Every time you go to a website or application and can find your way around without thinking about it, a UX, or user experience, professional has done their job. UX is like blinking — it works best when you don’t have to think about it, and when you have to think about it things become clunky and unintuitive. That’s why user experience websites are important for advisors to take into account.
UX encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products. This can include everything from the navigability of a website to the ease of scheduling an appointment. Marketers aim for a seamless user experience that keeps their visitors coming back. User experience websites are important as user experience can be the difference between a failed or successful website. Here’s everything you need to know about UX.
The Fundamentals of UX
The fundamentals of UX should lead to users having a positive site experience. If a potential client is onsite and they have issues navigating or finding important information, then your UX design is failing you. Let’s look at the three fundamentals of UX design that financial advisors and other service professionals should consider when developing their branding and marketing materials to ensure a positive user experience.
Visual Design
Websites rely heavily on visual design as it impacts the user experience drastically. If your site isn’t pleasing to look at then the user experience is sure to suffer. That’s why many advisor sites use color palettes that are inoffensive and visually aesthetic to look at. Along with that, the layout of the pages needs to flow like a river so that users don’t get confused when navigating.
Just like art, the beauty of good design is in the eye of the beholder. But there are some general rules that marketers suggest when looking at the design of their materials, including:
- Don’t use too many colors, and use colors that match your logo or other marketing materials.
- Use big, bold images and headers to attract attention to your main points.
- Don’t write too much copy, and make the copy you do write concise and informative.
- Populate your pages with plenty of forms and calls to action.
- Always have your social follow and share buttons prominent on your website.
- Make smart use of headers and subheaders, as they benefit SEO purposes as well.
Take a look below. This is Money Maven Financial’s website. The color palette is very pleasing to the eye, and the important things stand out well. There’s a sense of flow to the page that your eyes can easily follow.
These are just a few of the visual design basics. Our website professionals are always studying the newest trends and creating themes that align with what users are looking for.
Information Architecture
While your site may be the most beautiful on the Internet, it’s only as good as the information it conveys. Navigability, labels, and the hierarchy of information are all important aspects to think about when laying out the information on your site. Think of your website like a boat and the navigation like the oars. If you lose the oars, you’re up a creek without a paddle, literally. Navigability, labels, and the hierarchy of information allow site visitors to safely traverse the river that is your site to find exactly what they’re searching for.
For example, most designers stray away from having dropdown menus, or child navigation items, with too many tabs. When a dropdown menu has more than ten items, visitors often lose interest and might even leave the site. Also, make sure the labels in your navigation are clear and self-explanatory.
Take a look at Simplified Wealth’s homepage. The tabs are easy to read and tell you exactly where they’re going to take you. No secret passageways here, just a shortcut that takes you exactly where you want to end up.
Another navigation tip is to lay things out in the order that you want them seen. If your primary services are retirement planning and wealth management, it won’t make sense to bury these in some dark corner of your site. Instead, make these services prominent on the home page and in the navigation so they can be easily found.
Usability
Usability is the combination of the two concepts above – combining intuitive design aspects with useful information makes it easy for clients and prospects to figure out what they are supposed to do on your site. If you have one or the other, that’s a great start, but being able to combine them together is how to create a truly great website.
Below, we have Wizdom1, a financial advisor site that combines both visual design and information architecture together perfectly. Each navigation button is crafted to do exactly what it says, as the site is highlighted by great visual design.
Most of our Exclusive themes include what we call rotators, which are large, full-width images that either emphasize one idea or rotate through a few of a customer’s main points. These rotators link to interior pages where a visitor can find more information easily.
Instead of bombarding a visitor with all of the important information right away, our Exclusive themes welcome them in and provide clear steps on how to learn more. This is an example of good usability.
These are a few of the first things marketers think of when considering UX, and while there are many more aspects to this ever-changing field, these tips are a good place for service professionals to start when dipping their toes into the world of UX.
Create a Gorgeous, Traffic-Driving Website
Your website should reflect the same attention to detail as your office space. It’s your prospects’ first impression – a virtual welcome. We can help you make sure it’s a great one.
