In today’s competitive digital landscape, your website is the most powerful tool you have at your disposal. Take a moment and think about why customers visit websites. What do they like about such websites? What makes them continue to visit them?

It boils down to the website’s user experience — which is simply a set of practices, features, and designs that makes a website easy for users to navigate. Shockingly, 88 percent of online customers claim that they will stop visiting a website after a bad user experience, according to Amazon Web Services.

So what can you do to improve the user experience for your website? Here are some simple tips to get your UX in check.

1. Take Advantage of Your Website’s White Space

White space is an important element of good website design. It makes the content more readable and allows the users to focus on the critical features adjoining the text. With effective use of this space, you can convey the exact feeling to your website users.

To make the most out of your white space make sure you increase the white space in long text blocks on the right and left margins and also increase the line space for your text in the body. The key point is to identify what’s most important, communicate it at the top, and highlight it so that the user can see it first.

2. Optimize Your Page Speed

Research shows that an additional 10 seconds of page load time can increase a website’s bounce rate by 123 percent or more.

The most frustrating experience for browsers online is waiting too long for a page to load. Website visitors expect a fast and seamless online experience. Pages that load in 1 to 2 seconds have a higher conversion than those that take longer to load.

So what is the ultimate solution? Take advantage of the free services offered by Google to assess your mobile and website speed. You will also find countless tips and suggestions to improve load time for mobile and desktop online.

3. Make Your Website Responsive and Mobile-Friendly

Users are five times more likely to leave a site if it isn’t mobile-friendly. So, you are missing out on a huge number of potential customers if your site isn’t optimized for mobile and desktop. To serve the browsing needs of mobile internet users, ensure your website is mobile-friendly and users can interact with a single touch. Optimization also helps your website in SEO. Google has free services to help you test if your website is mobile-friendly.

4. Use Calls to Action That Stand Out

A call to action (CTA) initiates actions from the users. CTAs that are marked with actionable words enable your users to easily navigate your website and prompt them to take the next step. To create appealing CTAs, use active words and bold buttons. Also, take into account the colors and their impact on the user’s psychology. The psychology of color involves the use of different hues to evoke various feelings and results from your visitors.

5. Consistency Is Key

Consistency means that every element of your website including the colors, fonts, button styles, illustration styles, design features, image usages, spacing, and more matches. Simply, every aspect of your website should blend well to create a comprehensive design across pages. A consistent website will not only provide an enhanced user experience but also boost your conversions and user retention.

6. Use Well-Written Headlines

Headlines are simple sneak peeks that tell users what the content is all about. They should be aligned with what users are looking for. Make sure you include keywords in your title to convey the message clearly and attract the right target audience. Apart from improving UX, using well-designed headlines also improves SEO rankings.

7. Use High-Quality Images

Modern internet users are savvy judges of websites online before they decide to browse the site further. Use a high-quality image on your website to catch the user’s attention and convey the desired message coherently. While images are effective, try to avoid using generic images such as stock images as they are easily identifiable by customers and users tend to ignore them. Authentic and high-quality images put across a personalized message to users and help to build your bond and brand in the long run.

8. Include Clear and Concise Navigation Functions

You have five to ten seconds to make the first impression on your site visitors.

A simple and intuitive layout with clear navigation allows visitors to access your key features and most visited pages. Since navigation forms the whole architecture of your site, make sure the headings contain language that is easy to understand. Also, don’t include too many options so that you don’t overwhelm your visitors when they come to your site.

An effective user experience design is a unified effort that simplifies the web experience and improves conversion and user retention. These key tips will guide you on how to improve your website’s user experience.

If you’re having trouble optimizing your website, get in touch with the design and development experts at Camber to take your UX to the next level.