By considering user experience when designing your website, you will:
- have a better understanding of your customers' needs
- increase customer satisfaction
- have an advantage over your competitors
- encourage customer retention and engagement
Improve your website user experience
5 minute read • Last updated: 25 February 2025
User experience (UX) is the experience your visitors have each time they interact with your website or service. Understanding what your customers need can help you to improve the UX of your website. UX design is the process of designing experiences that are positive and as user-friendly as possible.
Key questions to ask about your website
How to create a good UX on your website
Loch Katrine Experience
© Digital Tourism Scotland / Matt Davis
Links to all pages
It’s important to have a main navigation bar clearly displayed on your site. You should make sure you link every page from the page that sits above it. So, if you have six pages which sit under the homepage, they should all have links on the homepage. Apply this throughout your site.
You can also use text links within content to link to other relevant pages or use whatever options your website has for buttons or image links. But only link where it’s useful, as each link needs to be relevant in the context of that page.
Clean page layout
In our fast-paced world, users don’t tend to read a webpage in a great amount of detail. They will scan the page looking for the information that is relevant to them.
It’s important you structure your page with the most important messaging at the top. If a user can’t easily find what they need or something relevant, they won’t stay.
To make your content easy to read, split the pages into sections and use headings by hierarchy. You should have one H1, but you can have multiple sub-headings using H2s, H3s, H4s and so on. It’s also good to use bullet points and numbers for lists.
Don’t be afraid of white space which allows the user to clearly see the relevant links, images and text.
Clear calls to action
Do you want your customers to book, check out offers or join your mailing list? A call to action (CTA) is a prompt that encourages visitors to take specific actions.
Make sure to include calls to action on relevant pages – this could be a Book Now button, or Check Availability. It needs to be clear to customers where they go to book when they are ready, and the process should be smooth and simple. Walk through your own booking process regularly to check how it looks to a customer.
Always mobile first
More searching is now done online on a mobile rather than on a desktop computer, so it’s essential your site works well on mobile devices. Google now stores mobile pages rather than desktop pages in their index.
More information on how Google stores mobile pages.
Quick speed and loading times
Both search engines and users care how fast your website loads – both generally but also how the individual pieces of the page load, for example, images or the booking functionality.
Google offers access to Lighthouse, an automated tool for improving the quality of your webpages.
Top tips to improve user experience
Follow the pillars of UX design
The seven pillars for UX design are to make your website:
- useful
- usable
- findable
- desirable
- accessible
- credible
- valuable
Offer a simple navigation
A good user experience will let the user move from point A to point B with ease. Headings and menus should be unique, descriptive and meaningful, acting as signposts to relevant information. When navigation is simple, users feel more confident and will explore more of your website.
Key pages for your navigation could be:
- an FAQs page with information about your event
- a detailed page about the different types of accommodation rooms you have
- travel information for how to reach your attraction by public transport
Minimise effort
Research shows the average time spent on a website is about 54 seconds. That doesn’t give you long to capture attention and keep it! By minimising effort and prompting or guiding the user, it’s more likely they’ll stay for longer.
A helpful tip is to:
- write content in simple clear language, without any jargon
- remove excess text and images, keep it short and simple
- always keep the most important information clearly visible at the top of each page
- use ‘call to actions’ on your buttons such as ‘Book now’ or ‘Check availability’
- use drop-down menus for subpages
Make it accessible
Web accessibility isn’t optional – it’s a must-have.
One in four people have a disability, including mobility, hearing or vision. You need to make sure that your website is accessible to all your customers, otherwise you’re missing out on a huge potential customer base.
Read more about the accessibility of your website.
Let the user feel in control
Not everyone is ready to book – some users may still be at the research stage of their trip planning. This might mean allowing users options to save or edit, so they don’t feel pressured or rushed on your website.
Make sure it’s really easy to find ways to contact you if they still have questions – a Contact Us page, email address and/or phone number and links to your social channels.
Share customer reviews
Social proof is when your customers recommend your product or services through reviews or social media posts.
Most people read reviews to ensure that a business is credible. By sharing reviews on your website, you are showing that your product is exactly what you claim it to be.
It’s possible to embed your social media feed onto your website – a web search for “embed social media feed on website” brings up a number of suggestions.
Managing your website
Consider how you can improve your existing website to clearly deliver the unique story of your product and make it really easy and enticing for customers to book. Check your key pages are working well, think about creating new content and getting advice on the sustainability and security of your digital channels.
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