If Your Web Traffic is Crashing, Your User Experience May Be to Blame 

Here's How to Measure, Track and Leverage UX to Boost Conversions

Web traffic crashes are almost always blamed on poor SEO — but that isn't always the case. The real culprit, in many cases, is in fact a substandard user experience (UX). A recent survey found that nine out of ten website users will switch to a competitor if a website's user experience isn’t up to par. 

Essentially, your website's user experience serves as an introductory presentation of your brand and product offerings. It is the first impression you make on a potential customer — and for that reason, it really needs to pack a punch.

Let’s discuss the importance of user experience and the steps you can take to measure, track, and leverage UX to boost conversions.

Why Does User Experience Matter?

User experience captures the overall user reception of your website. It is a measure of the usability, ease of navigation, accessibility and resourcefulness of your domain. Your UX plays a crucial role in several elements of your online presence and operation.

Customer Engagement 

If your website's user experience is not up to par, visitors are less likely to stick around. In fact, estimates suggest that about 79% of users refuse to engage with websites that offer a poor user experience. Lagging loading times, a poor user interface, and irrelevant content can repel potential customers and take a heavy toll on your online growth.

Brand Trust and Credibility 

Your website's user experience speaks volumes about the credibility of your brand. In other words, how well you present yourself and your brand ultimately determines whether customers will trust you.

When you design a user experience that helps customers reach their goals, you're positioning yourself as a reliable and trustworthy source. And that will go a long way to boost your digital presence, web traffic and click-through rates.

Search Engine Rankings

Did you know that your site’s user experience affects your performance on search engine results pages (SERPS)? Google and other search engines are always striving to deliver the most value to users. So, it makes sense that they would boost the sites that best understand and fulfill customer needs. A poor user experience translates into higher bounce rates and that, in turn, causes you to rank lower.

How to Measure, Track and Leverage UX to Boost Conversions

If you want to measure and track user experience, you’ll need to compare your traffic and click-through results against key performance indicators (KPIs). Some of the metrics to keep an eye on include the following.

• Time-on-task: This measures the length of time a user spends completing a specific task—the shorter it is, the better. 
• Task success rate: This metric shows how many users finish each phase of a user flow. A poor task completion rate indicates that that part of your user flow needs to be redesigned.
• Error occurrence rate: This looks at how often users make an error while using your website. Frequent errors are usually an indication of user interface problems. 
• Abandonment rate: This is the rate at which customers leave your website without closing a sale. There are many possible reasons for this, including website errors and crashes. 

If you need help nailing down your data, MyDash offers a performance marketing dashboard that can help you measure, track, and boost your user experience in an effective, efficient, and affordable way. 

Boosting User Experience

Rest assured, developing an effective user experience isn't rocket science. You can improve your site’s UX relatively quickly, and design a successful site that customers will enjoy visiting and using regularly.

Start by implementing these upgrades:

• Engage your audience. You can't exactly solve customers' problems if you don't know what they are. So, talk to your audience. Ask the whats, the whys, and the whens. Empathize with them and find out what exactly their main issues are. Once you’ve done that, you can craft a better user experience around helping them find solutions.
• Optimize UI. A good user interface is critical to the success of your website. Smooth navigation, clean fonts, scannable content, and judicious use of color can boost your website’s retention times and conversion rates. The need for a distinct, well-defined call to action (CTA) can also not be over-emphasized.
• Write relevant, high-quality content. They say content is king (“they” being the overlords of the internet), and they are right. Many search engine users are actively looking for information on a particular topic, rather than specific products or websites. If you position yourself as a trustworthy thought leader on the topics relevant to your industry, you can leverage keywords and SEO to help users find you and seal the deal by providing valuable information and advice. This value will go on to boost both your user experience and your web traffic.
• Optimize for mobile. More than half of global web traffic is now mobile. In a highly digital and mobile world, you have to make sure you’re adopting a mobile-friendly strategy. Build web pages that have a clean mobile view — and avoid setups that compel your users to switch to desktop mode.

Once you’ve tweaked your website to improve your user experience, stay on top of it. In a fast-paced online world, things change rapidly. The elements that work well for your customers today may be completely irrelevant in a few months. Conduct regular checkups on your UX, and don’t hesitate to make changes, especially if your users suggest them.

Better User Experience for Bigger Growth

Your website’s user experience has the power to make or break your traffic, conversions, and overall success. Investing in your website UX can lower the cost of customer acquisition, reduce support costs, boost your customer acquisition and retention, and even lead to increased market share.

If your UX is hanging in the balance, underperforming, or hurting your traffic, don’t wait any longer to give it the makeover your business deserves. At the end of the day, the foundation of excellent branding and online growth is a positive user experience. Don’t leave yours on the backburner. 

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