In Part 1 we discussed the importance of making sure your members can get to the information they need quickly. In this article, we will discuss some of the, maybe less obvious things to take into consideration when improving the online experience for your users.
By using tools that give you insight into how your members navigate your website, you can easily find ways to discover any barriers they may be facing in completing tasks or areas they are drawn towards more. Members love online experiences that save them time and don’t make them think. With that in mind, here are the final steps…
4. Test and Improve
You can use what’s known as a heat map to identify what members are spending the most time on as well as the areas of the website they are leaving quickly or ignoring. They also show you how often a page is scrolled through fully, the links that are clicked, and the best click-paths to take in order to help improve their journey. Heat maps and funnels give you detailed blueprints of member journeys, pinpointing the areas that you are nailing as well as those that need to be improved. You can use tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar to gain this insight.
5. Be Accessible
Accessibility is a hot topic at the moment. The government brought in rules in 2019 to say that public sector websites needed to reach and maintain an accessibility standard. Member organisations tend to be made up of a wide demographic, so accessibility consideration is all the more important. Look at essential things like screenreaders, good contrast in colours and resizable text. A11y ( https://a11yproject.com/) is a fantastic resource that can help you look at quick things to implement.
6. Fast Page Loading
Did you know that anything longer than three seconds is considered slow loading? If your website takes longer than that, you have immediately lost 53% of your potential visits. Not only that, but it will negatively impact your bounce rate – also known as the number of dissatisfied users that are leaving your website.
Members are becoming increasingly picky about loading speeds, and you need to stay ahead of the curve on this one. Review the performance of pages regularly and see if there is anything slowing things up that could be easily improved. Google even takes the loading speed into account when determining mobile search rankings, so now is the time to take this aspect seriously.
To Conclude
Staying on top of the latest user experience wins can be pretty hard, and websites are one of those things where it feels like the rules are always changing. However, keeping ahead of the curve is important if you want to retain members, help improve their experience and keep traffic coming to you freely. Make a plan to address the 6 steps we’ve discussed. Some may be easier than others to implement quickly.
Keep reviewing and testing and improving your user journeys regularly. The user experience is something that is neglected far too often, so why not be one of those websites that puts the members first and makes life easier for them?
Heavy Penguin is a UK Digital agency providing safe and scalable digital solutions for the Membership and Nonprofit sectors.
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