90% of Canadian digital shoppers list “ease of use” as a website factor that influences their digital purchasing decisions.*
If you want to succeed in the world of online sales, then you need to make sure your website visitors are having positive experiences. Don’t overwhelm and confuse people, instead ensure that it’s easy for them to browse your site and purchase your products. If you’ve decided to optimize or improve your site to generate more revenue in the long run, ask yourself the following questions:
Does my website look great on all devices and screen sizes?
Your website should both look great and work well regardless of what screen size or device your visitors are using. Moreover, responsive and responsible site design actually helps search engine optimization too. In 2019, Google switched to mobile-first indexing, indexing and ranking sites based on their mobile versions. This means that it’s vital you provide your customers with a great user experience no matter what device they’re using. Test your site’s mobile responsiveness using: mobiletest.me
Do my pages load fast?
As a rule of thumb, any web page on your site should load within 3 seconds. Test your site’s speed here: www.thinkwithgoogle.com/feature/testmysite/
Do I have a clear call to action?
Part of making your site easier for visitors to browse and purchase products from is making sure you have a clear call to action. Make sure you call to action button is front and center, somewhere where customers can easily see it.
Are my promotional banners distracting?
Promotional banners shouldn’t be the only thing a customer sees when they land on your site. What’s more, they shouldn’t overshadow navigation, key content, or perhaps most importantly – your call to action. Focus on guiding your customers through your site instead of confusing and distracting them.
Is my site easy to navigate?
It’s a known fact that people are more likely to make a purchase if they can easily find your products or services. Ideally, your customers should be able to find what they are looking for within 3 clicks. Be sure to use drop-down menus strategically when presenting your visitors with multiple options.
Does clicking the logo return visitors to the home page?
Most users nowadays will assume that clicking or tapping on a site’s logo will return them to the site’s home page, so be sure that yours does too!
Does my site have a search box?
Search boxes are essential to helping visitors quickly and easily find what they’re looking for. Make sure you have a search box on your site and that it’s positioned in a way that makes it easy for users to find and search your site, such as at the top of your pages.
Does my site let users know if they’ve missed a field while filling out forms?
Customers who can’t properly fill in their information can’t complete their purchase – simple as that! Help your customers out by adding useful features like auto-complete and auto-correct. These are a tremendous help for mobile customers dealing with tiny keyboards. Additionally, be sure to implement features that can check for errors before customers hit “submit” to avoid wasting their time and frustrating them.
Can customers check out as guests?
Help your customers complete their purchases quickly and efficiently by offering them the option to check out without creating an account.
Does my site facilitate mobile input?
Mobile customers browsing and making purchases on your site can sometimes have a hard time inputting information, so adding some simple features like numeric pads that pop up when customers need to enter numbers, or visual calendars when they have to choose dates can really help. Having these fields auto advance to the next field when customers are done would also be a welcome addition.
Now you know how to optimize your site, it’s time to get cracking and make those improvements! Get in touch with us today if you’re having trouble implementing the above checklist or would simply like to have your site optimized by a leading Calgary SEO and online marketing agency.
(*source: As cited by eMarketer: Limelight Networks report titled “State of the User Experience 2017.”, Nov 20, 2017)
