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In the current digital climate, ever-increasing online presence has led users to expect an optimised experience from all devices. Users, developers and corporations alike are prioritising mobile, in order to increase their reach. As such, it is vital to design any new site or web presence with mobile user experience at the forefront.

User experience is the experience of a person using your product or service. Mobile user experience differs greatly from computer user experience, due to the different device constraints and the context of use. To create a good user experience for mobile requires an understanding of the different people using your product and their expectations and intent. For an in-depth exploration of how to design with mobile UX in mind, take a look at our eBook: ‘UX for Mobile’.

Full Guide to UX for Mobile

 

Users’ Needs

As expected, User Experience (UX) is first and foremost about the user. In order to design an efficiently optimised mobile site, it’s vital to identify and analyse who the main users will be. Who are the key personas? What do they need to find? What is the user journey through our site?

Research into who is using your site, how and why, will provide the stable foundations for UX design. It is also worth considering how users within your company itself, and competing companies, interact online.

 

Adapted Design

Following an in-depth discovery phase, development of the website ought to answer to specific stories, as defined from user research.

As mobile use continues to increase, adaptations must be made for mobile sites specifically. for mobile differ substantially from creating a desktop site. A smaller screen and more tactile experience require clear information to be presented in a simplified and interactive way.

Heatmaps of Smartphone tactile experienceSmartphones can provide an intuitive tactile experience.

 

Users on mobile will commonly expect a responsive and fast service. Regardless of location or signal levels, slow load speeds can result in high bounce rates - mobile users don’t like to wait around!

Mobile visitors to your site are also likely to seek different content. Consider prioritising relevant and high-performing content pages, whilst either updating or archiving content that seems less popular. Through a clearly defined information architecture and intuitive navigation, users should be able to access content quickly and easily, whether using a mobile or returning to an issue on a different device later on.  

Whether designing consistent channel engagement strategies or mobile application forms, it remains important to present the only the necessary information in places where it will be the most productive.

 

Testing

When it comes to UX, testing and feedback are golden. Testing a prototype will allow bad ideas to be highlighted and amended before development, avoiding expensive rework.

Collecting a variety of feedback is key. Testing with representatives from each major target persona should provide a range of perspectives. Gathering responses from interviews and personal feedback should ideally be complemented by screen recordings, to see how the user subconsciously interacts, before asking their explicit opinion. Finally, seeking feedback at each important stage of the design and development process makes incremental adjustments easier and more productive.  

 

For a full guide to designing mobile sites to delight your users, take a look at our eBook: ‘User Experience for Mobile’. Detailed explanations, examples and advice are all included, to help you to create an optimised site, with users at the forefront.  

 

Full Guide to UX for Mobile

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