What is strategic UX (user experience)
When you're looking to improve the user experience of your website there are really two main stages - strategic UX, and then UX optimisation. To be clear, I offer the former, and not the latter.
The UX I offer is strategic UX. It' s a process of taking your business, brand and marketing strategy, and deeply understanding those. I blend that with customer insight via Google Analytics, screen recordings, focus groups or surveys. I'll look at SEO and search intent, competitor websites, and then creating site structure, page briefs and wireframes that take into account all those elements. You are left with high-performing pages, and a strong website structure and website journey.
UX optimisation is about moving CTA buttons, testing different layouts and improving performance of existing pages. That is a really valuable service for websites which have already been through a strategic UX process, and there are specialist agencies and consultants who are really good at that kind of thing.
What is strategic UX (user experience)
When a visitor reaches your website, you don't have long to engage them and help them with their need. With so much competition out there, visitors are impatient and want to be served. As customers they deserve a good website experience.
Your website needs to work hard in 2022 and for me that means your website should:
- Take into account brand and marketing strategy
- Instantly communicate what your proposition is
- Lay out trust factors like reviews, case studies, brand credibility
- Provide visitors with the primary and secondary information they are looking for
- Demonstrate authority in your subject
- Be easy to navigate (page and user journey)
- Be logical in its layout and order
- Be well-structured and clear
- Built around their needs and how they shop
- Be easy to read, digest and understand
My approach to UX
I create strategies and documents that allow strategic UX to be filtered down to where it matters - on your website. I'll:
- Create a clear strategy and strategy document for everyone to work from
- Create analysis documents of your data assets (GA, surveys etc)
- Benchmark performance and provide targets
- Create wireframes to communicate layouts
- Create page briefs for copywriters
- Work closely with your dev and design teams on layout changes and navigational changes
- Monitor and report on improvements