There are few better ways of encouraging users to continue returning to your brand and enabling them to interact with other customers than through gamification. But what exactly does this term mean? And how can it help to drive engagement with your business? Let’s take a deeper look at gamification and its uses within the world of UX.

What is gamification?

(source: digitalchalk)

As the chart above shows, the gamification market has grown exponentially towards attaining a value of over $5.5bn dollars in recent years. In fact, it’s likely that UX gamification plays a role in your daily life already. Popular apps like Duolingo and Strava have developed successful game-based approaches towards self-improvement tasks like learning new languages or running – with both companies rewarding users based on their progress and achieving certain milestones in their development.

But what is gamification? Naturally, the term means to transform an activity or process into a game that users can play.

The Interaction Design Foundation refers to gamification as “a technique where designers insert gameplay elements in non-gaming settings so as to enhance user engagement with a product or service. By weaving suitably fun features such as leaderboards and badges into an existing system, designers tap users’ intrinsic motivations so they enjoy using it.”

Businesses have been successfully adding gamification setups to their apps for much of the last decade, and the practice is only gathering momentum as mobile applications continue to become more sophisticated and adaptive.

Push engagement

Users crave gratification and rewards for their efforts. Gamification has the power to convert user experience into a community-based competition. Customers can transition between different levels and leaderboards and gain rewards for the time they commit to using the app or browser game.

Valuable contributions such as initiating discussions, posting product reviews, replying to queries or encouraging friends to sign up can tangibly be rewarded with in-game items or achievements.

By building a rewards-based game, you’re actively incentivizing user engagement – making the whole process more appealing to both customers and prospective customers. As an example of gamification in action, John Findlay, co-founder of Launchfire offered up the scenario of a bank looking to acquire new customers: “Rather than creating ads that talk about how your bank [or financial service business] is different, create an online game that challenges players to build a financial empire by making good investment decisions,” Findlay explained.

Build loyalty

Gamification can also build a sense of loyalty for customers through the medium of points, ‘badges’ and online leaderboards – these practices help to enable users to become advocates of your brand.

The act of offering discounts or free merchandise for a specific action like posting a helpful and positive product review helps to ensure that customers gain a sense of value – thus increasing their loyalty further with meaningful engagements.

(source: Educraft)

The image above shows how achievements like badges can pave the way for future engagements. Entertainment app, QuizUp uses achievements to reward users for playing their array of games and uses each notification as a prompt to encourage more gaming.

Create a community

Another common theme that runs through plenty of gamification setups is the presence of the ‘share’ feature. As we can see in the prior image, users have the option of sharing their achievements on social media platforms. This helps to develop the presence of a brand and build an active online community.

If utilized in the correct manner, gamification can help to build a brand new interactive ecosystem within your customer community, aligning the behavior of users alongside your business’s objectives. As more customers develop their engagement, they increase the chances of more users becoming engaged in your brand – thus helping to expand your community and further develop loyalty.

Utilize user data

Another perk of the newfound levels of engagement brought by gamification comes in the form of greater user data available to your company. Of course, there are plenty of ways in which to attain the data of your customers, but gamification has the power to bring more accuracy to your results.

The greater levels of community-generated by users engaging in your games means that more will be actively discussing their progress and your brand in general. These extra organic discussions mean that you can build more self-awareness and optimize campaigns in order to perform better, with greater customer insights generated through replies, shared content and the type of topics that users discuss.

Fundamentally, in a world that’s driven by instant-gratification and time-effectiveness, gamification pays dividends in enabling users to feel as if their engagement with your brand is being rewarded. While there’s plenty of customer insights available through this form of engagement, the true reward will be found in the value that gamification brings to your company – making it much easier to level up your UX model.

The post Level up your brand: How to increase user engagement through gamification appeared first on UX Blog.

Big data is vital in gaining an understanding of your UX model and optimizing it for the right traffic accordingly. Let’s take a look at how AI can help to interpret data and revolutionize your UX model:

Interpretation of Big Data

The traditional approaches of UX teams are set to be overtaken by the power of AI. Where heatmaps and split testing once reigned supreme, the faster data interpretation speeds offered up by AI will become widely adopted.

Deep learning technology will be capable of tracking and analysing large data sets, while many eCommerce businesses will be capable of learning more from user behavior to tailor their site designs in an effective manner.

As customers interact with a website, AI will study their behavior on-site. If a specific page is producing a disproportionately large number of bouncebacks, this could be rectified in real-time.

Unprecedented Personalization

AI has the power to predict future visitor actions by analyzing customer behavior based on the data it’s collected from user page visits, the clicks they make and how they interact with websites. This data helps AI setups to use past interaction to recommend things for the future – like website destinations, products and CTAs among much more.

It’s also possible for AI to predict future purchase patterns based on the previous ones of customers. This helps businesses to optimize their funnels at the drop of a hat and configure the most effective sales paths of each user. The more effective the predictions developed by AI, the better the insights will be.

In the 2020s, these AI predictions will pace the way for customizable web designs that will be established to suit each user. Other predictions based on preferred colors, image sizes, creative web page asset shapes, font preferences among other features. While some of these predictions and estimations seem excessive, they could ultimately become the deciding factor between whether or not a sale will take place.

Chatbots

(source: Chatbots Magazine)

Chatbots have already become something of an industry standard for eCommerce websites and sites that offer services to consumers. The level of around the clock support that chatbots provide customers can’t be ignored, and soon the UX that they offer will be taken to new heights through advancements in natural language processing.

This form of AI depends on machine learning to interpret data regarding customer interactions, and it develops meaning via text input or speech recognition. While some skeptics see chatbots as a way in which companies are losing their human touch, businesses utilizing the technology are consistently reporting boosts in their customer service metrics. According to Capgemini, 75% of businesses that use AI-based chatbots report at least a 10% boost in terms of customer satisfaction.

Not only are chatbots perfectly capable of operating on a 24/7 basis, but they’re also unaffected by the most colorful of language vented by unhappy customers – helping relieve the stress of customer service roles among employees. This doesn’t mean that robots will replace human customer service operatives, after all, there’s always a need for users to share their problems with real people, but they can certainly alleviate plenty of strain and bring strong levels of accuracy in helping deal with issues.

Automated assistance

Automation is influencing virtually every industry today and has become an integral player in the world of marketing in recent years. Possessing the power to save time, money and effort on the part of human operatives, automation can perform a number of repetitive, menial tasks with ease – and little chance of losing motivation or getting bored.

One of the great pioneers of automated assistance within the world of UX is Amazon. The company attributes 35% of its annual revenue to personalized recommendations, which are continually optimized for each individual user. This relentless drive at automation enables businesses to strategically maximize their returns without much human input.

Creating an appealing user experience for customers is vital in the congested online marketplace. You may have a USP and a slick, smooth website that boasts good organic content, but if you have serious aspirations to win over customers on a large scale and fine-tune each visitor’s experience on your website, automated AI will be an imperative tool in your website’s growth in the coming years.

The post Automated UX: How AI can revolutionize user experience appeared first on UX Blog.

Now you probably understand how important website load speed is. It plays a vital role in user experience and it can affect your profits too. Keep reading to find out how slow loading pages can impact your online business.

1. Most Website Visitors Will Leave

In today’s fast-paced internet world, no one is expected to wait more than 2 seconds for a page to load. People simply don’t have the patience anymore and if your website doesn’t load quickly enough, visitors will just leave. Remember that there are probably thousands of websites just like yours on the internet, so why anyone would wait for the page to load when they can simply visit another website that loads faster?

2. Most Website Visitors Might Never Come Back

Not only that visitors can quickly leave your website, but most of them will also remember the negative experience they had. They might associate the URL of your website with poor user experience and they might never come back. In other words, having a slow-loading website might make you lose precious customers forever.

3. Having a Slow Website Can Decrease Conversion Rates

It’s imperative for business websites to have a streamlined user experience to facilitate the buying process for customers. If this doesn’t happen and people have to wait too much before they buy something, you might lose them forever. Even worse, these potential clients can go and buy from your competitor and this can be a very frustrating experience for you.

4. Slow Websites Are Penalized By Search Engines

Not only that you might see customers leave your website forever, but you might also how your search engine rankings drop significantly over a few months. The algorithms of various search engines put an emphasis and loading time, so sites that don’t load fast are penalized. That’s because they create a poor user experience and make internet users wait too long for a piece of information.

How To Improve The Load Speed Of Your Website?

Since loading speed is so important, most website owners want to do everything to increase it. Luckily, there are many ways you can do that. For example, make sure that your web pages contain small pictures that can be downloaded faster. Large pictures with sizes over 2MB can take a while to download, especially for users with a slow internet connection.

Secondly, you might also want to work with a website designer to optimize your website for mobile devices. As of 2018, more than 50% of all website traffic is generated through mobile devices, so you might want to capitalize on that.

Now You Know How Load Speed Can Affect Your Website!

As you can see, load speed can affect your website in many ways and it might even ruin your business if you have slow-loading web pages. Make sure that you spend a decent amount of time and money to increase the speed of your website and you’re on the right path to success.

For more interesting tips and tricks on how to improve user experience, make sure that you check out our website and read the articles posted there!

The post How Important Is Page Load Speed in the User Experience? appeared first on UX Blog.

Life is busy. Many people don’t have time to sit around and fight with a confusing website. In most cases, if a user can’t navigate your website with ease, they’re going to give up.

Yes, that’s right, you’re going to lose profits if users can’t easily navigate to what they need. As a designer, you could cause a company or business to lose customers or clients by not providing a well-functioning website. Don’t let this happen to you.

Here’s what you need to know.

1. Structure

The structure of the website is going to play a large role in how easy it is to navigate. You need to have a good understanding of who the target audience is. When people visit the website, what are they looking for?

Create a list of all important information that a visitor will look for and place them in order of importance. This will help you determine the structure of the website and understand what content should be seen first.

2. Navigation Menu

The navigation menu should be made visible on every page on the website. It should also stand out from other information on the page. Make it clear that it’s the navigation menu and keep it in the same place on every page.

When adding links within the navigation menu, think about what the business wants the visitor to know and see and what the visitor wants to know and see as well. This creates a win-win.

3. Search Tool

Having a search tool on the website makes navigating that much easier for visitors. When they can’t find what they need in the navigation menu, they can simply search for a term, product, service, or word using the search tool. Be sure to keep the search tool on every page as well and in the same place.

This helps visitors know where they can expect to find it. A search bar allows visitors to search for anything on your website, reducing possible frustration.

4. Hyperlinks

When adding hyperlinks to your website, ensure that these hyperlinks are visible and stand out from other words on the page. You don’t want your hyperlinks to blend in with other writing. You want them to stand out in some way, shape, or form that signals to visitors that they are indeed links.

Underline them, bold them, or turn them into buttons! Your options are endless!

Easy Website Navigation Is the Difference Between Failure and Success!

User-Friendly website navigation could mean the difference between a successful website and an unsuccessful one. Be sure to keep these tips in mind when creating your own website navigation system!

The post 4 Quick Tips for Making Your Website Navigation Easier appeared first on UX Blog.

User experience prioritizes making life easier for your customers. By improving your website for UX, you’re making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for. That quick, easy experience will stay in their minds, which benefits your brand’s reputation.

A negative experience, on the other hand, could cause you to lose customers forever. In fact, 88% of online shoppers won’t return to a site after a bad experience.

Don’t risk losing customers. Instead, keep reading for the five website UX improvements you can make to strengthen user satisfaction and keep them coming back for more.

1. Speed It Up

According to Google, 53% of mobile site visitors will leave if a page takes longer than three seconds to load. Meanwhile, the probability of a bounce increases 123% as page load time increases from one to 10 seconds.

In other words, you could end up losing customers if your pages aren’t loading quickly.

The first step to improving your website UX is to speed up your load times. Otherwise, people will bounce, which will cause your search engine ranking to drop.

People expect pages to load quickly. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices as well. Otherwise, you’re scaring off a big piece of your website traffic.

Speeding up your site will make it easier to use and explore.

Then, people will stay on your page longer and find what they’re looking for.

2. Leave Breathing Space

A page that’s stuffed with content can feel overwhelming. Instead, give your content breathing space. White space will give your website a clean, elegant look.

You can also use white space and minimalistic design trends to improve the visitor’s website user experience.

White space makes it easier for people to explore your content. You can also use space to guide people from one piece of information to the next. Ultimately, you can guide them to a form, allowing you to convert visitors into customers.

3. Add Search

Make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for. Start by adding a search field to your website. Keep it at the top of the page so it’s easy to find.

If people can’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll leave!

4. Improve Readability

Make sure to structure your page content as well. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Shorten sentences
• Use bulleted lists
• Don’t underline words that aren’t links
• Make sure the font type and size are easy to read
• Use black text on white backgrounds
• Keep paragraphs short (one to three sentences)

You can also use website headings design to break large pieces of information apart.

5. Declutter

Remove any website element you don’t need. Instead, focus on engaging your visitors and conveying important information. Decluttering unessential elements will give you more space for your buttons, forms, and other lead generators.

Awesome UX: 5 Essential Tips to Drastically Improve Website UX

By taking the time to improve your website UX, you can keep visitors on the page and exploring your content. Then, you can turn those visitors into sales! Grow your business with these five tips for better UX design.

The post 5 Tips to Drastically Improve Your Website UX appeared first on UX Blog.

But what exactly is user experience in the first place? How can you improve something if you don’t know its exact definition? Well, this article strives to answer all your questions related to user experience, so keep reading to find out more!

What Is User Experience?

The term “user experience” can also be written as UX and it refers to the perceptions and reactions a person has as a result of interacting with a product or service. In our case, it refers to the honest impression an internet user has after visiting your website. Peter Morville attributed a few characteristics to the user experience such as being useful, usable, desirable, valuable, findable, credible, and accessible.

Questions To Ask Regarding User Experience

Now that you know what UX is, you can take a closer look at your website and ask yourself a few questions to determine how good its user experience is.

1. Is My Website Useful?

Sites shouldn’t be created willy-nilly, they need to serve a purpose and help to solve a problem. Is your site useful? Does it help your clients solve a problem? Does it make the lives of your clients easier and better?

2. Is My Website Usable?

User experience is important on all platforms and across all devices, whether we talk about computers, tablets, laptops, mobile phones, etc. Your website needs to be usable across all these devices to score great marks on UX.

3. Is My Website Likeable?

Websites shouldn’t only be useful and usable, but also attractive and eye-catching. Your website needs to provide a pleasant and enjoyable experience to the visitors so that they come back in the future.

4. Is My Website Easy To Navigate?

There’s no point in having a lot of information on your website if it cannot be found easily. Is your search bar positioned in the right place where people can find it easily? Is your website menu easy to read and intuitive?

5. Do Visitors Trust My Website?

Credibility has a huge impact on user experience and search engine rankings as well. It’s important to have an SSL certificate installed on your website and take advantage of internet security services, especially if people can buy from your website.

6. Is My Website Accessible?

Accessibility is also important when it comes to UX. It refers to a series of elements that make your website open to visitors from different countries and from different time zones. Is your website accessible to users with disabilities as well?

7. Does My Website Offer a Valuable Experience?

The overall value of your website should also be taken into account. For example, if your website suddenly disappears, are there clients who will be disappointed by this? Does your website offer a broad collection of goods and services that make people’s lives better?

Now You Know More About User Experience!

As you can see, user experience refers to a compilation of factors that need to be taken into account. Improving UX cannot be done overnight, so make sure that you have patience when you tweak your website to make it more valuable.

Also, don’t hesitate to check out the other articles and tips on our website to learn more about user experience and how you can improve it!

The post A Simple Explanation of User Experience appeared first on UX Blog.