A large part of all web design is about engaging web visitors and turn them into potential customers. Entice people into getting a certain product or get them to sign up to acquire a service. This is very important to web designers and business owners in general, and UX (User Experience) is the best path to get a positive User Flow.
If your website doesn’t guarantee a good user experience, chances are that users are not going to use it or recommend other potential users to visit your site. Good user flow is the best way to accomplish this.
User flow describes a series of guidelines or steps that encourage your web page visitors to concentrate on interacting with your website. Such interaction must run with no distractions or barriers, the visitor must be engaged at all times. User flow enhances the way in which your visitors connect to your products, so if you have good user flow, you’re likely to have higher conversions or sales.
When a website is underperforming, businesses tend to believe that the solution relies on heavier marketing strategies and they neglect the importance of the user experience. A good user flow will improve the site’s architecture, making it better and keeping the user as the main focus.
User Flow
In order to be relevant, a website needs to engage the user but and at the same time, the website requires actions from the visitor, like clicking on a certain link or entering an email to receive additional info. User flow is the path that web visitors take when they interact with a website in order to complete a specific task, which in most scenarios has a sales-oriented behavior.
The efficiency of User Flow is determined by how many actions the user completed while on the website, such actions are measured with user flow diagrams that evaluate a series of aspects, including what is the user searching for? What are his/her expectations? Is the user receiving all the necessary information in order to complete the task? Are there any possible barriers that can cause the user to navigate away from the website?
User flow does entail some complexity because there are many ways in which a user can perform a specific action. To overcome this, developers use flow charts which highlight common navigational paths and by doing this, they get a much better illustration of how user experience fluctuates. This helps to identify potential website flaws that make users leave the site or stop completing a determined task.
Another concept worth mention is Site Flow which has a different purpose though it also reflects movement across a website. The only difference is that instead of being there to track down paths to specific actions, they give an in-depth look inside the website to help with organisation data and project estimation.
Why is User Flow necessary?
User flow will make it easier for users to move around specific contact points of a website. When companies optimise user flows they guarantee that users will follow a determined path to complete a task and this is expected to increase the number of conversions - a conversion is when a user turns into a buying customer - your website receives. It helps to build a good understanding between the user’s expectations and the website’s goals.
One of the main purposes of user flow optimisation is to have a positive impact on sales, it aims to boost the website’s conversions and they do it through the use of funnels. Funnels are the steps a customer takes in order to make a purchase. Make sure that your website has a strong leak-free funnel.
A perfect example of a 100% flawless funnel is Amazon. There are four key steps for a visitor to buy a product: First, they go to Amazon’s website. Then they have to look at the product catalogue. After that, it needs to be added to the shopping cart. Finally, the conversion happens. A strong funnel like this one prevents any leaks that can make you lose potential customers, which also affects the company’s reputation. An improved user flow makes happy customers and happy customers keep buying and they recommend the company to others.
The SEO - User Flow connection
User flow is very important to SEO and even though they both have different ways to approach users, they have the same goal. Also, there are many ways in which user flow improves important aspects of good SEO.
For instance, a good user flow will increase the time a web visitor spends on a determined website, it will reduce bounce rates - bounce is when a web visitor navigates away from a website after watching just one page - and help build good relations that make customers return to the website. User flow also improves site speed which is a major SEO aspect.
User flow charts represent a great help to SEO specialists to identify areas where content is stronger and has a positive impact among web visitors, after that all they have to do is boost that content to get results. It is important that your SEO staff knows the value user flow has, so they can implement it adequately in favour of the website.
What do I need to do to improve user flow?
You can improve your website’s user flow before and after you build it. Regardless if you want to improve user flow to generate more revenue by selling a product or if you want visitors to subscribe to a newsletter, the following guidelines will get you there.
If you don’t have a website built yet, you can still optimise many user flow techniques. You can create funnels or choose the right graphics. Don’t underestimate the impact that those little things can have on a web visitor.
Funnels: Make sure that your website developers are equally focused on how the site looks as well on how the site works. Looks matter of course, but you don’t get conversions with a website that looks marvelous but lacks user flow. It is important for developers to know the business needs and to know how their particular clients behave.
If developers take the time to do this, they can come up with great conversion funnels. This guarantees perfect alignment between your site’s goals and those of your potential clients. Funnels give the perfect conditions that allow website designers to concentrate on creating.
The shorter, the better: Content is vital to user flow and SEO and everyone knows it, but remember that too much content can backfire. Keep things short, remember that visitors are often in a weird state of hurriedness, if you hit them with tons of content they’ll get bored or overwhelmed and it will increase your bounce rate numbers.
If on the other hand, the problem relies on lack of content, keep in mind the shorter the better, plus you can also become imaginative with colour and fon
Good Graphics, please
Words are not the only way to engage web visitors into clicking around your website. You can safely rely on icons and graphics to fill any written content gaps your website may have. Choosing the right icons and graphics can definitely guide web visitors around your website
Visuals can make a strong impact on users, it reminds them of the reason why they are visiting the website and puts them back on their way to complete a specific task.
Loading Times
A good share of web visitors are always in a hurry and there are too many websites on the internet, if you put those elements together you get a potential customer who is not willing to wait around for a website that takes forever to load completely. Experts talk about the three-second rule in which if a website takes more than three seconds to fully load, most visitors will click away, and other competitors love that.
Make sure that you pay enough attention to the way your site loads and how good it runs on different browsers and devices. Talk to your web design team on how to come up with fast-loading sites web pages to overcome this issue.
Beware of the fold
The fold is that area on the screen of a computer or mobile that users can see without scrolling down. Don't make the mistake of assuming that all web visitors are going to scroll down. If your website includes calls to action - which is when your website suggests to its visitors to do something - then make sure that they are located above that fold just to make sure you get to those who will never bother to scroll down.
A/B Testing
If conversions are the ultimate goal of your user flow and SEO efforts, then make sure you A/B test every aspect of your website. A/B Testing is when two versions of a specific aspect of a website are created, then released to the internet to see which ones get a better response from visitors.
As you can see A/B testing can be time-consuming but it guarantees highly accurate predictions about what users want from your website.
User flow will get your website where you want it to be and if you make a good blend of user flow and SEO you can have a bullet-proof strategy for your market, enhancing your market competition.