4.
When you're looking to improve your store's UX, a little heuristic analysis can go a long way. Essentially, that means going through your site page by page, evaluating it based on a set of key aspects.
Typically, I use the following factors to guide me:
Motivation : What is influencing the visitor to take action (or not)?
Friction : What is difficult and causes blockages in the process?
Distraction : What is distracting from the main call to action?
Relevance : What is irrelevant or out of context?
Clarity : What is confusing or overly complex?
UX is deeply connected to the other three disciplines mentioned above. And, as with the others, a customer-centric approach is key to achieving the best results. Conversion rate optimization tips from Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media sum this up nicely:
Andy Crestodina, Orbit Media
“Unanswered questions kill conversions. So the CRO’s first job is to learn the top questions and answer them on the page. Here’s a prioritized list of the best sources for finding those questions, canada phone number sample ranked from best to worst:
Talk directly to customers.
Talk to sales representatives who interact with customers.
Read chat logs.
Review the site search terms report in Google Analytics.
Keyword research.
“Once you have your list, prioritize it and answer the questions in that order. Then, back up your answers with evidence and make sure the CTA is prominent and compelling.”
“Conversion is about empathy and clarity. Specific information, solid evidence and clear calls to action!”
Again, all the qualitative research on conversion rate for copywriting purposes can be recycled into this process.
Andy emphasizes the importance of clarity, one of the five heuristics, when it comes to increasing your ecommerce conversion rate. It’s a good idea to identify the value that each product or landing page offers to the visitor, as well as the most important CTA on each page.
Being clear about what you can do for your customers (value) and what they can do for themselves (call to action) is vital. One page, one goal. Anything else is a distraction, benefiting neither you nor your visitors.
When communicating value, Dominic Coryell of GIMME GROWTH suggests asking yourself what's in it for the visitor:
Dominic Coryell, GIMME GROWTH
“Something I wish more people would think about, including myself at times, is really understanding ‘what’s in it for me?’ (‘me’ being the visitor) before asking them to do something”
“Take the ‘Share with a Friend’ button for example. Many people put it on everything. I often ask myself, ‘What is there to share? Am I missing something worth sharing? Why would I share this?’”
“If we remember to ask ourselves ‘Why would I share this?’ before adding those buttons, we simplify the UX and avoid cluttering the UI.”
“I think share buttons are often placed on a page because a marketer thinks, ‘Why not? If I can get a few people to share it, that’s great!’ Which is true and I’ve done it too. But then I see that no one is sharing and I think, ‘I have a horrible product.’ The problem is that I haven’t thought enough about the value to the visitor of what I’m suggesting they share.”
“What is the incentive? Will people think I have access to knowledge that they don’t have? (i.e. I am a good source of knowledge wealth). Do I get early access? Do I get a financial reward?”
If you can’t find a value for the visitor in sharing, you have two options: Don’t add the button. Or include pictures of kittens in your share message. Kittens are always worth it, so when in doubt...”
The moral here goes far beyond the share buttons. It is twofold:
Take maximum care of the value that each element of each page offers to the visitor.
Don't put something on a product or landing page unless it serves a meaningful purpose.
You need to serve the visitor first. Every element on every page needs to be intentional and provide value, including your calls to action and products.
Now, UX is particularly interesting because there are a lot of “best practices” that have been floating around for years. Some valuable, some not so much.
For example, conversion rate optimization tips from Sumo 's Noah Kagan remind us to be mindful of the visible space on our pages: