

The third thing is testing with users before rolling out updates. Multiple companies offer user testing services, so we can get valuable information for a small fee (like eye tracking software) and use that to create a smoother flow. 

If your product requires user testing before rolling out an update, or you are launching a new project, we recommend Maze since it offers your data from real users testing your products.

The Bottom Line

In conclusion, User Experience and Conversion Rate Optimization go hand in hand, and you need both to provide the optimal experience for the user. The more you perfect these two, the higher your chance of getting a loyal customer.

Always try to put yourself in the user’s shoes and ask yourself: “What would make you angry, happy, annoyed, or confused when visiting a website?” When answering these questions, empathy will be your best friend.

These tips will help you get started on your user experience journey and greatly benefit you and your customers. Remember, we are all human!

If you need help putting any of these tips into practice or want a free CRO and UX audit, feel free to reach out. We’d happily partner with you and create amazing websites with seamless UX!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Luka Nikolić

Head of Design

Luka is a Head of Design with a neverending desire to learn everything related to landing page strategy and design, UX best practices and implementation, and some front-end coding.

He’s known for always giving the best advice, practical workout tips, and self-discipline tricks. He also drinks almost 50 coffees daily (not really, but close).

With his stellar discipline and work ethic, Luka inspires us to focus on personal and professional growth. On the other hand, Luka’s cat Nala inspires us with her cuteness to stay relaxed and happy.