For today’s consumers, customer experience ranks higher in importance than products and pricing. In fact, it’s such a priority that 86% of shoppers will pay more for a positive customer experience. One of the most effective ways publishers can enhance the customer experience is through an effective and well-executed page layout that avoids common design mistakes.
Page design improves the customer experience by helping people quickly and easily find the information they’re looking for. Publishers who follow design best practices can attract new viewers, keep visitors on their pages longer, and boost return visits. All of this helps increase conversions and deliver higher ROI. Provide a positive user experience and improve conversions by avoiding common design mistakes.
5 Common Design Mistakes
Create a user experience that keeps people coming back for more by avoiding these 5 common design mistakes.
1. Cluttered Layout
A brick-and-mortar store with products scattered all over the floor and crammed tightly on shelves makes it difficult to browse and see what products the store has to offer. Chances are, you’ll leave before going to the checkout line. The same goes for publishers’ websites.
When readers find your page, they’ve arrived to discover certain information. It should be easy to find, easy to read, and easy to comprehend. Much of this relies on the page layout and design.
Paragraphs should be brief with spaces in between so readers can focus on the content. The text should be formatted so that everything looks uniform. White space around text blocks gives an open and airy feel, bringing a sense of ease and peace to your readers.
Bulleted lists compartmentalize information and allow readers to skim the page for important highlights. Clean fonts make text-heavy pages easier on the eyes. Keeping the page clean and organized helps readers digest the information and also find other tabs, links, and details.
2. Counterintuitive Navigation
Sites often lack organization and structure, making it difficult for users to find the information they’re looking for. Any time you arrive at a new place, your first instinct is to look for signs that direct you where to go. Why should a publisher’s page be any different?
When visitors land on your page, they don’t want to wander the site aimlessly trying to find the specific information they need. Make things easy to find by organizing your site with clearly-labeled tabs and links. If multiple users tend to look for the same details, consider posting a sidebar on your home page that addresses these frequently searched questions.
Navigate your page as though you were a new viewer. Learn what elements of your design are intuitive, and what areas could be made clearer. The more clarity you can provide and the more detailed directions you can use to guide your users through their journey, the happier your visitors will be. This builds trust, brand loyalty, and increases the chance of repeat visits.
3. No Contact Details
Online publications offer more convenience as readers can access information at any time, from any place, and on any device. Unfortunately, the internet removes an element of human interaction that many users prefer. Even though they want to access their publications online, these readers still want to connect with real people. For this reason, every published page should have a way for visitors to contact your company.
You can:
- Post a customer service phone number and hours of operation so people know when they can call.
- Offer a direct link to an email address or a contact form users can complete to have questions answered.
- Provide a chat feature that allows people to engage with a customer service representative in real-time. A chat bot programmed to answer commonly-asked questions enables people to ask questions, even if it’s outside of normal office hours.
By providing multiple ways for your followers to contact your company, you improve the customer experience and encourage reader loyalty.
4. Lack of Social Media Links
One way to improve the customer experience is to increase reader engagement. The more someone interacts with your brand, the stronger the relationship you can build with them. Social media is an effective way to boost engagement. After all, with social media:
- Content is easily shareable
- People can leave comments and reactions
- Users can engage in discussions through threads and forums
Many websites don’t include direct links to their social media pages. These links are another way for readers to reach your company for answers and solutions. They’re also a way for people to learn more about your business.
Not only can they read details on your social media profile and look through the posts you publish and the followers who engage with you. Readers can find reviews and feedback on forums and threads to see what kind of experience others have had with your publication. This is important because 78% of people trust online reviews as much as a recommendation from a personal friend.
Reach a wider audience, generate more brand awareness, and provide opportunities to improve the customer experience by posting clear links to your social media pages on your publisher’s web pages.
5. No Clear CTA Buttons
One of the most important elements of your publisher site is a call-to-action (CTA) button. After all, the ultimate goal of your web page (besides to provide useful content to your readers) is to entice people to take action.
Perhaps you want them to sign up for a subscription or maybe you want them to visit a certain page on your site. Whatever the goal, the only way to reach it is to tell people how to complete that task. Readers expect CTA buttons to be easy to spot, typically appearing in the same place on each page. Unfortunately, many websites miss the mark and readers aren’t able to locate the link to take the next step to convert.
CTA buttons should be obvious, usually appearing in a contrasting color with bold text. For best performance results, they should appear at the bottom or on the right side of the page’s main content. Wherever you place them, make it consistent across all pages, and never require a user to go back to another page to click on the link.
Design an Effective Page
RevContent is a native advertising platform that allows publishers to monetize their online presence. Our dedicated team of partner advocates can help you design an effective publisher page that drives ROI and delivers real-time, actionable insights for current and future success.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you design a page that delivers a positive user experience to your readers.
