Contact Jen to learn about how we can deliver results for you.
Contact Jen to learn about how we can deliver results for you.
When was the last time you reviewed the content on your website as a user would? Chances are you’ve added on to your website when you needed to accomplish a new goal, reach a new sub-audience, market an upcoming event, or answer a question you’ve been getting a lot lately. Did it help, or did it bloat your user’s experience?
A cluttered website makes it hard for your customers to quickly find what they’re looking for. To help you get back on track and re-focus on your site’s goals, use these six rules to help you simplify your website and make it work as hard as it can for you.
Hey, it happens. Someone on your team wanted to go into more detail about one of your service areas, or be represented in the main navigation, or you had an upcoming event or sale to promote and before too long, your navigation and content ballooned and you wound up with a bad case of the bloats.
Sounds like your site? Don’t worry. These six rules will help you get it back on track.
Your website was built to serve your customers, and we know that you know everything on your site should be in place to help them get information or do what they need to do. So what about content or a feature that doesn’t do one of those two things? Cut it!
Review like a user who just arrived on your website: you’re trying to solve a problem or answer a business question, you’re busy and possibly distracted, and there’s about a 50% chance you’re on a smartphone. Go.
Taking a fresh look at your website “as a user” will help you simplify and streamline it again. If you’re in doubt, doing a little user research and listening to your site’s users will help you simplify and improve the experience.
Your users came to your website because they needed something, so be sure you’re helping them find it with clear and simple navigation. Use a consistent style and location, and organize and label your pages using a taxonomy and structure that works for all of your content.
This can be a tough rule to follow, since there are so many things you want to cross-promote. But keeping your users’ limited time and focus in mind can help you narrow down what you ask of them to just one primary action per page.
While we recommend simplifying to one major call-to-action, it’s still okay to have text links to cross-link other content, or to pull in related content.
50% or more of your visitors are most likely on a smartphone. So simplify your design and content to be super mobile-friendly, and don’t force users to scroll forever on their phone to get what they need. Some additional mobile-friendly keys:
(If you need a usability audit of your website to make sure it’s responsive and meets accessibility criteria, read this).
When getting user information, edit, cut, and reduce what you ask of your users to only the essentials. Minimize the need for typing, and use suggestions or autocomplete to keep the experience in their control. Keep forms as short as possible, and only ask users to provide information you’re actually using for something.
And now a rule that takes longer than the previous five:
Your business never stops growing and changing, and users will always be evolving. So as time goes on, remember this as you feel the need to change and add content: keep out waste and clutter with your user in mind. If you need to add a new section to the site, see if there’s something old that can be taken away. Be tough. But ensure on an ongoing basis that you’ll never bury your users in clutter again
Take a look at your website like your user will. Think like one of your users (on the go, busy, and possibly on a mobile device) and see whether you can find what you need to. Take a look at your site’s Analytics and see if your users are doing what you want them to. Take your red pen out and start editing your content. Too much clutter? You know what to do.
And if you want a better website, check out our article about how your customers can tell you how.