Here’s why it’s important to think about the way users experience and interact with your web pages.
Video transcript:
I was talking to somebody this morning about what I do, and they hadn’t heard of UX, and didn’t know what usability was or why they probably do need to know what it is.
It’s basically how easy things are to use.
So in this case, we’re talking about websites.
How easy is it to use? How quickly and easily can I find the information that I need on a website?
There is something called cognitive load that we want to keep to a minimum – you don’t want people to have to use too much brain power.
People are lazy and they are impatient and they want to get to the information that they need quickly and they don’t want to have to work hard for it.
So there are certain techniques that we can use and certain language that we can choose to make life a lot easier for the user.
We can lay things out in a way that is easy to scan so that people can find what they want very quickly.
We can use language and structure in a way that helps the user flow through the content, which makes it a lot easier so there aren’t abrupt starts and finishes.
All of these things reduce the cognitive load.
It’s also really crucial to choose the right, most effective language for call to actions. If you want somebody to do something, buy something, or sign up for something, we’ve got to use the most effective language possible to get them to do that.
All this comes with experience but there are some core principles that you can follow because this sort of stuff doesn’t change over time. Eye-tracking research from 2000 – which has been tested and tested and still applies today – shows how users read online. It doesn’t matter which device they’re using, the way that the user looks at the content is still primarily the same. So the core principles won’t change.
If you’re interested in this – and it does get quite geeky and technical – this is an amazing place to start, this book, it explains it all really, don’t make me think [Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug].
The user doesn’t want to have to think.
And as a copywriter, it’s great to have this knowledge because you are more likely to engage people – they won’t switch off, they won’t leave.
There are so many websites out there, if people have to work hard for the information, they will go elsewhere very quickly. They won’t come back, they won’t buy what you’re offering.
So it’s something to bear in mind.
If you want to know more, please get in touch. I can point you to some resources online or audit your website for you.