If you want to be professional in your business, everything has to be perfect, from product creation to customer satisfaction. Mistakes are not an option; even a slight slip could be deadly. After all, you want to make money for your company, not waste it.
Every successful business needs a website in the modern-day and age. There is no way around it. No presence on the Internet is fatal. How your website looks like, how it presents itself, the accessibility, and overall feelings from using it determine whether you’ll sell your product or not. With ever-changing Google Algorithms and Trends, there will always be something to improve your website in; one of these things is User Experience, commonly known as UX.
WHAT IS USER EXPERIENCE?
It’s pretty straightforward here - users are either pleased with your website or not. Thus, the first thing to do is determine the current state of affairs. Solutions like Tests and Tools can help you analyze your website in terms of users’ experience. Let’s talk about those for a moment.
HEURISTIC EVALUATION
It is, by far, the most popular, primary method of checking the users’ experience on the website. Many systems and ways can be applied here: Nielsen’s Ten Principles, Schneiderman’s Eight Rules, or Connelly’s Thirty Rules, for example. Your website’s elements and solutions should meet specific requirements, and we’re here to help you check if all of these are in place.
COGNITIVE WALKTHROUGH
How can you tell if something is of good quality if not from your own perspective? It is what the cognitive walkthrough is all about. You visit your website and look at it from an ordinary user’s perspective to see if there are elements that might be bothering him (or her). You’re creating scenarios and following them up, acting as the said user. Alternatively, you can ask someone who’s not familiar with the site to perform these scenarios and provide you with their feedback. Every opinion is essentially priceless.
USABILITY CHECKLIST
Last but not least, you have a “good old” checklist. You write the things that have to be done and have a go. Checking every element one by one is time-consuming, but you can treat it as an investment in UX rather than a cost. A few points on such a checklist could be the website’s credibility, professional design, personalized features, uncluttered information to give you some idea.
Regardless, there is no reason not to perform all of these to maximize your website’s potential; no amount of care is too much when it comes to your business, right?
DO I NEED IT?
MacGyver said: “Only the fool is sure of anything. A wise man keeps on guessing.” From a small blogger to a big international company CEO, the question remains the same: “Is there anything I can do better?” What a great question! It says that you feel like there is still room for improvement. And if so, you probably could use some analysis. Resulting in two possible outcomes:
- Your website needs correction! Perfect! You’ve found your missing link;
- Your website is excellent as-is, a win-win for you however you look at it!
That is why having a UX audit is always a good idea.
