What is it?

The User Experience (UX) is the perception, either positive or negative, that a user obtains after interacting with a product or service.

In the interaction of a user with a web page, a software or an app involved many factors such as graphic design, intuitiveness, trust, information architecture etc., which will be determinant in the user’s perception about it; That is, in the user experience.

Why is it important?

Very easy: because the success or failure of our solution will depend to a great extent on the user experience it offers.

A web that is simple to use, clear, intuitive, complete and with which the user feels at ease will be much more likely to succeed.

When does the user experience with our website start?

For many authors, the User Experience of a web begins at the same moment in which the user accesses a web page; Starts with the loading time of the web.

But the User Experience starts even earlier; Starts in the search engines and in the domain of the web itself:

Search engines: That the search engines find your page easily and that they show it in the first 2-3 pages is very important for the user experience; If the keywords are not correct or your link is displayed on page 12 of a search engine, the most likely is that the user will never get to visit you.

For example: Imagine that you want to eat at a restaurant in a village; You go to the village, but you do not find any indications, so ask and they tell you that you have to climb some stairs, get to the square, turn right, go down some stairs and on the third street turn left, then the second Right, get to the traffic light, fourth to the right, climb a few stairs and then turn right until you reach the fountain, once in the fountain ask that you will be close …

Yes, the food was wonderful, and the prices very affordable, but getting to the restaurant has been really complicated and you may not remember how to get there next time.

The user experience with the restaurant did not start with a very good foot.

That is why it is important to make your website easily and try to make the search engines show it in the first few pages.

Domain:The domain name should be short and easy to remember. If it has to be long, it will be very descriptive and representative of the web. We will avoid scripts and numbers, and preferably, we will use one the extensions .com, .net or our country (.es, .us, …)

A domain name that does not meet these requirements can cause confusion, despair and abandonment in the attempt to visit our website. For example if the name of the domain maikas-shoe-store-forwomen.me:

“What was the shoe named again?”

“Shoes, hypen, for, hypen, women, maika…. No.
The, shoestore, the, women….
No, no, the shoe and store where divided by a hypen?
Hypen maikasshorstoreforwomen.com…. wait
Was is .com?
No, no shoestore , hypen maikas shoe for hypen women.biz?
You know what I mean?”

Would not it be easier: maikashoeshop.com, or maika.es, or shoestoremaika.net?

Thus, we see that both the domain name and the ease of finding the web and the position in the search engines are the first factors that intervene in the User Experience.

In the user experience (UX) there are many factors that can be highlighted:

• Charging time: A web should not take more than 4 seconds to load otherwise, the user may tire of waiting or believing that the web does not work properly.
• Visual impact: Visual impact is the first impression a user has when he visits a website for the first time and it is obtained during the first 3-4 seconds in which he visualises the web.

This first impression is formed through the perception of various factors such as:

1. Graphic design: The graphic design of the website should be related to the content, the theme and the profile of the users who will visit us. In this sense, the choice of colours in which we will design our website will be important and we will use the psychology of colours to make our end users feel at ease and identified at the same time, we will use colours to convey the feelings we want That the user perceives.
2. Theme and objective: Both the theme and the objective of the web should be clear from the beginning; A user can not doubt the thematic or the objective of our web. If our website is a guitar shop, it should be clear from the beginning that the website is dedicated to guitars and that it is a store
3. Structure: The structure of the website should not be confused, it must be standard and clearly identifiable, with corporate identity at the top, main content at the center, menus and main sections clearly identified in blocks.
4. Content: The content must be structured, labeled and contain related images to break the monotony. The texts should be structured in labeled paragraphs and the images should be related and be of quality.

• Intuitiveness: The user must be able to use the web in an intuitive way, having clear the steps to follow in each moment.
• Structure: The structure of the web must be structured in blocks, be clear, simple and constant for all screens on the web.

The structure in “F” is one of the most common and intuitive for the user in which we find the corporate image or name of the web at the top (left or centred), main sections and search engine at the top Under the identity, the content in the central part or body of the page and the menu or links of interest on the left side of the screen.

•  Navigability: In order to offer a good customer experience, the web must offer a correct navigability; You need to be able to scroll through all the screens easily and intuitively.
• Content: The content we offer will be relevant, related and truthful; Will be properly labelled and accompanied by quality images and good resolution.
• Trust: The confidence we offer our users will be of special importance in the user experience, because if we do not transmit trust, we will hardly fulfil our objectives.

To provide confidence in our users there are a number of aspects that we must take into account:

Corporate identity: The name of the company, the website or the logo must be clearly visible and identifiable.

Company information: The user wants to know who is behind the web so it is recommended to include a section that talks about the company, its components, etc.

Seals of confidence: If we have reliable web seals, it is advisable to display them clearly and visibly.

Contact information: The user feels more secure if he / she finds data and methods of contact with the company.

Information pages: Pages like “Privacy Policy”, “Legal Notice” etc. In addition to providing information, generate a lot of confidence in the user.

Appearance: The image we offer must be serious and professional at the same time.

• Contact and communication: Offering data and contact forms is of great importance for the user experience.It is necessary to offer the maximum number of contact information (address, timetable, etc.) and offer the maximum possible contact forms (email, chat, telephone, …)

In this sense we must take into account a couple of aspects:

• A landline phone offers more security and confidence in the user than a mobile phone number.
• Contact emails have to be serious and professional, avoiding emails like [email protected], [email protected], etc.

As for the communication has to be fast (no more than 24-48 hours), professional, close and resolution’s.

• Information to the user: The user must be informed of what happens at any time; If there is an error, you have to explain the reason, if a function is not available you have to announce it, the user can not get unexpected results. For example: if clicking a link is going to open or download a file, the user has to know it before pressing it.
• Updated Web: Both the content and the web in general must be updated at all times.

If we no longer offer a function we would have to remove it from the web; The ads and banners must be updated.

For example: We access an online store that offers on its home page an offer of an item; The offer ends on January 15, but the website is visiting on February 8.

This lack of updating of the information can make us think that the company does not pay due attention to the web, gives an impression of sloppiness or unprofessional.

• Multi-device: Our website must be displayed and working properly on all possible devices (PC, laptop, tablets, smartphones, …). For this we will create the necessary versions to cover all possible cases.
• Compatibility: Regardless of the Internet browser and operating system used by the user, the web must be displayed and can be used correctly.

These are the most important factors in the User Experience although, as we have said there are many more, which we will detail in later articles

At Checkealos we seek the continuous improvement of the User Experience in each of the web platforms, mobile applications and software in the digital world. We like to make things easy and comfortable for the user, while increasing conversions.