Animation is not entirely new. Adobe flash revolutionized animation and the use of vector graphics in web design. Moving animators and gif files were used previously to add a fun element to the design and break the monotone of the presentation. It made the engagement livelier. It was much later that graphics designers started to understand the potential of animation to improve user experience and also drive sales by increasing conversion. Using CSS and Javascript codes have also made the pages less heavy and improved the loading speeds beyond belief.

Why is animation so important in UI?

 Right amount of animation can engage the audience and also guide them to the CTAs where they can convert. For example, when you are filling the password field of an account that you have on a website and mistakenly you key in a wrong password, immediately the field shakes to tell you that you are wrong. This design imitates the “head nodding from side to side” gesture that you often make when you know you have made a mistake.

What do you think about a prompt that slides down slowly or a pop-up that appears almost from the thin air to draw your attention to a call to action? All these effects have improved interactivity of your website. Sometimes, the icons become bigger in size as you hover your mouse over it and encourage you to make the click. A new form of animation is to use a colored circle like a halo around an icon and as you point your mouse arrow towards it, the circle starts to spin. Isn’t it cool?

Don’t overuse animation

 Although animation is great, there is a limit. Overusing it could make the page really slow. In the age of smart phones, when making a website is an imperative, you have to make your website responsive and quick. So, apply minimal effects. The most important question that you need to reflect on is that have you managed to improve user experience by using it? Is it making them happy or proving to be a useless distraction?

If you can get answers to these questions correctly and you are satisfied with the design, more often than not, the visitors would also find it attractive. After all, you are also a user. You know what makes you happy or annoyed when you visit a website, right?

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Website usability has become a hot topic today thanks to the proliferation of companies dependent on the internet for sales. The constantly changing social landscape requires informed and innovative marketing efforts. Your website must be the bedrock of such efforts. This is where website UX comes in.

Now that we’ve agreed that improving your website’s UX can improve your conversion rates, it is time to improve it. Here are four tips for the same.

Is your website responsive? Designing different websites for different devices could be difficult. Instead if you can build a single website which is responsive, it would automatically adapt to different screen sizes and resolutions.

Google has announced its plan to penalize websites for lack of responsiveness by assigning lower ranking scores. (Source: mobilemarketingengine). Other search engines may soon follow suit. This will push your website down the SERP and affect your website traffic.

Is the loading time too high? A website which is too slow to load can invalidate all your other efforts. The bounce rate can be very high. At the same time, if you don’t optimize the loading speed of your website, there is a fair chance that lead generation and conversion rates might decline.

Are you using images, color and white space strategically? Images are important for a website because it helps to break the monotony. Studies have shown that visitors connect with an image much quicker than they can interpret a copy. But are the images consistent with the copy?

Is it too gaudy? Does it feel superfluous? You will have to use images which tell a story and establish a link with the visitors. Put them at the right focal points. Using the right color combination for contrast is important and can help in lead generation. White space plays a similar role and helps to get rid of clutter. It helps the visitor to focus on the all important CTA(s).

Is your website easily navigable? It is the need of the hour to use intuitive navigation to improve user experience. Use the company logo on the top of each page and link it to the home page. Use primary navigation options at the top and follow it up with secondary navigation options below it or along the side margins. Embed a well designed site map at the top or bottom of the page and link the page to your blog(s) and other landing pages. Have an option for social sharing.

It is dangerous to neglect the UX issues of your website. It will take the sheen of your marketing efforts and have a devastating impact on your business. Apply these tips to enjoy the benefits immediately.

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