Intro

In this post, we will explore what are the characteristics of great web design, that retain and convert users. This post is part of a multipart series. For part one, click here.

Page Speed

Studies show that even a 1-second difference in page speed can impact page views by 11%. And, there’s more. It affects user experience and search results too (Google loves fast websites).

Speed is tied to performance. A website with good performance is more reliable when a lot of people are visiting.

It’s been established that, as a rule, a page needs to load in 3 seconds or less – anything above that is too much. But how can that be achieved with design?

By designing purposefully, of course. By not filling the page with images and videos and animations, and all kinds of things for no reason. A good designer thinks of how their decisions will affect performance while they are designing.

It’s best to build the website with speed in mind from the get-go. There are many technical optimizations that affect speed, such as reducing image sizes, using efficient code, choosing quality hosting, avoiding unnecessary plugins (on WordPress), and so on.

Accessibility

Accessibility refers to a set of best practices that make the website easier to use for people with various disabilities (visual, hearing, cognitive, etc.).

It can involve things like using colorblind-friendly color combinations, optimizing for screen readers, using alternate text on images, and so on.

Someone might think disabled users are a small portion of their user base, hardly worth the time-investment. In reality:

1) Accessibility features are useful even to non-disabled people. For example, good color contrast makes the website easier to read for everyone, especially on phones or in sunlight.

2) Disabled users are still users, regardless of the number.

3) Accessibility affects SEO. So even if not a single disabled person visits your site, you benefit from it being accessible.

Easy Navigation

Users typically visit websites because they are looking for something. Maybe they want to find information, or maybe make a purchase, or perhaps get in contact with someone.

It’s really important that they can find what they are looking for fast and easily. That’s the role of navigation. If they have to search for a small button somewhere, or dig deep into complex menus inside menus, it’s very likely they will be frustrated. They might just leave. You do not want to try people’s patience with your website.

Therefore, easy and simple to use navigation is key for user experience and user retention.

User expectations

Users expect certain things on websites, based on their previous experiences. They expect a menu in the header for navigation, they expect the logo to link to the homepage, they expect the shopping cart to be at the top right of the screen, they expect buttons to look like buttons and do something when clicked, etc.

If you make an element look like a button but not function like one, this is not innovation. You are just confusing the user. Likewise, if you place the shopping cart to the top-left (instead of top-right), you are again confusing the user. They have to spend an extra 1–2 seconds to find the cart. Such seemingly small frustrations add up, and eventually make the user have a bad opinion of your website (and make you look unprofessional).

Testing

There are two ways to identify problems with your website: either we find it or the users do. Invariably, there’s going to be room for improvement in some areas, as are we are only human.
And as humans, we have blind spots. Therefore, if users are to find problems with your website, it’s much better if they do so early on during the design/development stage. That’s why user testing is so important.

Fixing issues post-launch, while possible, has certain complications. Sometimes it might require undoing large amounts of previous work. Other times, the issues might cause reputation damage or worse.

It might seem costly to spend time testing with users, but it’s much more costly to fix problems later on or keep a deficient product.

Keep users on your site

Almost always in a website, there are going to be links to other websites. The trick is how these links are implemented. If we are not careful, users can move from one website to another, and from that to a third one, and forget they visited yours to begin with.

It can be a good idea to keep outbound links not too high in a page. That way, when the user leaves the website, they will already have spent some time on it, seeing what you have to offer. Additionally, it helps when links open on a new tab, still keeping them in your website when they visit a link.