Peter from Built for Mars used to say wisely, “Good UX Takes Time. Bad UX Costs Money!”. In means Good UX Design benefits, if not today, But sure in the long run. But bad UX is going to cost both time and money.  Yes, In the digital age, where user experience (UX) can make or break a product’s success, the old adage “time is money” takes on a new meaning. Good UX design requires investment in time and resources, but it pays off in the long run. On the other hand, bad UX may seem like a shortcut, but it comes with hidden costs that can significantly impact your bottom line.

The True Cost of Bad UX

Bad UX can manifest in various ways, each carrying its own financial burden:

• High Bounce Rates and Low Conversions: Users frustrated by confusing navigation, slow loading times, or unintuitive interfaces will quickly abandon your site or app. This translates to missed opportunities for sales, sign-ups, or any desired user action.
• Increased Customer Support Costs: When users can’t figure out how to use your product, they turn to customer support. This leads to a surge in support tickets and calls, straining your resources and increasing operational expenses.
• Negative Brand Perception: Poor UX leaves a lasting negative impression on users. They’re likely to share their frustrations with others, damaging your brand reputation and discouraging potential customers.
• Lost Market Share: In a competitive landscape, users have plenty of alternatives. If your product offers a subpar experience, they’ll simply switch to a competitor, impacting your market share and revenue.

Examples of Bad UX and their Financial Impact

Let’s look at some real-world examples:

• E-commerce site with a cluttered layout and confusing checkout process: Users struggle to find products and abandon their carts due to frustration, leading to lost sales.
• Mobile app with slow loading times and frequent crashes: Users delete the app in frustration, resulting in decreased user engagement and potential revenue from in-app purchases.
• Enterprise software with a steep learning curve and poor documentation: Employees waste time trying to figure out how to use the software, impacting productivity and increasing training costs.

The Investment in Good UX

Good UX design requires a user-centric approach, involving thorough research, prototyping, testing, and iteration. This takes time and resources, but the benefits far outweigh the costs:

• Increased User Satisfaction and Engagement: A well-designed product delights users, encouraging them to spend more time and interact more deeply with your brand.
• Improved Conversions and Revenue: Intuitive interfaces and seamless user flows guide users towards desired actions, boosting conversions and sales.
• Reduced Customer Support Costs: A user-friendly product minimizes confusion and frustration, decreasing the need for customer support and saving resources.
• Enhanced Brand Reputation: Positive UX fosters loyalty and advocacy, strengthening your brand image and attracting new customers.
• Competitive Advantage: In a crowded market, superior UX can set your product apart, giving you a significant edge over competitors.

Ideas for Prioritizing UX

• Involve UX designers early in the product development process: Their expertise can help shape the product from the ground up, ensuring a user-centric approach.
• Conduct thorough user research: Understand your target audience’s needs, goals, and pain points to inform design decisions.
• Create prototypes and test them with real users: Gather feedback early and often to identify and address usability issues before launch.
• Iterate on the design based on user feedback: Continuously improve the UX based on real-world usage data and user insights.
• Make UX an ongoing priority: Regularly evaluate and refine the UX to keep up with evolving user expectations and technological advancements.

Conclusion

Investing in good UX is not an expense, but rather an investment in the future success of your product. By prioritizing user needs and creating intuitive, enjoyable experiences, you can increase engagement, boost conversions, and build a loyal customer base. Remember, good UX takes time, but bad UX costs money. Choose wisely.

The post Good UX Takes Time. Bad UX Costs Money. first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Exploring AI for UX Designers: Insights and Strategies for Web Designers

In a time when technology goes beyond being a tool and becomes an extension of capabilities, User Experience (UX) design plays an increasingly crucial role. Now its time to learn AI for UX Designers.  The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), in this field, is not merely a passing trend; it represents a shift that has the potential to redefine how we interact with interfaces, particularly in web UX design. This comprehensive exploration aims to delve into the future of UX in the AI era, encouraging web UX designers to harness the power of AI to enhance user experience streamline design processes and address emerging challenges.

1. AI Driven Personalization; Revolutionizing User Engagement

The concept of personalization in UX design is undergoing a transformation thanks, to AI. By analyzing user data AI algorithms can create customized experiences. For web UX designers this means creating interfaces that are not fixed but dynamic and adapt to the users’ behavior, preferences and context. Imagine a website that adjusts its layout, content and even interaction methods based on the user’s interactions, current needs and potential future requirements. This level of personalization has the potential to significantly increase user engagement and satisfaction.

2. Deep User Understanding, through Machine Learning

Machine Learning (ML) a fundamental aspect of AI enables systems to learn from data sets to recognize patterns and make decisions. This capability offers potential for UX designers. By harnessing ML, designers can gain insights into user behaviors, needs and pain points. This shift from assumption based to data driven design has the power to greatly enhance the usability and accessibility of web products, resulting in experiences that genuinely resonate with users.

3. Revolutionizing Design Processes with AI Automation

AIs capacity to automate tasks represents a game changing development for the UX design process. Activities like generating wireframes, selecting color palettes and conducting user testing can be. Even automated using AI tools. This transformation allows designers to allocate time to creative and intricate aspects of design—such as crafting narratives and establishing emotional connections, with users. The outcome is not increased efficiency, but an elevated design process that fosters greater innovation and creativity.

4. The Rise of Predictive UX and Proactive Designs

Predictive UX fueled by AI technology takes user experience a step further by designing systems that not respond to user actions but also anticipate their needs.

Web UX designers need to create interfaces that go beyond reacting to user actions. They should strive for an approach, where the design anticipates and suggests actions offers assistance or provides content based on the user’s past interactions. This way, the user’s journey becomes smoother and more intuitive.

5. Navigating Ethical Considerations in AI-Driven UX

When it comes to AI driven UX, designers face considerations that cannot be ignored. Data privacy and security are aspects that demand attention. Designers must ensure that their AI driven designs adhere to standards respecting user privacy and safeguarding their data. By adopting ethical design practices, designers can build trust with users, in an AI dominated landscape.

6. Continuous Learning: The Key to Mastering AI in UX

To master AI in UX design, continuous learning is essential. The field of AI is always evolving, with developments emerging rapidly. UX designers must stay updated with the advancements, in AI and actively experiment with tools and methodologies. This ongoing process of learning and experimentation will not keep designers at the forefront of advancements but also ensure that their designs remain impactful and relevant.
The Role of AI, in Improving Accessibility and Inclusion

7. AI’s Role in Enhancing Accessibility and Inclusivity

One of the aspects of AI in user experience (UX) is its potential to enhance accessibility and inclusivity in digital experiences. AI can help identify and address accessibility issues, ensuring that website designs cater to a range of users with abilities and preferences. From voice activated interfaces to personalized content adjustments for users with needs, AI can play a role in making the web more inclusive for everyone.

8. The Future Landscape: Integrating AI with Human Centered Design

Looking to integrating AI into UX design goes beyond the technology itself; it’s about how we can use it to create empathetic experiences that prioritize human needs. The future of UX lies in finding the balance between leveraging the capabilities of AI while maintaining a focus on human experiences. This balance will be essential in developing products that’re not only technologically advanced but also deeply resonant with users on an emotional level.

So, how do we embrace the AI Driven Future of UX?

The future of UX, within the realm of AI, holds promise offering opportunities to create personalized, efficient and intuitive user experiences. As web UX designers, embracing AI means not adapting to tools and technologies, but also reimagining our approach to design.
By responsibly and creatively utilizing AI, we have the ability to design experiences that genuinely cater to the requirements of users to push the limits of innovation and make an impact, on creating a world that is accessible and inclusive.

The post The Future of UX in the World of AI – AI for UX Designers first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

In the world of web UI design for interfaces, paying attention to the smallest details is crucial. We would like to give some Mobile Interface Design Tips, which should help you to avoid certain common mistakes. Experienced designers can sometimes overlook aspects of design that can have a significant impact. This blog aims to highlight seven mistakes in mobile interface design. Emphasizes why ignoring these UI issues can be harmful.

1. Prioritizing Style Over Substance

Mistake: Many designers prioritize appeal at the expense of functionality. An app that looks great but is not user-friendly will struggle to retain users.

Solution: Find a balance between elements and usability. Ensure that your design enhances the user experience, than hindering it.

2. Ignoring Fingers and Thumbs

Mistake:Mobile devices are often used on the go, which can add to the difficulty of precise tapping. Larger, well-spaced targets accommodate this variability in usage contexts, making the app more reliable and easier to use, even when the user is in motion or in less-than-ideal conditions (like under direct sunlight or in a crowded space).  Designing for touch screens requires a different approach than designing for mouse-based interactions. On mobile devices, users rely on their fingers to navigate, which are significantly less precise than mouse pointers. Designers sometimes overlook this aspect, resulting in touch targets (like buttons and links) that are too small or too close together, making them challenging to tap accurately. This issue can lead to user frustration, as it increases the likelihood of erroneous inputs and makes the app feel less responsive and intuitive.

Solution: Create to tap targets. Make sure buttons and interactive elements are comfortably sized for finger tapping.

3. Overlooking Load Times

Mistake: In the visually driven world of mobile apps, designers often employ high-resolution graphics and intricate animations to catch the user’s eye. However, this visual appeal comes at a cost. Heavy graphics and animations can significantly increase the load time of an application or a website. Mobile users, accustomed to instant access, find slow-loading interfaces frustrating. This frustration not only impacts the user experience but also contributes to higher bounce rates as users are more likely to abandon a site that doesn’t load quickly.

Solution: Optimize images and animations to ensure load times. Keep in mind the limitations of users mobile data usage.

4. Neglecting Accessibility

Mistake: Failing to consider users with disabilities can limit your app’s reach and usability.

Solution: Incorporate accessibility features such as screen readers, voice commands, and adjustable text sizes.

5. Disregarding Feedback Systems

Mistake: Another critical aspect is providing feedback for user actions. Without it users can become confused and unsure if the app is responding.

Solution: To overcome this issue, implementing haptic feedback for user interactions will provide acknowledgment of their actions.

6. Cluttering the Interface

Mistake: In an effort to provide as much information and functionality as possible, designers sometimes overload mobile interfaces with excessive content and elements. This practice, often referred to as ‘screen clutter,’ can overwhelm users, making the app difficult to navigate and use. The small screen real estate of mobile devices exacerbates this issue, as too many elements compete for the user’s attention.

Solution: So, Embrace minimalism. Keep the content concise. To the point, while effectively utilizing whitespace to create an uncluttered interface.

7. Inconsistent Design Across Platforms

Mistake: In our multi-device world, users often interact with applications across various platforms, such as smartphones, tablets, and desktops. When UI elements are inconsistent across these platforms, it can lead to user confusion. Inconsistencies might be in the form of different layouts, contrasting color schemes, varying fonts, or disparate navigation patterns. This inconsistency can disrupt the user’s intuitive understanding of the application, making it harder to navigate and use effectively on different devices.

Solution: Maintain design consistency across all platforms. Utilize responsive design principles to ensure a seamless experience on any device.

Conclusion

If designers overlook these factors in the design of mobile user interfaces, it can negatively impact the user experience. Ultimately hinder the success of the app. However, by addressing these issues, designers have the opportunity to improve the usability, accessibility and overall attractiveness of applications. It’s important to remember that, in mobile interface design it’s not, about creating appealing designs but also ensuring they function exceptionally well for all users.

Do you require help in improving your website’s Mobile interface?

We at Macronimous can help you with our expert UI/UX team support.

Feel free to inquire us today for a no-obligation design Consulting.

contact now

The post Mobile Interface Design Tips for 2024: Avoid these 7 UI mistakes first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

We get it! Giving feedback to web development teams can be a daunting task, especially if you’re not tech-savvy. It’s like trying to explain to your grandparents how to use a smartphone – frustrating, time-consuming, and often leads to a lot of hair-pulling. But worry not, we’ve got you covered.

Here are some simple techniques that you can use to provide useful feedback that will help your web development team understand how to get what you want.

Be Specific – Don’t Beat Around the Bush

When providing feedback, be as specific as possible. Don’t beat around the bush or use vague language. Instead, use concrete examples to illustrate your point. For instance, instead of saying “I don’t like the layout,” say “I think the layout would work better if the logo was moved to the left and the navigation bar was at the top.” Point out the features from the initial web development specification if there are any deviations.

Do not give functional-level feedback and be focused on UI and UX.

Use Visuals – A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Visual aids are your friend. Use screenshots, annotations, or even sketches to illustrate your feedback. This will help your web development team visualize what you’re trying to say and make it easier for them to implement the changes. If you can take screenshots and draw/write your feedback on the images, that should work well.

Keep It Simple – Don’t Overcomplicate Things

Avoid using technical jargon or complicated language when providing feedback. Keep it simple and straightforward. Your web development team doesn’t need to know the ins and outs of your industry jargon. They just need to know what changes you want to see.

Be Constructive – Not Destructive

Remember, feedback is not about criticizing or finding fault. It’s about working together to make the product better. So, be constructive in your feedback. Point out the things that are working well and suggest improvements for the things that aren’t.

Sending feedback to a person unknown requires patience, as you are aware the goal is to get things done right. Leave some appreciation for UI, especially when you give a lot of changes. This will motivate the designer to come up with better things next.

Be Timely – Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

Finally, provide feedback in a timely manner. Don’t wait until the project is almost complete to provide feedback. This will only lead to frustration and delays. Instead, provide feedback at regular intervals throughout the project. Your developer might be working on more than one project, and timely feedback speaks a lot about you. It gives them an impression that you equally expect timely responses.

We hope these tips help you provide effective feedback to your web development team. Remember, giving feedback is an art that takes practice, but with the right techniques, you can become a pro. Happy feedback-ing!

The post A Guide to Giving Feedback on Web UI, UX, and Web Applications (Without Wanting to Pull Your Hair Out) first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Almost every business struggles with the task of earning and retaining customer loyalty. This is especially true in today’s competitive world, where more businesses are emerging each day and competing for the same customer’s loyalty. Does UX Design for experiences have a role in this effect?

Companies that want to stay ahead of their peers ought to look beyond offering products with enhanced features. Focusing on delivering memorable experiences instead can make customers feel more connected to your brand and thereby improve customer retention. In this article, we shall explore experience design in more detail and see why you should design for experiences rather than product features.

UX design for user experiences: what is experience design in web app development?

Experience design prioritizes people’s experiences to create the appearance and features of environments, processes, products, and strategies. Experience designers look to customers’ desires, needs, contexts, and mindsets to produce experiences centering on them. These experiences can range from anything from transactional investments to online support.

For instance, a ride-share company recognized that on their app, people preferred to communicate their pick-up location via text message instead of calling the driver. Consequently, the company designed a map and an address bar on the app where customers could type in their exact location. Not only did this adjustment make it easier for customers to interact with their drivers, but it also improved the entire experience of using the app.

Quality experience design is when every aspect of user interaction with a product is well considered and implemented strategically. It requires a shift in thinking from “what can we make?” to “what do our customers need?”. This shift is possible when you consider the advantages that designing user experiences can have compared to simply creating attractive features for all your products.

Why should UX design for experiences need to be done?

Many prominent brands have used experience design as a business strategy, as it allowed them to enter a competitive market and establish a strong foothold. If you want to know more about why you should focus on experiences for your brand as well, here are the top reasons:

Functionality 

Delivering experiences enables brands to provide functional products to their customers. Rather than thinking about what features are popular in the market, companies focus more on what their customers have requested. This allows them to design useful products of greater value to clients.

Human-centered approach for ux design for experiences

UX design for User experiences is one way in which your customers can feel noticed, heard, and understood. Unlike other marketing techniques, experience design considers customers’ emotions to be among the top priorities of product design. This emphasis on users’ emotions allows brands to build long-term relations with customers.

Lower support costs when ux design for experiences

Research indicates that companies which invest in experience design see lower support expenses and lower customer acquisition costs. There is also evidence that there is a high return on investment in experience design. Such low costs ought to incentivize small businesses, especially, about incorporating experience design in the product ideation process.

Aesthetics

As apps and websites are created and marketed for humans, it is only rational for companies to make them appear more human-like. User Experiences enhance the aesthetics of websites and apps, making them more appealing to clients. Since many organizations invest a lot in determining which color schemes and graphics to use, making an app aesthetically pleasing to the eye will motivate customers to keep making virtual visits.

Access to information

The growth of the digital world has transformed the ways in which we consume information about the world around us. Most people will turn to their phones or laptops to find out the latest news instead of picking up a newspaper. That is why including plenty of useful information in apps and websites empowers customers with knowledge that can help them in their daily lives.

Increase in revenue using ux for 

When users get experiences that are accessible and simple, they will frequently wish to visit your app. Users can also recommend your brand to others, which will lead to more visitors. This translates into more conversions and, ultimately, greater income for your business.

Ultimately, when you offer positive interactions which are of high-value, you will retain more customers as they will enjoy engaging with your business. Deeper levels of customer engagement can turn into customer loyalty which will give your business an edge in the industry. Focusing on experiences then instead of features can go a long way with helping to grow your business.

Sources:

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/ux-design-tip-figure-out-the-experience-first-and-not-the-features

https://www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/experience-design/

https://uxdesign.cc/want-loyal-subscribers-build-experiences-instead-of-features-c4a2e31335d5

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/ux-design

https://www.clockwork.com/insights/what-is-experience-design/

https://pixel506.com/insights/10-benefits-of-improving-user-experience-and-how-to-improve-yours

The post WHY YOU SHOULD DESIGN FOR EXPERIENCES RATHER THAN PRODUCT FEATURES? first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

User Interface (UI) Design is no easy task as it takes a lot of planning, design, and implementation. Not just design, but showing the UI to our customers is also a big process. Our job as UI/UX designers is to ensure that the developers have the resources and tools to implement the design and give the exact look, feel and design that they look for. Styling a UI through coding is a long, monotonous process of placing elements, using different fonts, colors, and so on. Your aim in presenting your UI designs should be to share the UI designs and prototypes that you have reviewed and made ready for feedback. What your clients see will determine the review process. It is important to present your ideas when necessary and get as much information as possible. Presenting and sharing your UI design to your clients remotely is a tedious task and requires a lot of arranging and communicating, and it is important to save time in this process. It is an agile way of doing as a team.

Getting feedback and corrections about the UI from the client can be a long process with lots of calls, meetings, and Emails. Especially when you or your team wants working collaborative in UI/UX. It is better to use some project collaboration tools for effective communication and reducing unnecessary meetings, which can be avoided by directly showing the project and getting feedback, and making the changes simultaneously.

There are a wide variety of design collaboration tools that help designers improve their design sharing process. We have categorized the different tools into three sections.

• Design/Project Collaboration Tools
• Explainer Videos
• Screen Recording Tools

Choosing the right design tool at the right design stage always means a lot. Here is a list of some Design Collaboration tools that can be used for UI Sharing

1. Adobe XD

This is one of the most prominent tools that people use for sharing UI. Adobe XD makes it easy to design UI and UX. You can perform tasks quickly with test interactions and flows, and get a truer sense of the project, so you can finish the project sooner and reduce the time spent on reviewing and making changes. Adobe XD has some good features that help you present and share your UI designs. Loaded with UI kits and plug-ins, this is one of the most reliable ways to share your UI with your client.

Adobe XD’s live collaboration feature is very useful, Co-editing, allows the designer and client to work together simultaneously on the same file. Co-editing is not only useful for designer-to-designer collaboration but also for those crucial client and designer interactions, especially for remote teams where it is difficult to have face-to-face meetings. You can use this to make changes in real-time and have interaction and feedback from the client directly. It is very efficient and can save you a lot of time

2. Userlytics

The Userlytics Testing Suite is a platform that allows you to test and run moderated or non-moderated user experience and testing projects. This helps you create a customized user experience based on your need. It is easy to set up tests and the required tasks, and It helps you run tests of your website, so you can get feedback about the UX. It helps find areas of improvement for your website, it is like a mock-up of the actual website so that the client can get a feel of the site and how it works.

3. Mockplus iDoc

Mockplus iDoc is one of the popular project design collaboration tools for designers and developers. It is useful in creating a connected online space for product teams. It helps with facilitating designer-developer collaboration. Mockplus iDoc automatically creates a ‘device-friendly view of your design files, capturing CSS styles, fonts, colors, and slices. Likewise, it gives developers exactly what they need to get in bringing your designs to life. Furthermore, it can also be used in PS, Sketch, Adobe XD through Plugins. Some features are they can help you export designs easily from Sketch, Adobe XD, and Photoshop. This tool generates accurate specs, assets, and code snippets automatically with ease. Show design tasks and workflow in a full-view storyboard with your client directly. The client can comment on designs to give instant feedback.

Screen Recording and Explanatory Videos

Due to this pandemic situation, UI AND UX Sharing cannot be done through In-person meetings. Virtual meetings have been very useful in meeting with clients and sharing information about the projects. There are several Screen recording and video conferencing apps that allow you to present your UI and get feedback in real-time

1. Zoom

Zoom is one of the most prominent applications for virtual meetings and video conferencing. This allows you to share your screen with your client and get simultaneous feedback directly. Sharing UI can be done through virtual meetings, and we can make the changes on the spot. This tool is very useful and helps you communicate better with your client and minimize the time spent on meetings and feedbacks.

2. Google meet

Google meet is also a similar application to Zoom, they both offer the same functionality. They can be very useful to transfer information quickly and share your UI with ease.

3. Loom

Loom is a screen recording tool that allows you to record your screen and make explanatory video demos that can be used to share the UI design with your client. This tool may not be as effective as a live Zoom meeting with real-time feedback and correction, but is it useful to make a video demo to show your UI to clients. When a client reports an issue, they can send your developer a recorded video with voice as a message and vice versa. We at Macronimous has been using this effectively.

With the modern tools, reviewing UI and UX with clients or teams has become easier. Hence, no more excuses for a poorly reviewed or designed UI. So, choose the right tools to collaborate with UI/UX designs.

The post Review your UI and UX with clients remotely first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Mobile-first websites

According to UXPin, Mobile-first design strategy is designing for the smallest screen first and working your way up to bigger screens. Google announced its indexing strategy The various ways in which people have been accessing the internet have changed drastically over the years. Statistics suggest that around 68 million around the world come from mobile devices every hour.  

In an update, Google announced majority of the sites are ready to go for mobile-first indexing. Google says, 70% of the sites shown in Google’s search results have already shifted over.

What is a mobile-first website? 

Mobile-first is a strategy which goes in favour of the staggering statistics which suggest that people prefer accessing sites through mobile browsers. According to this, they design a website for the smallest mobile device possible first. 

The developers then scale upwards to adapt the website to relatively larger dimensions like a desktop. 

Why mobile-first strategy is important for SEO?

Google mobile-first indexing means that its algorithms will look for the mobile version of the website for indexing and ranking. This will help their primary user group – mobile users. 

What may interest you is that a mobile-first design is basically a content-first approach. A mobile screen crams you up for space. Attracting audience attention within these parameters is a challenge. Hence you need to focus on content a lot 

How to achieve Mobile-first design? 

First, you have to create a content inventory – a basic excel sheet map of all the things you would want on your final layout. 

Second, you got to figure out compatibility. A uniform and seamless experience needs to be provided from each element on the page (for both desktop and mobile version)

Also, check Google’s best practices for Mobile-first websites. OR- Feel free to contact our experts for a free mobile-first design consulting.

Then, go with the smallest possible dimension you can work with. Orient your layout to those specifications and upscale thereon. 

Carry out steps like validating robots.txt, checking the server log files, and keeping track of the indexation status. Also, avoid the use of mobile interstitials and too much animation in the site. 

Write to us if you like to get free consulting on Mobile-first design or make your site mobile-first.

The post How to achieve Mobile-first design first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

With much care you have setup your website. You are happy that it is working well and the design is spot on.  But is that all to it?

Now comes in a top SEO agency like us and says that there is a need to improve the User Experience. Also, they talk how SEO can be improved by factoring in Chrome User Experience Reports! 

Are they correct? What is the basis of such a statement? 

Let us find:

What is Chrome User Experience Report?

As per definition, this should give you a way to find out how your website’s visitors experience, when using chrome. This is provided by Google and that too based out of the real-world data. 

The Metrics Used

Various Metrics that are used to measure are as follows:

• First Paint
• First Contentful Paint
• DOMContentLoaded
• Dimensions
• Data Format

What do these metrics mean?

In a short manner, this gives you an insight of the “loading performance”.

Below are examples of 3 Key Metrics that are used, as shown by Google, as examples

To understand the real metrics and to read in an in-depth manner click here.

Why Chrome User Experience Report?

This report helps you to understand how your website performs against the scores of websites in your industry segment. This basically gives you an idea of how good or bad you stand. 

To take advantage of this, in simple terms, faster the website, the better it is.

Using Chrome User Experience Report for SEO 

The more the time it takes to load your first web page of your website, the more the chances of people abandoning that session. This is a poor factor for Google as far as the ranking for a certain keyword is concerned. 

Such information, if gleaned out, helps with SEO.

The reason is, Google wants to show only those websites which quickly load to be shown in the first page of the search results. This, for Google, is important because it helps improve the User Experience in the Google Website.

Hence, the quicker the page loads, the lesser the drop-outs.

Hence, the CrUX reports gives an insight on the past performance against the current ones. This help us identify if, or not, there are issues. Fix them and see Google loving your webpage!

Do you not want to grab a position on the first page? Then keep the load time improvement as the top priority!

The post Improve SEO using Chrome User Experience Reports – CrUX first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

Being a veteran in SEO, we have seen the changes in the SEO landscape over the years. What was once important faded out and what was unheard of became important.

User Engagement is one such factor for an SEO friendly website. But, why did this become such an important factor that even as years go by, it also grew stronger – in fact, is still growing stronger?

The success of a basic Search engine provider lies in giving right answers to the questions that the user asks. But a good search Engine provider would go further more to give not only the correct answer but even more useful information to the question. Here comes the very idea of User Engagement. Thanks to Google’s algorithms which have matured over the years and is recognizing and giving higher rankings to the pages which engages the user effectively.

Having said that, how can one improve User Engagement?

User engagement in simple terms begins with Quality Content – yes,  ‘quality’ – in your website and then moves on to the way in which the content is presented.

Before we talk further about improving User Engagement, let’s be clear on what is not User Engagement. As weird as it sounds, in some educational systems quantity of answer sheets was equated to quality – and that was the only one yardstick – Absurd! Similarly, some people do the same with their Websites to impress Google or other search engines that they provide quality. Make sure you don’t do this mistake with your Website. The search engines have a far improved algorithm to figure this out. Our simple suggestion is not to waste time on such efforts.

Improving the User Engagement:

There are 2 major factors that you need to keep in your mind.

1. Content Quality: The focus here is to provide apt and precise content related to your business product or service that you offer. More often we have seen websites boast on the history of their company etc. Though it is important to build the trust by such information, the primary requirement of the user is not to hear about past performance.

The pressing need is what needs to be provided

•  Is the product available
•  Further details of the product
•  What is the cost involved

Make sure that this is given crisp and clear. If this is not communicated upfront, you may loose your prospect.

2. User Experience: This concerns mostly the way UI (User Interface) is designed and other effects – like the page loading style or the way the call outs etc.

Keep in mind the below

• UI design can range from colorful complex ones to very minimalist.
• UI needs to be usable
• The user navigation needs to be seamless.
• The user should be able to browse the site with minimum mouse clicks.
• The effects that are used need to be non-intrusive. There is nothing that is more irritating than this!
• The technology used to design the page needs to be in a way that the pages will be loaded pretty fast. Remember – nobody likes to wait!

Some common mistakes:

1. Content & UI is out of Sync: Quite a bit of effort needs to be put to make sure both Content and User Experience are kept in sync to make the user engagement effective. We have seen cases where the user experience is awesome with almost nil useful information! The reverse cases are also present, where the content will be very useful for the user and the presentation of the same is so flawed that users wouldn’t want to trust the content or even worse – they may not be able to access the content! Make sure to keep the two in sync.
2. Aping UI models: Another common mistake that we have seen is that people tend to ape UI models from a different industry which may be apt for their content. The people in a certain industry likes to see things presented in a certain manner, which may be absolutely a no-no for people in another industry. We don’t need complexly designed websites used by web design companies to be used for an online shopping site. Just because one UI works well for one business, doesn’t mean that it has to work well for any other business!

3. User Engagement & ROI:

User engagement is not only an important SEO factor but very much a Business factor. It is obvious that, unless the users are engaged effectively, the chances are that we will lose them. More than looking it as an SEO factor, we would encourage you to look at User Engagement through your websites as a key business decision that you will make in 2017.

In closing, let us say this – User Engagement is not going to go away in the near future. In fact, we believe, more improvement will happen on this particular factor.

If you have any queries related to SEO and User Engagement, please feel free to get in touch with our team – enquiry@macronimous.com

Related articles across the web

• Poor User Experience Drains Productivity and Your Bottom Line

The post User Engagement is still a strong factor in SEO first appeared on Macronimous Blog.

You have customers. Hard earned!

After spending plenty of time and $$$ you finally have earned customers. And yes, you want them to be with you forever. Any sensible business leader would have this strong desire. Moreover, no businesses want their customers to be one-and-only-one-time customers. They would surely want to see customers come back. But, how do you do this? Convert them into Loyal Customers for your business.

But How? A quick answer is Mobile Apps!

Customer Loyalty – The Thin Line:

A simplistic thinking goes like this. As long as we give satisfactory service, we can keep customers coming back again and again. Well, we hate to say this. But here you are “Times have changed and this no longer works”. There are scores of companies giving good, excellent services. What makes you think that they have to come back to ‘you’ again? Why not choose another equally good service provider like you? Maybe there are even better ones out there!

The lesson we learn here is that repetitive customers need not be loyal customers. But the vice versa is and has always been true – Loyal customers will be repetitive customers.

Customer Attrition – You need to Fix it! :

In the face of customer demands and thick competition in almost all industry verticals, time and again the leaders seem to be the ones who are “available for the customer in the time of need”. But remember this timely availability which made someone a leader, resulted in customer attrition for someone else. The interesting fact is, the attrition was not felt on day 1, but over a period. How do you know if this is not happening to you? Are you finding yourself in the same boat where you are also losing customers? If yes, read on…

How to work on Customer Retention:

How have people been successful in retaining customers? Mobile Apps is the answer. If you do not have a mobile app for your customers, take it for granted, you are facing customer attrition over to your competitor who has a mobile app released for use.

Let’s face it – Gone are the days where people used to queue up with a ticketing agent or a booking office for travel or for movies. Mobile apps have revolutionized the way business is done. It is beyond a shadow of the doubt, people choose to do business with an agent having a mobile app rather than physically. Well, though the end result is the same – The customer gets his or her tickets – “the mobile app was available for the customer in a time of need.”

Why not you be the first service provider and beat the competition. Act Quick and build a Mobile App! To know more on building a mobile app for your business go here.

A word of caution: Trying to tweak an existing web app to be used in a mobile phone will be the worst strategy that you can take. This can lead you to a drastic customer loss! We have explained why this is a bad strategy here.

How to Build Customer Loyalty:

Timely help is priceless. The person who helped is remembered forever! Who wouldn’t love to have information, especially valuable ones, on their fingertips whenever they wanted and only when they wanted? Nothing does better than a Mobile App. You can empower your customers with that needy, useful information with your mobile app. Trust me when I say this. They will love you for this and more importantly remember you for this. Yes, they tend to be loyal.

From just making timely information, help or facility available, go beyond. With the scores of offers and announcements given by apps like Uber, why not work out an offer in your own industry vertical and announce them through these mobile apps. The add-on-value that they see through these announcements, would convert any customer to a loyal one!

In Conclusion:

Initiatives like these ease the pain off from the customers and, guess what, they will not only be your Loyal customers but even become a strong evangelist for your business. All because you gave them a mobile app!

We would like to hear more on the strategies that you have adopted to build customer loyalty.

PS: If you are interested in developing your first mobile app for your business, OR if you like to analyze how the mobile app that you have already built can be revised or modified to help retaining customers, feel free to write us or read more about us.

The post Mobile apps and Customer loyalty – How your brand can use Mobile apps for customer retention? first appeared on Macronimous Blog.