Coming from the retail industry, I decided to make UX my passion. I think website UX is the key to providing great customer service experience for your users. I look at hundreds of SMB websites a week and here are three things I would look for on your site that are common issues.
3. Broken Calls to Action
When we began tracking one of our client’s phone clicks we noticed all their calls were showing a call time of “00:00”. It was showing that people were clicking the call link, but hanging up immediately. It appeared the link was working until we decided to call the number. They had an outdated phone number on their links, and it was ringing busy. When you have 20 call-to-action buttons on your website have you gone through and tested to make sure they work? There are a lot things that fall through the cracks when designing a website. A lot of small business rely on template builds and it is easy to overlook links and call-to-action buttons. Another customer had an email link that worked, and then a call-to-action button next to it with no link attached. These are easy fixes. Go through your website and check all contact links to make sure they are going somewhere.
2. Broken Graphics and Scripts
It is funny how focused we were on keeping our parking lot clean of carts in retail. The reason for this is it is the first impression your business will have with a customer. This lets a user know how well you take care of your business. I equate having a broken link on your website to having a messy parking lot. A prospective customer will be put off by the appearance of something on the site not working. Make sure you are checking every page of your site for errors. Also another overlooked aspect is getting actual customer feedback on what works and what does not.
Classic 404 Error
There are various websites online that will check the links on your website for free. The good news is that it’s a lot easier to fix a broken fixture on a digital storefront than on a physical one.
1. Site Speed
The backbone of your website: site speed. Even though your website may run great on fast internet you may need to optimize for when connections are not ideal. How quickly can a customer navigate your site and make their way to a positive outcome? According to Google, 53% of mobile users leave a website that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Bounce rate is an important metric when looking at analytics, and it is hard to convert if you do not have time to impart your message.
“53% of Mobile Users Leave a Website That Takes Longer Than 3 Seconds to Load”
An important tool we use to look at a website is Google Pagespeed Insights. This will give you a good blueprint to start improving the speed of your website.
Example of A Google Page Insights Report
Here are three tips for testing your website. How well your site runs helps you acquire new users and retain the ones you’ve already retained. It is important you are constantly testing your website to see what is working, and what is not. Ask yourself if you are getting the most out of your digital presence. When you don’t have the answer, reach out for help.
