Increase Website User Engagement: 10 Most Effective Ways
Every website development company understands the important techniques used in developing websites that are good for marketing and also SEO-friendly. Some of these strategies on how to increase user engagement on a website have been outlined right below.
Mobile Friendliness For Better User Engagement
No reliable web development company will create a website that is not mobile-friendly when internet users now access it more via mobile devices. In fact, according to a reliable source, over 93 percent of internet users access it via mobile devices. So, it is no longer an option, but a must for every web development company to ensure that its clients’ websites are mobile friendly.
It is even annoying for a website to ask users whether he prefers PC version or mobile version. The website is supposed to assume mobile version automatically when being accessed through a mobile device and also assume PC version when being accessed through PC. That is exactly what every experienced web development company does.
Shorter Registration Form
Another strategy every experienced company adopts is reducing registration form in the mobile version of their clients’ websites. This is because typing is difficult on mobile devices so it is important to reduce the amount of typing users will do.
A very good way to do that is to reduce the registration form for mobile users. The most important four details are the name, phone number, email address, and residential address. It is better to keep the form that short. Instead of asking for middle name, middle initial is okay. Then, you should merge the fields for name, middle name and last name into just one – full name. This will dramatically increase your website user engagement.
Simplicity
A very good website should be very easy to use. No experienced development company will develop a website that is difficult to navigate and thus create unpleasant UX. Sure, you are always welcome to check and follow the latest web design trends, but don`t try to use them all at a time. The more difficult it is to use, the less likely people will visit it. And if they don’t visit it, how will they read your content. So, you should make your website easy for even a 10-year old kid to find his way through with little or no assistance and thus you improve audience engagement.
No Popups
Popups can still be condoned on PC or laptop because they take a very small amount of screen space but they are very distracting and annoying on a mobile device because they take a lot of space. So, in order not to chase users away, you should disable popups.
Although most sites allow users to deactivate ads/popups on their own a good number of users are not tech savvy enough to be able to do it. So, it is better to disable it as a default.
Fast Loading Website
Humans are impatient by nature so they want websites that load as fast as a local resident application. An ideal website should load in just 5 seconds. A website that takes 6 to 10 seconds to load may still be manageable but any loading time beyond 10 seconds is absolutely unacceptable. Once it is 10 seconds and your website has not fully loaded, most users will just terminate it and never visit the site again. In fact, a lot of users will not even wait that long before leaving the site. You won’t want to lose your website user engagement this way, right? So, don`t forget to check your website with some speed testing tools.
Always Educate Users to Engage Them
In case, there is a particular page on your website that is still being worked on. Don’t make it blank. When a user mistakenly navigates his way to the page, there should be a message, notifying the user of the status of the page and how to leave the page. Don’t just make users stare at a blank page. In fact, it is even better to remove all the links to the page until you are done with it.
Consistency with Universal Standard
It is a good idea to strive to be unique but there should be a limit to uniqueness otherwise, your site will be difficult to use. For instance, the universally accepted icon for search command is a simple magnifying glass. In addition, a trash can is also the universally accepted icon for delete command. It is better you follow the standard. Changing yours will make it very difficult to use. And this will discourage users instead of great user engagement.
Social Media Integration For Better User Engagement
It is also important to integrate social media into your website. This has two major benefits. First, it allows users to log in to your website with their preferred social media account instead of having to memorize passwords each time they want to access their account on your site. Memorizing passwords sucks.
The second and more important benefit is that social media integration makes it easy for visitors to share your blog posts through the social media account. The more they share your post, the more your popularity will soar. Remember that popularity comes with credibility and brand reinforcement.
However, users will NOT share your adverts or marketing posts. In fact, users don’t like adverts. So, you should make your posts interesting, hilarious, informational, and educative. In addition, videos go viral more than pictures and text. So, you may need to make more of video posts.
Security
A very good website ensures the safety of users’ information. This is very important especially when they have to enter the details of their credit cards. If users are skeptical about the security of your website, they may never risk using your site.
The worst part is that you are legally obliged to ensure visitors’ information is safe. If not, you risk litigation. Users could save you for all your worth. In other words, never launch a website whose security has not been tested thoroughly.
FAQs and Chat Bots
Make your FAQs really comprehensive. Your FAQ should really cover all the questions customers ask. While they are called frequently asked questions, they have gone beyond that. In most websites, they are questions that have been asked at least once. So, they are being updated regularly. It does not make so much sense for you to have about 7 questions or less as your FAQs. Instead, FAQs should be a big reservoir. Users should always find the answer to their questions among your FAQs.
As an alternative, some websites have chatbots that respond to customers’ queries and also market products and services. The bots usually have a large database of information from which they pick answers to customers’ questions.