You either love all things UX / UI design related, live and breathe user experience, and are in love with conversion rate optimization, or you just read all that and said “what?!”

Out. Loud.

As a passionate business owner, you want to be the best at what you do instead of worrying about new abbreviations like UX (User Experience), or UI (User Interface) or who knows what new one pops up.

You just want results!

You want those precious online leads.

And hey that’s A-OK!

However, you still want to know how to generate leads online, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this right this moment.

So, I’ll do my best to show you the gist of what great UX / UI design encompasses – Now that you know what that means; and recognize if your website needs improvement.

To save you some time, if you haven’t updated your website since 1989, trust me, it NEEDS improvement 😉

Anyways, let’s start from the tippity top.

How’s your navigation menu looking?…

Web Conversion Rate Optimization UX Tip #1: Easy to Access Navigation Menu

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Website Conversion Rate Optimization – Here’s an example of a tidy and optimized menu

Long story short. Do not over-clutter your navigation menu. Your online visitor is going to your site to look for something in specific and if you make it hard for them, they’re going to move on to the next site.

To optimize the user experience, your navigation menu needs to be easy to (yes you guessed it…) NAVIGATE!

You don’t need fifteen page titles in your main navigation, that is why it’s very important that you organize your content into the correct topics so you make it easy for your online reader to find.

Keep the page link number of options in your navigation menu to fewer than seven.

Simplicity is key.

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Website Conversion Rate Optimization – Here’s an example of navigation menus with no fuss

In the examples above each navigation menu is organized in a way that the company’s target audience will be able to find exactly what they are looking for in a matter of seconds.

A streamlined and optimized navigation menu leads to more conversions.

Web Conversion Rate Optimization UX Tip #2: Specific CTAs

Website Conversion Rate Optimization

Website Conversion Rate Optimization – Example of a simple form field

I’ve said it once (not on this blog) and I’ll say it again, “One Page. One Goal”.

What does this mean?

This means that for every page of content on your website there should only be one CTA (call to action) that you are presenting to your online visitor.

Why does this matter?

If you send your visitors to a page and they have five CTAs to choose from, chances are they are going to end up choosing none.

The more choices your user has, the more time they need to make a decision to take an action. (Analysis Paralysis anyone?)

Focus on one CTA, direct them to that one CTA, and voila! You have increased your conversion rate just like that.

*Bonus Tip*

If your CTA is a form, please note you need to keep the number of form fields to a minimum. Here’s an estimate of the conversions that you might lose, upon increasing the number of form fields.

Obviously, based on your industry the information you collect from your online visitor differs but as a rule of thumb, and to optimize the user experience, less is more.

The less information you ask from your visitor, the higher the chances are that the visitor will provide you with that information.

Web Conversion Rate Optimization UX Tip #3: Easy to Spot Contact Information

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Web Conversion Rate Optimization – Users love easy to access contact information

Whether you are a pest control company or a high-end hair salon, one thing is true.

It doesn’t matter how amazing your website is if at the end of the day you make it hard for your users to actually contact you.

Here’s the deal:

If you haven’t figured it out yet, a big part of optimized user experience is to acknowledge the fact that your user needs clarity.

This means we as consumers in a fast-paced world, need things to be designed in a way that is easy and intuitive.

For example, if within your content you keep saying, “If you would like to set up an appointment, please call us and a member of our team will contact you in 24 hours.”

Do you see anything wrong with that?

If a user has been reading this sentence and scrolls up and down on your page and does not see your phone number anywhere, what do you think is going to happen?

Nothing.

Nothing is going to happen because the important information aka the phone number they are looking for, is nowhere to be found.

Another issue might be that maybe you did include your phone number or email and they go to click on it, and nothing happens.

Here’s an example of a well-done contact form:

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Web Conversion Rate Optimization – This form has both an email and a phone number that are linked so you are only a click away

To optimize the user experience, make sure that all phone numbers, email addresses, and location addresses are clickable and easily accessible (from any page) for your online visitor.

Don’t make your site a scavenger hunt for information!

Web Conversion Rate Optimization UX Tip #4: Use symbols, guides, that users are familiar with

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Web Conversion Rate Optimization – A plus sign lets the user know there’s more to read

People don’t like change.

Well, more specifically, people don’t like abrupt change.

For example, across platforms these things are true:

Trash can icon and recycle bin icon = Where to discard files

Folder icons = Where to save files

Why is that?

Because at the end of the day your website is to be built around real users’ needs not the other way around.

These icons were created to emulate real life objects that now people visually connect to their respective actions.

You might be wondering what all this has to do with optimizing the user experience.

Everything!

You can’t make a bullet list on  your site of the service you offer and use a cloud icon as the bullet because from the user’s end it might be misunderstood as if they click on the service some sort of download or storage option will pop up.

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Website Conversion Rate Optimization – Don’t try to re-invent the wheel when it comes to icons

I am not saying you cannot integrate creative new designs or icons on your site but make sure to ease them in and meet your user halfway so they are not completely blindsided by the change and a smooth transition is made.

Web Conversion Rate Optimization UX Tip #5: Color and Font Consistency

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Web Conversion Rate Optimization – Brand consistency across platforms is very important

You will find this tip in 99% of any article you read concerning UX design.

Why?

Because this tip is an oldie but a goodie!

It is like a golden rule that all design must follow:

Brand Consistency.

If your company has been established for a while, then you have a color, or palette, that you must follow across all your marketing materials including your site.

Being consistent helps your brand resonate with your target audience.

For example, if I mention these brands you can easily name the colors that come to mind:

Coca-Cola = Red

Sprite = Green

Netflix = Red

Hulu = Green

Your brand color can also help you draw focus to specific areas of your site (like CTAs hint hint) where you want to encourage engagement.

The font you use is also a big part of how to optimize the user experience.

The number one goal for the font on your website should be for it to be legible so that your content is readable.

Also, different fonts convey different messages so you should be aware of what is the message you want to come across.

Web Conversion Rate Optimization UX Tip #6: Optimization is an Ongoing Process

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Website Conversion Rate Optimization – Your site is forever evolving

I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but there is no such thing as a “forever optimized site.”

What I mean is that you can’t optimize your website one time and then assume you don’t have to optimize it ever again.

Between data and real-life user feedback, your website will be in a constant state of development. Always striving to be its best self.

And that is a good thing!

There are things such as A/B testing, analytics, and focus groups.

This helps you test different design options and see if they impact your end results.

To recap

In this blog we talked about 6 main web optimization tips to look after:

  • Easy to Access Navigation Menu
  • Specific CTAs
  • Easy to Spot Contact Information
  • Use symbols, guides, that users are familiar with
  • Color and Font Consistency
  • Optimization is an Ongoing Process

Now it’s time that you go to your own website and check all these items to make sure you are following the best practices to have a high converting website.

After everything is said and done it is important to remember that functionality trumps aesthetics.

And trust me, as a designer it hurts me to say that.

However, your site can be the most beautiful site in the world but if it’s slow and hard to navigate it will simply not convert.

It does not take rocket science to apply these web conversion rate optimization UX tips, but it does take time and effort to make sure everything is optimized correctly.

By keeping an eye on all the tips shared in this blog post, you’ll be able to increase your current traffic conversion.

If you want to learn how to stay ahead of the curve and increase your traffic, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter. Don’t worry, we won’t spam you! We’ll keep sharing a bunch of actionable tips to help you grow your business.

Now, what tips are you excited to put into action right away? Comment below!