Consumers today are smart, savvy and time-pressed, and they want their needs met in an instant.
Whether at an office, on a bus or in a bank line, people love to access the internet for various reasons; shopping, booking flights, checking in with friends or just looking for information. These different online functions all have one thing in common: the quality of an individual’s online experience has a huge impact.
An essential part of this experience is the ease with which a consumer can find, access, review or purchase products and services. For businesses that want to attract and convert that interest into revenue, user experience (UX) is critical to their success and, in many cases, their survival.
When it comes to developing and executing modern digital marketing strategies, UX is often overlooked. In fact, only 55% of brands are currently testing user experience – which is amazing considering that 74% of people will return to a website if its UX is optimized for mobile.
The ideal online customer journey is a user-friendly website that combines seamless navigation; a clear path to purchase; dynamic and digestible content; top-notch customer support and mobile compatibility. By combining these elements, a business can create a digital environment that makes a brand stand out from the pack. So why do organizations so often overlook UX when it comes to engaging with customers?
User experience in a mobile world
The increase in the use of smartphones has changed the way people view, shop and connect online. With a 504% growth in media consumption since 2011, the desktop is becoming the least preferred touchpoint for a growing number of digital users.
Mobile is so ingrained in the psyche of today’s consumers that mobile users are far more likely to abandon a website if it’s not properly optimized for their phone – and if you’re running a business, that could result in a significant loss of conversions, or even harm your brand reputation.
That said, what is alarming is that 52% of users said a poor mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a business – and with 60% of searches now being conducted on mobile devices, the user experience is a fact that simply should not be ignored.
While mobile is a dominant force in today’s world, that doesn’t mean the desktop is no longer relevant. The majority of e-commerce transactions still take place on the PC, and as such, a balanced cross-platform strategy is essential to a successful buyer’s journey. Despite this, many marketers and brands still see the office as their primary area of focus, which is out of sync with current consumer behavior.
User experience is more than just usability
While many marketers overlook user experience as an industry buzzword, it is not. In fact, the most successful marketers in the industry will tell you that user experience is key to driving conversions and helping you become that twinkling needle in a giant (and vastly oversubscribed) digital haystack.
According to American professor and statistician Edward Tufte, “Confusion and disorder are the failure of design, not the attributes of information.” It sounds true to the UX as a whole, and when trying to stand out from the crowd online, one of the best ways to do that is to be clear, concise, and approachable to your target audience. No compromise.
While usability is a core component of user experience, it’s only one piece of the overall pie as it focuses on surface-level things, while UX looks deeper if a page or an individual content item will meet a user’s specific needs. . As an entity, user experience determines how a brand speaks to its customers and effectively delivers the message it is trying to convey.
Content is essential to the user experience
One of the best ways to get a message across to your audience is to post engaging content, while delivering direct value. In fact, according to Quick Sprout, 82% of people enjoy reading relevant content on business blogs.
Well-designed, search engine optimized digital copy is a key ingredient of a good user experience. Not only will this help your webpage rank well for relevant search terms on Google, but SEO-friendly copy will also give the consumer an informative answer to a question or query in an instant. This approach will ultimately result in conversions rather than website abandonment.
While it may seem obvious for online businesses to provide search-optimized, engaging, and consumer-focused content, it often gets overlooked: don’t make the same mistake.
Where UX fits into the five levels of content marketing
A successful content strategy that delivers incredible results is always best planned from scratch. There are five levels to a successful content marketing model, namely:
- SEO: This is essential because if your site is not optimized for search engines, your target customers will never find you in the first place.
- User Experience: This is where UX comes into the mix. By now you are probably aware of its importance, but let’s put it into perspective. According to a pivotal study from Adobe in 2015, when given 15 minutes to consume content, two-thirds of people would rather read something beautifully designed than something simple. And that’s just one piece of the overall UX puzzle.
- Content Strategy: Your business management’s blueprint, because once your site is SEO optimized and your UX is on top, you can use metrics like visitor count and bounce rate to design your content strategy. content to meet the needs of your target audience, and start achieving the results you desire.
- Content Creation: With a strategy in place, it’s time to start the fun part – creating content. So, refresh existing content, create new blog posts, and make sure every item is formatted for digital consumption.
- Content Distribution: Once you’ve created the best dynamic content, it’s time to start getting it noticed. Share it with the right people using your various social channels and any other brilliant connections you might have.
Since user experience is the second step in a robust content strategy, it must be done well. Otherwise, the whole strategy will fall apart before it’s even launched
Apple user experience makeover
Taking note of the saturation of the smartphone and mobile device market, Apple is committed to improving its user experience. In an effort to create a seamless experience across all of its platforms and grow its business after a reduction in growth in 2016, the software giant began tying threads and bringing its platforms even closer together.
Not only did Apple improve upon its already successful portable desktop — the now ubiquitous iCloud — but it also opened up its digital assistant, Siri, to third-party developers.
Additionally, the brand’s latest software offering, iOS 14 (its biggest update yet), has completely overhauled the smartphone user experience with highly customizable home screen functionality, widgets, and more. interactive application and self-organizing features. A testament to Apple’s unwavering commitment to user experience and a huge driver of its continued success.
Apple’s forward thinking shows how crucial user experience is for today’s consumer. Without constant improvement in how businesses interact with customers, any brand will fall by the wayside in this rapidly changing climate.
The rise of visual search
Once a dark star on the horizon, visual search is becoming an integral part of the user experience. For example, augmented reality-style app Blippar takes user experience to a whole new level with its intuitive style of brand interaction, which it plans to inspire people to use it for visual search, rather than searching through Google – and that seems a likely target too.
According to Clark Boyd, who recorded a webinar with DMI on visual search, 62% of Millennials search for visual search over any other e-commerce technology, and 34% of Google searches already return image results. Marketers need to catch up with the capabilities of technology and the latest consumer needs. The thing is, humans are intuitive creatures, and it looks like visual search will fulfill our ever-growing need for instant gratification in a world that’s getting busier by the day.
UX is not an optional luxury for competitive businesses. Giving user experience the attention it deserves requires investing time, money and resources, which also means learning the skills to ensure success.
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