7 Characteristics What Makes A Website User Friendly?
User-friendly websites are the most important thing for business owners as well as individuals.
User-friendliness of the website involves a lot of components which you should know so you can make your website easy to use which will let you convert the visitors into customers which will ultimately benefit you.
But, do you know what makes a website user friendly?
No, then today you will learn the characteristics of user-friendly websites and how you create your own user-friendly website with the least effort.
So, let’s get started!
What is The Usability Of A Website?
Usability or User Friendliness of the website is making the website easy to use in such a way that any new visitor on your website can easily navigate and use each option he/she wants.
The better you understand the behavior of your visitors on your website the better you can convert them.
There is a simple rule in designing the website that I have always recommended to everyone: design it simply, people will stay, make it difficult and they will leave.
Some of the common features of a user-friendly website are:
- They are easy to navigate.
- The proper use of the taglines.
- Attractive and Understandable Font.
- Strategic use of the Visuals.
There are few questions that you should ask yourself to understand whether your site is user-friendly or not.
You should ask yourself.
- Does your website flow logically?
- Is the button working as it should be?
- Are the links clickable?
- If the links are redirecting the visitor to the right place?
If you are not able to see the following things on your website then you really need to pay attention to it and solve it as soon as possible to gain the traffic.
Why Is It Important To Have A User-Friendly Website?
According to Kinsta.com, website design is the priority of any website. The websites that are easy to navigate and the user can find easily what he/she is looking for tend to have higher conversation rates, low bounce rates, and better performance.
You must have seen such websites that are not easy to navigate and take too long to load. This is so frustrating when you want the information as quickly as possible. This is why it is important to have a user-friendly website.
According to the research conducted by Hubspot.com, more than 75% of them prefer the website that are can give them the information that they are looking for at the starting of the page.
This brings us to our next point and that is.
Give your visitor the most important information as soon as possible because nowadays people do not have time to search deep down for a topic because of the reducing attention span and a lot of choices.
If you design the website in a way that is hard to navigate from one page to another, or the design is too complex to understand, or you are producing content that is hard to read or understand then you are going to lose the business.
There are so many different websites that can provide the same information and knowledge quickly and easily to the user and this is where the importance of a user-friendly website increases for you.
What Makes A Website User Friendly?
It is important for you to understand what are the characteristics of a user-friendly website so you can design a good user-friendly website for your business.
7 Characteristics of User-Friendly websites are:
#1. Website Speed
Website speed is the first and the most important priority in designing a user-friendly website. It will not matter how well you have designed the website if it doesn’t open within seconds.
The user will never visit a website where he has to wait for a minute to access the information.
The website speed is expected to load at the lightning speed, which is not possible for all because the amount of content that we are going to put in it definitely going to reduce the website speed.
But, still, you should make your website load in under 3 seconds. There are different ways which you can use to improve the website speed and most of them are just as simple as a few clicks.
#2. Provide In-depth Information
Now, when the user is on your website it is clear that they want to know about the service or product you are promoting.
So, it is your responsibility that the user gets full information because if the user has to hunt for the information then it is going to make a bad user experience and the user will think maybe something is still remaining to know.
This is an unclear decision and you will not be able to convert them into your potential customer.
If you promote a product that is difficult to use then you should make a video about the product explaining to the customer how they can use it, this will make them understand in-depth the product.
#3. Make Good Navigation
Making good navigation is the real key to success in design a user-friendly website.
The navigation should be easy and simple and for that, you should limit the number of the categories on the navigational bar.
Also, make sure you add the About Us page on the navigational bar because people want to know to whom they are going to buy or who is helping them with the problem.
#4. Choose The Right Color
Color represents the mood, trust, and worthiness of the brand.
Although it’s sound strange this is what big marketer has experienced in their life.
Color change the mood and if you choose the right color for your business then it is going to represent you as an authentic source and you can promote the products in a more effective way.
For example, suppose you make eco-friendly bags and you want to sell them, then it is better to design the website and color it green than yellow or blue. This will create a sense of the environment and nature where people can easily trust websites that it is really about eco-friendly bags.
#5. Website Layout
This is why you should always design mobile-friendly pages for your website so that no visitors find any difficulties in accessing the content.
#6. Contact Page
The people who are visiting your website will definitely try to contact you to know more about the product and discuss it in more depth.
This is why you should create a contact page where you should mention your contact email and contact form in case someone is in hurry!
Also, the contact page is important to make the user trust you. If theta re not able to know who is at the other end then why they will be interested in buying from you.
So, it is important to have a simple and easy way for the user to contact you.
#7. Listen To Your Customer
You can not be available all the time for checking what is working and what is not on the website because the website link may get broken or something unexpected can happen at any time.
This is why you should be ready to listen to your customer and get feedback from them about how the website is performing and what problem that is facing with it.
How To Design A User-Friendly Website?
The secret of designing a user-friendly website is to know the user. You should try to wireframe the structure of your website. Wireframing means design a rough sketch or blueprint of the website.
You should not think about the color of the overall design of the website, but you should be focusing on the major elements of the website and what is going to be there in those elements.
For example, the header is one of the major elements of the website. This is the place where you should definitely have a logo, menu, and call to action button so that users can directly contact you and decide whether they want the service you are promoting or not.
In wireframing, the main focus is on.
- Content
- Structure
- Flow and Functionality of the website without other Visuals (that distract the eyes).
In case, if you are working on a non-profitable or governmental website then your must design your website in such a way that it complies with the ADA (American With Disabilities Act).
To do so, you should be focusing on web accessibility, the alternative text of the images, the color-sensitive, and other factors.
The alternative text of the images will make the people able to listen to what the image is about and what is shown in the image.
Web accessibility refers to the practice of design the website in such a way that it can be easily accessed by people with different levels of ability.
Here is something that I want you to understand.
Facebook was not the first social media platform, but it made it is to stay connected with friends and family.
Google was not the first search engine, but it makes it easier to quickly get information from the web.
So, while designing a user-friendly website always ask yourself these questions:
User-Friendly Websites Examples
The user-friendly design of the website is always a bone to the website. The better user experience you provide to the visitor the more profits you get.
The successful-websites that you see today, are the one who knows what they visitor love. They address the pain of the customer and solve it with the product they are promoting.
If you know how your customer is behaving with your site and at which element of the site he is clicking the most. You will be able to convert it in the most effective way you can.
10 Best User-Friendly Website Examples are:
- Virgin America
- Medium
- Pitch
- Airbnb
- Dropbox
- Feed
- Simply Chocolate
- Frank and Oak
- Overflow
- Boosted Boards
These are the top 10 website that has the best UI which makes their website too user friendly.
Here, I would like to mention something, and this is.
You should not increase the cost of the functionality of the website because if the cost of the functionality increases the get higher than the profit you are making per customer then you are going to lose a lot of money in just making a website more user-friendly.
The point here is, the website should be easy to use.
It is not important to have sliders, a beautiful pop-up, and a super attractive look.
No! You do not need this all.
All you need to do is to make your website work smoothly, the flow of the website should be fast and it should be easy to navigate so the customer can access any page from anywhere he wants.
Not User-Friendly Website Examples
Although, there are so many websites that I have never visited here is a list of the non-user-friendly website that can help you understand what mistake they are doing in there website so can avoid it.
4 website that provides a bad user experience are:
- Arngren
- Gatesnfences
- Mednat
- Lings Car
Conclusion
In conclusion, navigation, website speed, design, and the elements of the website make a website user-friendly. The better the elements of the website performed that functionality the better the user experience it makes.
If your website does not show an unnecessary pop-up, do not ask the visitor for the email or his/her per information so you can retarget them each time he/she opens a new page in your website then you are already doing a great job.
Always ask yourself whether the element you are going to add is really important or you are just doing to make it perfect because there is nothing perfect!
You will be wasting a lot of energy just thinking about what more you should add instead of doing what is needed to be done.
So, just make sure, the speed of the website is fast, it has proper navigation, each link on the page works perfectly and the content is easy to understand
