Businesses have to keep a number of variables in mind when designing a website. The user experience is often the top priority, meaning the visitor who has to interact first-hand with your website needs to be able to do so easily and across multiple channels.
However, it’s not always easy to figure out what exactly your customer wants out of your website. Some businesses see their website as a last-second project in order to expand their already-plentiful customer base; others have a vision that works best for them, but not for their base. What they don’t realize is that these approaches are wrong and that they can look to a customer journey map for design inspiration. Here, we’re going to break down five website design mistakes that can be avoided with a customer journey map.
A customer journey map will help show where and how customers are using mobile devices to interact with your company. If you’re not already aware of how significant of a trend mobility is, you’re at quite the disadvantage. Customers today are younger and more tech-inclined. They want to be able to visit your website on-the-go, on their phones, and without any problems.
If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, first-time visitors who might not have been to your desktop website will receive a poor first impression, and your business can’t afford that. If more people use phones to initiate a conversation, optimize for that with quick, easy-to-read pop-ups and landing pages. In case they use phones to finalize purchases, make sure your payment process is optimized for putting in credit card info or you’re offering Apple Pay as an option. To avoid any potential issues with your mobile site, make sure you’re building the site with mobility in mind.
Do not take any shortcuts by modifying your desktop website. It will never run as smoothly as you’ll need it to.
The whole point of a customer journey map is to outline each step of the buyer’s process from the moment a person initiates contact with your business to when they finalize a purchase. Seeing where potential problems lie in the journey can indicate what customers actually need in order to increase the odds of finalizing a purchase.
If you’re designing your website based on what you want it to look like and not what your customers need it to be, then you’re putting your needs first, which is not a sound business plan. A customer journey map is a perfect solution for designing a website based on your customer’s needs because the map will outline how your visitors are navigating your website. Paying attention to font choice and size, for example, can even make a difference if you happen to have an older customer base.
One way of taking this even further is by creating a survey for your visitors. Ask them what they want out of your website and compare it to what you’d like your website to look like. That way, both parties can reach a compromise and make the most out of the design.
Over time, there is going to be a large amount of content on your website that will naturally get lost, and that customers might still find that content relevant. This means that customers need to have an easy way to access that content. This could also be a potential hiccup in your journey that prevents leads and customers from advancing through the pipeline.
When looking at the customer journey map, you can see all the steps your customer takes from the moment they seek interest in your company to the moment they finalize a purchase. If you’re finding that they’re getting stuck right in the very beginning of the process and your website is lacking a functioning search bar or sitemap, that can indicate your customers have no idea where to find the information they need to learn more about your products or services.
Do not include a search bar or sitemap if you’re not going to take the time to make sure it works properly. If a visitor tries to use it and they find it impossible to work with, they’re going to assume you don’t want them to find what they’re looking for.
A customer journey map can be used as a visual guide outline exactly where and when a customer moves from social media to a website. The problem that some businesses run into is that people who visit a company’s social media page don’t take the extra step to go to the actual website. This is because most people are on social media to catch up with their friends and family.
However, chatbots that run through Facebook Messenger can help to bridge the gap between social media and your website. Doing this is as simple as obtaining a plugin or code to place directly into your website. Now, when your customers are on your Facebook page, you can send them a quick message that lets them know you’re available for help if they need it. Even if they don’t respond, it’s enough to remind them that you’re a business and they can use Facebook to find what they’re looking for.
Use the customer journey map to see how many of your customers are on social media and how many of them are making purchases after looking at your Facebook page. Optimizing your website with social media integrations can increase your overall conversion rate significantly.
Trigger-based forms should be used to make a website more actionable. Avoiding them can leave customers wondering what they’re supposed to be doing on your website. At the end of the day, you want anyone who visits your website, regardless of how they get there, to feel like they should be doing something. If they make a purchase after visiting your website from social media, have a form pop up that asks them to subscribe for your newsletter.
The customer journey map is going to outline how your customers interact with your business. If you’re finding that most of your traffic comes from social media, build forms that are catered to those people. If you’re finding that your traffic comes from email marketing campaigns, optimize your forms around that. At the end of the day, you want customers to make a purchase, and they’re not going to do that unless the journey they take is seamless.
Don’t ask for too much from your customers. Too many popups can come off as being spammy when what you’re after is a personalized, natural customer experience. Looking at the customer journey map will show you where your customers need to be nurtured through the pipeline. It will also provide context for future interactions if your goal is to retain your customers.
The customer journey map is a powerful tool for businesses to obtain helpful context regarding how your customers interact with your business. The point of the map is to not outline your business strategy. It’s supposed to act more as a guide on how to optimize your marketing, sales, and support efforts. It can also act as a guide, as we’ve discussed when designing your website with the customer experience in mind.
When building a website, the key to its success lies in how well you know what your customers are after before they even click the link to your website. If you know what they’re looking for, where they typically get held up in the pipeline, and what inspires them to keep moving forward, you can design a powerful website with personalized, trigger-based forms, search bars, social media integrations, and mobility features. Leaving any of these features out can prove costly to your business, which is why we emphasize avoiding these mistakes by using a customer journey map for context.
To make sure everything is taken into account, you can use the UXPressia CJM tool. It offers a wide range of features for detailed customer journey mapping: an intuitive interface, real-time online collaboration for multiple users, a wide range of sharing and exporting capabilities, integration with Mixpanel for the real-time analytics, and a bunch of CJM templates covering the most popular business domains. All of this is intended to make mapping your website visitor journey as productive as possible.
Plus, we have a CJM template that was designed specially for mapping the user experience of website visitors. It contains all the necessary sections for you to map your customer journey in great detail.