5 signs you need to rethink your user experience strategy
Design can make or break a digital product.
A common mistake that UX designers make is to include as much as possible all in one place to give the illusion of value. But all that happens when you do this is that the user gets confused and leaves (quickly), never to return.
Users should know instinctively what you’re offering and where to go next to continue their discovery journey. If you’re seeing a low time-on-site and high bounce rate, you know that your user experience strategy needs some work.
1. Usability scores that are way below average
When you’re as close to a product as designers and developers are, it can be hard to step back and see the issues. An experience might feel intuitive to you — but that’s because you’ve designed it! And the only way to know for sure whether users get your product is to put your UX to the test.
The System Usability Scale (SUS) is a popular framework for scoring usability. This quick and simple ten-question framework allows product teams to identify how well their UX is performing today — a SUS score of 68+ is considered above average.
SUS ticks a lot of boxes in user experience strategy — it’s quick, cost-effective, and easy to roll out. But it’s far from the only metric you need to monitor.
User experience strategy top tip
To ensure your usability scores are accurate, you should be sure to use more than just SUS and monitor key usability metrics such as:
- Time-on-task
- Task success rate
- User error rate
These combined with SUS will help you identify lower-than-average usability scores — a very real sign that your user experience strategy could be improved.
2. Conversion rates that are lower than you’d hope
As we mentioned, poor UX can quickly turn away potential customers. And if your conversion rate is lower than expected, it’s often a sign of poor user experience strategy. Driving traffic toward your website is important, but people won’t want to — or even be able to — purchase anything if navigation issues get in the way.
User experience strategy top tip
Look back on your usability scores, clickmap analysis, and design/navigation analysis to identify where the problems lie. Make sure to research brands that offer great UX to help you understand what to aim for.
Key things to look out for here are:
- Site loading speed
- Intuitive processes
- Effective CTAs
- Responsively
3. Accessibility issues
The term ‘accessibility’ refers to the ability to use your product, regardless of any limitations.
Not everyone browses the web in the same way. Alongside various preferences and quirks our users may have, there are also a substantial number of users who require different ways to interact with your product or website — be it based on visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive needs.
Digital products should be usable by everyone, and the best way to do this is to consider accessibility throughout the development process. Experience designers should be sure to include accessibility and inclusive design issues when performing user research.
User experience strategy top tip
To ensure your website is accessible for everyone, you need to include:
- Alt text on images
- Captions or transcripts for audio/video
- Alternatives to voice-only interactions
- Clear, well-structured language
- Images, video, or graphics to break up large text
You should also consider implementing an accessibility checklist in your user experience strategy, and review existing work to see if there is room for improvement.
4. Mobile has been an afterthought — or the only channel you’ve thought of
Mobile commerce is rising quickly, and your user experience strategy needs to account for that.
Smartphones accounted for 69% of retail site visits in the US during Q2 2022, generating 60% of all online shopping orders. That means mobile devices have taken over as the main digital touchpoint for retail traffic and orders.
But we shouldn’t throw all of our user experience eggs in one basket. Users still expect your content to be displayed correctly across a range of different devices. And if they don’t get the UX they expect on their device of choice, then we all know what’ll happen: they’ll bounce.
User experience strategy top tip
While users are looking for a similarly stellar user experience on mobile, desktop, and tablet, developers shouldn’t make the mistake of packing every bit of content into the smaller screen.
Remember lesson #1: less is more. You need to find a balance between functionality and content to ensure that users can do everything they need to do without being bogged down.
Customize your content for mobile and make use of the canvas you’ve got.
And our final UX tip? Avoid mouse-overs and pop-ups. Pop-ups are irritating on desktop but much more intrusive on mobile. You’ve no doubt seen other brands using full-page pop-ups pushing a CTA, but don’t be tempted to go with the flow. Mobile devices don’t have mouse-over functionality, so buttons should be clearly labeled to avoid a guessing game.
5. Build digital experiences that humans love
If there’s one thing you think about when it comes to user experience strategy, make it be this: users are humans who need human-centric design.
Take as many opportunities as you have to test your UX with users to get their authentic feedback — metrics are great, but nothing compares to hearing feedback straight from the user themselves.
You can also work with an experienced design agency with a human-centric approach, like Few. We build digital products that enhance the human experience. If that aligns with your values — and you want to start troubleshooting your user experience issues! — then get in touch today.
