What is usability and its impact on the site

Let's understand what usability is and how the factors of this concept affect the site itself.

Translated from English, “usability” means simplicity and ease of use. The attitude of visitors to your site depends on the level of its usability. The higher the level, the greater the number of visits and the increase in conversions on your site. At any stage of development, it is possible to improve these indicators: during the visual design, the location of all images, work with navigation and writing texts.

 

At a glance, the visitor should understand what the site is about and how to use it. There are a number of questions that a user of your site should never ask:

• What is the most important thing on the site?
• What exactly is website?
about
• How to use it?
• What and where?

Such thoughts take energy, time and interest. Because of this, many users do not scroll to the end of the page. Long loading times, a large amount of information and a complex design can turn off visitors.

There are quite a few factors that can affect your conversion rate. usability audit is carried out to identify problems that may affect the operation of the site. Thanks to this, you can see all the problems, as well as ways to solve them.

1. Long page load time

The main factor on which the work of your site depends is the speed of loading. If the user cannot wait for the page to load, then it makes no sense to talk about the conversion, since 40% of visitors will simply leave the site after a three-second wait for the page to load.

To solve this problem, there is a PageSpeed Insights tool, thanks to which it is possible to see a list of recommendations and use them to speed up the loading process.

In most cases, the main improvements will be related to image size and font loading speed.

There are special algorithms that can be used to reduce the size of an image in megabytes without losing quality.

To optimize fonts, most sites have the ability to use downloadable fonts. This will give your design a personality and will also have a positive impact on your website loading time.

2. First impression

It takes less than a second for a user to decide whether to stay on the site. In this regard, it is important enough that during this time the landing page can create a positive effect. The primary factor that can influence this decision is the design of the site.

First of all, the visitor needs to understand what type of site he has visited. For each type of site (corporate websites, online stores, mini-sites) have their own ways of designing and presenting information. First of all, it is the presence and typical placement of elements: basket block, contact details, search box. During the introduction of new functions to the site, it is desirable to observe the traditional design so that users can feel more comfortable while using the site. When the design of all pages is consistent, the site looks more professional and organized.

Another factor is the graphic style. Use your company's corporate identity and modern design to design your site.

3. There is no clear call to action

It is important that the user, being on any page of the site, clearly understands what to do next and what is the main task of the current page.

A call-to-action element is a button element. Such buttons must be highlighted, made clearly visible, the inscriptions must be understandable and interpreted unambiguously.

But so-called "visual noise" should also be avoided. When using a large number of calls, banners, advertising, fonts and various intrusive elements, it is quite possible to harm and only scare away visitors.

4. Low quality images

Poor quality images and graphics also contribute to lower conversion rates. You need to upload only high-quality pictures, which can be found, for example, on manufacturers' websites or on photo stocks.

5. Poor quality content

Unclaimed content is almost a guarantee of a low conversion rate. It is necessary to study the audience and know about its interests. Prodvigator or similar tools can be used for such purposes. Provide your visitors with all the necessary data about the product: a full description of the product and the country of origin, prices, delivery information and terms, possible additional costs. Try to highlight all the important information and provide quick access to it.

Information can be presented in different formats:

• Articles
• Video
• Photo Reports
• Press Releases

Ready-made content can also be placed on external resources to attract more users.

6. The site is not optimized for mobile devices

Commercial sites in 2016 simply must be optimized for mobile devices. Otherwise, this may result in the loss of a large part of potential customers, as well as a decrease in the overall rating /a>.

7. Ignoring experiments

While making changes to the site, relying on your own assumptions is not the best option. Before implementing any change to the site, it is required to conduct checks and tests.

And the best option for testing is to test on a separate part of the audience (10-20%). And the solution that showed the best result among all is introduced for the entire resource.