Four Key Elements You Need to Build a Great User Experience

John Turner is the founder of SeedProd, a popular coming-soon page solution used by over 800,000 websites.

Do you want to learn how to create a better user experience (UX) for the folks who visit your website? If so, you're in the right place!

I have over a decade of experience and own multiple businesses, so I've seen firsthand how a great user experience can impact the long-term success of your company.

If you want to win over first-time visitors and turn them into a customer, you need to create a smooth, enjoyable UX. People who have a poor experience on a site are not likely to come back, and each one represents a lost sale or subscriber.

Before we explore the four elements of a good user experience, I want to talk more about what UX is and why it matters.

Understanding User Experience (UX)

Let's make one thing clear: UX as a whole is massive. It encompasses everything from usability to accessibility and design. So, in this sense, every single thing that you do is tied to the experience people have when they interact with your brand.

Whether it's making life easier for people by adding contact information on your social media profile or doing something more complicated, like designing a theme from the ground up, a top-notch UX is ultimately the goal.

I've found that the more you know about your audience, the easier it will be to make changes based on their experience. Think of it this way: you can't create an optimal environment if you don't know what they want.

If you feel like you don't have enough information to start designing for your audience, I highly recommend gathering feedback through email, your website, and social media. Learn what people want and expect from you, and you can start making changes that matter.

Key Elements of Good UX

Now, let's go over four elements that I believe all good user experiences share:

Simple Navigation

Simple, effective navigation is undoubtedly the cornerstone of a user-friendly website. Visitors should be able to find information without feeling stressed, annoyed, or confused.

If I had to give one general tip here, I'd say make sure your website menu is super easy to use. Break things down into categories, use a clean font, and make sure drop-down menus load fast. These adjustments help users find what they need quickly and easily.

You may also want to consider implementing a search function that provides relevant results. A well-designed search bar can be a lifesaver for users looking for specific blog posts or other pages. 

Fast Loading

A slow website can drive users away before they even see your content. Fast load times are critical for maintaining user interest. If your site takes too long to load, people will leave before taking action. Google recommends that a page loads in 2 seconds or less. After this time, more and more users click the back button or close their browser altogether.

There are several fairly easy and effective ways to speed up your site. I suggest compressing images, using a content delivery network (CDN), and hosting videos off-site.

Compressing images reduces their file size without sacrificing quality, which can significantly improve load times. A CDN helps by distributing your content across multiple servers worldwide, ensuring faster delivery to users regardless of their location. Lastly, hosting videos on platforms like YouTube reduces the load on your server and improves playback performance.

You should regularly test your site's speed and address any issues so you can catch any problems before they start impacting UX.

Mobile-Responsive Design

It's hard to stress how important it is that your site is mobile-responsive. Let me put it this way: There are over 4.8 billion smartphone users worldwide. If your site isn't optimized for them, you could miss out on around half of all your traffic.

The key thing to remember about a mobile-responsive design is that it needs to adjust to different devices. For example, smartphone and tablet users should have a comparable experience to desktop users. However, fitting the screen isn't enough. Button placement, visuals, and other elements may need to be adjusted to fit the users' hand placement or screen size.

It's a good idea to invest in a responsive theme for your website. This will allow you to see what it will look like on different devices. Most of these tools also allow you to make tweaks to each version so you can make sure everyone has the best experience possible.

Eye-Catching Visual Design

A good visual design allows you to create a cohesive and engaging experience for your audience, regardless of how they decide to engage with you.

You'll want to use consistent branding across your website and different marketing platforms so people can instantly recognize your content. We found that this one simple tip helped us connect with more customers on social media because they remembered us from a previous visit!

You'll also want to use high-quality images and videos on your website. If your content looks like it was filmed with a camera that came out 20 years ago, people are less likely to trust you and, as a result, less likely to engage with your business.

Finally, don't hesitate to use blank space as a style choice to give your other visuals room to breathe. If you jam everything together in one spot, visitors will have a harder time digesting what you're showing them, which will lead to a negative experience.

Conclusion

There you have it! These are the most important UX elements I've used and observed during my time in the business world. There are many others out there, but if you're thinking about designing or redesigning your site, these four are a great place to start.