Whoever it is, the website is the initial place where the users connect with the business. So what do you think of a user attracted to well-designed websites that stand out? A well-planned and designed website has now become a necessity for all kinds of businesses in this digital world. The most important factor to be considered when building an online presence is being capable of meeting the needs of users. A website design success is entirely based on the factors that combine with the purpose of having a business website. A combination of aesthetics, functionality, and relevant content brings a balance, but user-centricity is the critical part of designing a website. Designers should focus on creating a responsive web design with creative content to increase user engagement to become a spotlight among the competitors.
Some principles of User-Centric design while designing a website include:
Visual elements are not the only thing that depicts a good web design. But more than that website performance matters in giving the users a better experience on the website apart from a visual look. It needs to be a user-friendly website with fast-loading pages and to be designed from the perspective of a customer. Visitors will not stay on a slow website and thus optimizing the performance is crucial for a user-centric design. In this regard, using website performance testing tools can help identify areas for improvement and ensure your site is lightning fast. This will not only improve user experience but also boost your search engine rankings and pay-per-click advertising results.
Designers need to understand their target audience and their needs and expectations on the website to be designed. Knowing user behavior helps the designer to customize the website. In a user-centric design, your opinions should be kept aside and work for the users and their needs.
It will be easy to use a user-centric website. There will be no confusion for the users while visiting the website and navigating through it to find the information. An inbuilt structure is designed with user-friendly navigation menus throughout the website. User experience can be improved by giving consistent design elements like fonts, colors, buttons, icons etc.
Products and services on the website must be accessible and used by all despite the differences in physical ability, age, background, etc. Contents inside the website should be easily understandable. Accessibility and inclusivity in design while creating a website make it possible for everyone including the disabled to access the website which improves the user experience and thus growing the business. Providing transcripts and captions allows users with hearing problems to understand the contents of audio and videos. Also, keyboard accessibility helps visitors especially those who have motor impairments to navigate the websites only with keyboards.
Prioritizing content-focused design according to the needs and interests of the users creates a seamless user experience. Users visit the website to find any solutions to their problems. So the content should be relevant, clear, and easy to consume without confusing them. This could make the users stay longer on the website and increase their trust likely to return back and recommend to others. So implementing an organized content strategy together with other design elements brings more user engagement.
User-centric websites offers better user experience and keep the visitors engaged on the website for a long time leading to chances of high conversions. Higher engagement also increases the online presence and credibility of the website. Bounce rates become higher when the website has a poor user experience. User-centric design reduces the chances of having bounce rates and ensure the visitors exactly find what they are looking for in the website.