Website Design 101: A User Centered Design Process

The online space evolves so fast that the approximate ‘shelf life’ of a website is usually 18 to 30 months.

So, it is important to revisit your website’s look and feel after this period to ensure that it is still relevant and is meeting the requirements it is supposed to.

If you decide to redesign your website, what should be your focus?

Eye-catching design? Unique features? Great content?

While these are important elements for your website, they’re not the starting point. To ensure that your website really stands out and drives conversions – you have to focus on your customer.

What is a User Centered Design Process?

A user-centered design process helps you create your website by focusing on the needs, requirements, feelings, and preferences of your customer.

Once you are able to ascertain what the customer wants to see, you’re able to translate that into accessible and usable interfaces.

Where to start? 

The key here is research.

The starting point is your buyer personas and this information may already be available to you.

When you take a closer look at your buyer persona, you’re able to understand the emotions of your customers, what motivates them, and what drives their decisions. This information is useful in making important decisions about your website’s functionalities and features.

For instance, if you’re working in the insurance industry, you are dealing with individuals with vastly different needs. Your website can help address the concerns these individuals have by different navigation paths for those looking for home, car, life insurance, etc.

What should you keep in perspective?

A few things that are important to take into consideration when developing a user centered website are:

  • Consistency

If your website has been around for a while, your customers are likely familiar with some of your design concepts. So, unless you’re going for a complete overhaul or rebranding, it makes sense to ensure that the design is not drastically different between the different pages. Customers like consistency in the use of colours and style.

  • Familiarity

Human beings are conditioned to look for patterns and familiar things. For instance, McDonald’s logo or Nike’s slogan are a few things that we just know off the top of our heads. So, if your business has elements that are easily recognizable, it helps to stick to these.

  • Responsiveness

Responsiveness is very important in today’s day and age. Many visitors don’t have the patience to wait for your website to load, especially if they’re new, potential customers. So, it is important to focus on responsiveness, server uptime, removal of broken links, and website speed.

  • Clarity

Clarity and visibility help your users navigate smoothly through your website. A simple indication that the design of your website is confusing is if your users need instructions just to find what they need.

  • Communication

This is perhaps the most important component. Your website should have some way of facilitating your organization’s interaction with your customers. This will not only help improve their experiences and help you identify potential issues but also create a trusted communication channel.

Designing a user-centered website is an iterative process. At Pulsion Marketing, we help you identify and analyze the changing customer needs and ensure that your website not only meets but exceeds these requirements.

To find out more about our website development and digital marketing solutions, call 1-888-701-4441 or visit www.digiforcemarketing.ca.