To create a good user experience on your website – always focus on the user’s journey
Most people now have access to multiple devices to search the web – find information, research products and services, make bookings and buy online. So, you don’t know where they’ll start or how they’ll be interacting with your company online. Someone might start on their mobile on your Facebook page, then go to their tablet to do more research and then move to a desktop to make the final purchase.
So, rather than plan for devices or touchpoints like Facebook, your website and digital media should be planned for the user’s journey.
How do you understand the user journey?
Answering the following questions will help you understand and accommodate the needs of users to your website. This can be done through customer journey mapping.
- 1. What are they trying to do? (eg: find a form, make a purchase, pay an account, etc.)
- What do they want to know?
- How do they interact with your organisation?
- How do they feel when coming to your site?
- Do they fail to accomplish what they wanted or run into any dead ends?
What is a customer journey map?
A customer journey map is a visualisation of the process that a person goes through in order to accomplish a goal. It’s used for understanding and addressing customer needs and pain points.
Mapping the customer’s journey allows you to focus on how people accomplish their goals on your website. The mapping should be done at the planning stage for your website, when the navigation and information architecture is being planned.
How is a customer journey map created?
Customer journey maps are created by consulting your customers about what they want to accomplish on your site. You can ask them to complete certain tasks and see where any problems or frustrations come up.
It helps to identify different types of users or visitors and the touchpoints (or ways they are interacting with your organisation – eg: email, social media, phone call, post, website) at each stage of their journey. This will then shape the design and user experience.
We explained how companies can approach the process of designing for good user experiences in this article.
Get in touch with us at Wayfound if you are planning a website or need help with any aspect of your digital communications strategy.
