Chances are, if you have a website, it’s because you want to make something happen on it. It may be for branding, for lead generation, for education, or for direct sales. Not sure of what the goal of your site is? Think it through. What’s your mission, your ideal interaction with your client, or your business need that the site is meant to meet? No matter what the driving force behind the site may be, if you want it to accomplish your goal, the site will need to be intuitive.
Intuitive means that your site isn’t just attractive, but it’s useful. And it’s not just useful—it’s easy to use. No matter how fascinating your content or innovative your design may be, your users are busy and they don’t want to spend a lot of time going on a journey through your website in order to find what they want. If your website it intuitive, your user will know pretty much immediately upon arrival what to do. If there are several steps to get to the goal, that’s fine as long as the direction through the tasks is simple and clear. A home page that tells your story simply and clearly through images and minimal text send the message immediately to users that the site will easily meet their needs.
The design and content of your site are integral to making it intuitive. A straightforward navigation that uses the words that your users are likely to use when looking for information on your site is key. For example, if your users are looking for “pricing” but you’re calling it “investment”, you may be slowing them down. Slowing down users may very well result in users switching to a competitors site. Having search capability is another key factor in making the site easy to use and navigate.
Many sites have a critical page that the site’s owner wants users to get to. It may be an online store, a form for gathering leads, a contact page urging the user to call, or some sort of crucial content. That page should be the goal for the entire site. Ensuring there are direct links to it on each page, and internal links throughout the content, will drive users to where you need them to go. If you have a shopping cart or an essential form, put a link on every page.
Too much content can be the downfall of an otherwise great site. Many site creators have a lot of information to provide and want to make sure every user will find any piece of information they could possibly be looking for. However, most visitors to most sites aren’t interested in spending a lot of time reading through long descriptions of products or services to get to what they want. Content needs to be scannable, broken down into bite-sized portions, and clearly labeled so the user can quickly decide if it’s something he wants to read or not.
One of the challenges of creating an intuitive site is determining whether it’s working the way you want it to. The only way to find out is to put it in place and see how it’s being used. Ask focus groups, or use analytics to see how users move through the site and if there are areas in which they get lost, hung up, or lose interest before getting to your critical point.
Creating an intuitive site will mean that your users will know where to go to find the content they want. They will want to return and use the site in the way you want it used: as a resource, as a tool to subscribe to your blog or newsletter, or to make purchases. It can lead to greater engagement on your blog and social media and the return traffic is a credibility builder.