Over recent years we have seen a number of influential changes in the way that websites are designed, most notably responsive web design. Now, I am assuming that you have all heard of responsive web design (RWD) – we have certainly sent out several pieces of communication focused on RWD over the past few months and the theme continues.

The number of people purchasing mobiles and tablets has increased hugely over the past year and is constantly growing. If, like me, you are a fickle user and divert away from any website that doesn’t deliver what you need almost instantly, you join over 70% of smartphone/tablet users who will quickly move away to another, friendlier site and, not only will these users divert to another site, they are also significantly less likely to revisit your site in the future.

Like many others, I no longer like panning in on text, images, menus, and realizing that my thumb has inadvertently hit the wrong link and, before I know it, forget why I ever visited the site. I have found recently that when visiting certain sites on my mobile it’s tough to select a particular menu item and, on other sites, some images, text and other important information fail to load within a few seconds or fail to actually load at all – delivering a bad user experience and a broken user journey.

Coupled with the fact that RWD delivers a website to the user in the correct format (considering the type of device they are using to access the internet) it also provides a positive user experience as they take a considered and relevant user journey through your site.

Calls to action are displayed clearly and the content on your site is prioritized – improving engagement, increasing pages views and ultimately encouraging interest in your business.

It has been predicted that the number of people using mobile devices to access the internet will overtake those using a desktop in the next few years which means that RWD is, for us at least, an “essential requirement”. From a search marketing perspective, Google recommends RWD as responsive sites have one URL, ultimately making lighter work for Google. Another positive – Google places a huge emphasis on user experience, and therefore, RWD can also have a positive impact on your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Your customers’ and potential customers’ attitudes about your company/business can be easily shaped, influenced, and changed by their ‘user experience’—and therefore, a website that is ‘mobile friendly’ (RWD caters for any device) is a critical consideration.

If I had to define User Experience in a sentence, it would be ‘A user’s perception of interacting with a system, service or product’. Now, that could be a website, a standalone app, a payment transaction or, a full service-design experience. The sum of their experience is ultimately a personal, subjective thing comprising a number of factors; their personal tastes, preferences, their perception of ease-of-use, efficiency, goal-satisfaction, the state of emotion at the point of interaction, their intelligence, their comparable previous experiences, the context in which they are using the system, product or service… ultimately we feel the success or failure of the user experience will be defined by meeting, or not meeting, the users expectations.

So, in the context of digital solutions (eg websites, apps, service-design), users today expect an optimised digital experience regardless of their device (mobile, tablet, desktop, laptop, or tv) or connection (cabled, wifi or 4g). As a stakeholder in creating a digital experience it is vital therefore to understand the users and realise their expectations where possible… after all we don’t want to give our customers heartache!

Expectation is the root of all Heartache

William Shakespeare

So how do we work towards meeting the users expectations? Here are a few questions to get you thinking about your website and how good the user experience is for your customers:

1. If your website is not responsive have you recently viewed it on a mobile / tablet?

2. Does your website look as good on a mobile or tablet as it does on a desktop? Is it user-friendly, and are calls to action and content easily accessible to the user?

3. How old is your website? When was your website designed/built?

4. Have you considered asking your audience for feedback on your website?

5. Do you believe that your website represents you (as an organisation) and the services you offer?

6. Do you think that the information on your site is easy for users to access and is there appropriate content on your site?

7. Do you think that you stand out more than your competitors online and do your competitors have responsive websites?

8. Do you frequently review your analytics and have a clear understanding of your users’ demographics, interests, and website access patterns?

9. Do you believe that your website appeals to your target audience(s)?

10. What’s your personal experience of other websites – consider what information you access and how you access it, which websites you prefer to visit and why, are the websites you visit responsive and what sort of user experience do they provide?

Written by VC Dental Marketing  https://dental.vanillacircus.co.uk/