The Power of User Experience – How We’re Putting Users First at FindAUniversity
Enabling the best possible user experience of our products is central to our practices at FindAUniversity. We asked our Senior UI/UX Developer, Matt Winning, to outline some of the techniques we’re using to improve user experience on our flagship websites.
At FindAUniversity, we firmly believe that the user is at the heart of everything we do. Our commitment to delivering exceptional user experiences drives our design and development process.
This post will explore how we implement a user-centric approach to shape our practices – and hopefully inspire you to do the same! From AB testing to analysing user behaviours and staying updated with the latest UX trends, here’s how we keep our users front and centre.
Understanding user-centric design
User-centric design places users at the core of the design and development process. It involves understanding their needs, preferences, and goals to create products and services that cater to their expectations, all while questioning your own assumptions about what your audience wants.
At FindAUniversity, we believe that by placing our users first, we can better serve their needs and deliver exceptional experiences. This approach drives our decision-making process, ensuring that every aspect of our platform is designed with the user in mind.
AB testing for enhanced conversions and user experience
One of the key techniques we employ to optimise user experience is AB testing. By conducting rigorous tests with different variations of our website's layout, navigation, and search functionalities, we can gather valuable data on user preferences and behaviours.
This data-driven approach allows us to identify the most effective design elements that improve conversions, whether that be the number of enquiries universities are receiving, the number of programme views or visits to their website.
Our current focus is on increasing the number of enquiries sent by prospective students to universities. To do this we have successfully implemented changes including:
- altering the size, colour and wording on our call to action (CTA) buttons;
- simplifying and redesigning the enquiry form;
- making the form more prominent on the page.
These minor changes are already yielding significant results, showing that you don’t need to move mountains to increase engagement!
User testing: insights from real users
To gain deeper insights into our users' experiences, we conduct user testing sessions both in person and online through Maze. These allow us to collect qualitative feedback on how users interact with our platforms. Directly involving our target audience in the testing process helps uncover pain points, understand user behaviour, and identify areas for improvement.
We recently ran a user testing session as part of our revamped Institution Profiles product. This allowed us to see where users were struggling to navigate and make key improvements prior to its launch. These included moving the image gallery to the top of the page to help increase engagement.
When running a user testing session always remember three things: don’t prompt, don’t lead, just observe.
Analysing user behaviours with Hotjar
To gain a deeper understanding of user behaviours on our websites, we use Hotjar, a powerful user behaviour analytics tool. Hotjar allows us to analyse heatmaps, scroll maps, and access user recordings, providing insights into how users navigate and interact with our websites.
Using heatmaps helps us understand where users expect to click and investigate the intended action they wish to complete, allowing us to make changes that enhance usability. For example, we’re currently in the process of making some changes to how users navigate from our search results to course descriptions, by increasing the click area from just the ‘find out more’ to the entire listing.
The added bonus of this over specific user testing sessions is that this is constantly running so it’s a lot less resource intensive and we know that users aren’t being subconsciously influenced by someone watching them. This sort of technology can prove especially useful for projects that involve bespoke design landing pages with lots of information. You’ll be able to see what is and isn’t working and make sure the page is optimised for your desired action.
Staying ahead with UX trends and insights
We know the best way to make sure our websites are doing what they need to is to keep up to date with the latest UX trends and best practice. That's why we make sure to stay abreast of the latest discussion points in publications such as UX Movement and attend events (including UX LIVE London) to connect with fellow UX professionals.
To wrap up, we take a multi-pronged approach to improving our user experience at FindAUniversity! Techniques such as AB testing, user testing, user behaviour analysis, and staying updated with the latest UX trends help us create the best possible experience for students and customers alike.
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