Are you ready to create a website that looks incredible and converts audiences to loyal, repeat customers? You need more than just a web designer for your ecommerce or service business. A User-Experience Designer helps create an easy-to-navigate website for a satisfying customer journey. From research to implementation and analysis, here’s what to look for before you make your next hire.
Develops (or Understands) the User
Above all else, your User-Experience Designer should be able to develop or understand the end-user. Your customers want more than customized meal plans or server network solutions; they want a seamless and cohesive experience during their buying journey that they can trust. The User-Designer often relies on research, data, online reports, and A/B testing to create a smooth process from first click to check-out.
Helps Build and Maintain a Brand
A rock-solid brand helps maintain your business’s look, feel, and personality, from your web assets to your social media channels. However, translating that digitally takes more than choosing the right colors and ensuring your brand provides the online experience customers want. What do you expect from Nike when you visit its website? Customers can tell instantly it’s the brand they know and love and want to navigate the site easily, find the products they want, and navigate the check-out process, all with Nike’s brand personality and reputation intact.
Your User-Experience Designer can also help develop your voice or run with the brand you’ve already created to ensure it stays uniform and cohesive across your website.
Integrates UX and UI
There’s some confusion about UX (user experience) and UI (user interface), but they should work in tandem to help create an eye-catching, high-converting website that attracts and convert customers. However, there are some key differences to consider. UX design is about identifying and solving a user problem. UI is about making it all look great and function well. UI might refer to your site buttons, menu bars, fonts, and colors. However, UX is more about what kind of experience a user has with your website while using it.
In an ideal world, you want a UX-Designer that practices both UX and UI to give you the best of both worlds. After all, an easy-to-navigate site won’t do much unless it looks incredible, and a website with quality design won’t convert unless it’s satisfying to use.
Analyzes the Results
You need more than a great-looking website for your company; it also needs to convert to leads and sales. Your User-Experience Designer should regularly pull your online analytics and look at various KPIs, including but not limited to:
- Bounce rate
- Average order rate
- Daily sales
- Traffic sources
- Abandoned shopping cart statistics
The more your User-Experience understands where customers are stalling in the buying journey and where they’re taking action, the more efficient your website becomes. Ask your designer how they analyze and test results to provide the best experience possible for you and your customers.
Innovative and Implements
Part of UX is about how someone feels when they experience your website or product. But in a digital world, it can be challenging to create an evocative, emotional experience while remaining professional and helpful. The answer points back to the overall experience. Your User-Experience Designer should understand how to create a look, feel, and navigation across your website that retains a feeling that aligns with your brand.
There’s nothing wrong with having a highly corporate website, but does it match up with what your customers are expecting? A highly casual brand is also a win, provided the services and products you offer match and entice the right audience. When things are out of alignment with your business, brand, and website, your customers experience a mismatch and it weakens their buying journey.
Next Steps
When you’re ready to invest in a user-experience designer, we’re here to help. Digital Nomad Designs are Shopify web design experts and Shopify Partners. Whether it’s SEO, shop management, content creation, or A/B testing, our goal is to optimize the user experience and improve the conversion rate continuously. Ready to launch or grow your online store? Book a call with us today.