Website Design Principles that Promote User Engagement

How well are you able to reach out to your users, in such a way that you are able to illicit an action? User engagement, after all, is one of the important ways you can measure the success of your website. It bridges the gap between attracting a potential customer and making him a client. And to increase your success in this area, you must consciously design your website with user engagement firmly in your mind.

Here are some web design standards to consider:

• The engaging websites are those that do not have all the bells and whistles. Rather, effective website design involves keeping things simple for the user. Going for simplicity is actually harder than you think, when the temptation is to fill the page with a chockfull of information, pictures and buttons. The pages should be user friendly and easy on the eyes.
• Does your website engender trust? Trust is built by providing a well-designed website that includes error-free and well-written content and quality images.
• To increase user engagement, direct users to the content you want them to see and to engage in. Have a hierarchy of the content. This helps you understand what you should put on the area above the fold, the area below the fold and on to another page. When you know the priority of your content, you can also work to highlight the most important piece of content, as well as the all-important call to action.
• Remove clutter. If your webpage is too busy that the user is confused about what exactly you want him to do, he will end up not doing anything that you want. For a webpage, choose only a specific point of engagement, then, focus your design and content on this point of engagement.
• Appeal to the emotions. What emotional response does your website create? If people are happy, inspired or feel a sense of urgency, they will most likely act on these emotions. If you are selling a product, what benefits (actual and emotional) can these products provide the customer? Will the products make them feel successful, satisfied or excited? Your website design should work to appeal to the user’s emotions.
• Present a story. To give your content a multi-dimensional feel, your content (starting from the homepage) should tell a story. This includes your company’s story, your mission, how you can help the reader and your contact details.
• Make wise use of calls-to-action. The CTA button should be emphasized and easily seen on a page. These CTAs should encourage an action from the reader and should ideally make use of verbs such as “Start Saving”, “Get it here!”, “See Results” and so on.
• As they say, content is king. Not only should you launch your website with well-written and interesting content, you should also make regular updates to your content to encourage readers to make regular visits. Also, make it easy for first-time visitors to see the latest and most popular content. In your homepage, you can provide an automated field that links to the latest articles and the most widely read ones. Content should also include items of interest such as infographics and videos.
• Encourage feedback. Dialogue is a two-way process. Thus, you should provide your users with the ability to react to your content, especially for your blog posts. However, you should ensure that the comments are well-moderated so that the comments section is spam-free. Another area of feedback is to give the user awards for performing a certain action. For instance, if they complete a form, give them a free e-book. If they are going through a particular process, help them see how far they have gone by way of a progress bar.
• Get social. Enable users to share content via social network sites.

About Adaptivity Pro

These are just some of the Utah website design standards that work to improve user engagement. Adaptivity Pro has more methods to help you create a website that effectively engages your users and provides result. Indeed, we have SLC web design specialists, including programmers, writers and graphic artists that have the experience and expertise you need for user engagement success.