User Experience or UX is the term online marketers and programmers use to describe how your website’s structure affects the users’ enjoyment and likelihood of returning to the site.
User Interface or UI is how marketers and programmers describe the advertising methods and programming techniques used to manipulate your site’s UX.
Getting swept up in “Contact Us” Pages and witty blog posts, many law firms forget — Your website has a single, incredibly simple job: Generating more leads for your firm!
Through an intelligent User Interface, your site can generate a positive User Experience making it easier for prospective clients to convert to paying clients. But how do you spot intelligent UI? Simply design with the user in mind!
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Useful Content
Every site page, every blog post, every social post — should be about representing a client-focused brand for your firm. Empathy is the key to content creation. When creating this content you have to put yourself in the shoes of a prospective client. That is what the User Experience is all about! What do they want to know? What do they need to know? Giving site visitors the information they’re after in the order they need it, will leave them feeling understood and connected.
Connected prospects become satisfied clients.
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Simplicity of Design
Sometimes, Kirkpatrick Creative brings on law firm clients with loud or intricate websites — creating a very overwhelming User Experience. These sites have lawyers in mind instead of clients. Lawyers lean to intricate designs to show the depth of their expertise. But prospective clients with legal issues aren’t looking for expansive expertise. Individual clients want someone to solve their individual problems. You might have half a dozen professional commendations — but a car wreck victim just needs to pay their bills. Keep your site simple and direct, so prospective clients can find the answers (and comfort) they need as easily as possible.
Why Are Site Visitors Not Converting?
We like our clients’ websites to see a conversion rate of approximately 10%. That may sound low; but honestly, not everyone who visits your website will be a good lead for you. Qualified leads are diamonds in the rough.
Monitor the page engagement metrics of unique visitors, not overall traffic to your website. The bounce rate, exits, average session duration, and average pages per session are all important web analytics. If something is not working, try doing some A/B testing.
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Don’t Bury the Lead!
Despite the declining industry, the world reveres newspaper journalists as some of the greatest writers. Journalists know most readers will never finish an entire article. Therefore, they use a writing method called, “The Inverted Pyramid.” Articles are written with the most important information first, and with each sentence the information gets less important. So the reader gets the best of the article, regardless of where they stop reading.
Everything on your website should be structured in a journalistic manner. Most web research is done on mobile devices — so most of your site’s visitors are probably on the go! Make the information you share easy to consume. Put the major points up front!
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Have a Clear Call to Action
You’re not new to advertising — you understand how important a call to action is to the success of any marketing efforts. A call to action is a simple task for a prospective client to put information into action, making it easy for them to get what they want. It can be as simple as, “Call us today!” Make these calls to action, easy to see and understand. If the instruction is too hard to understand, or the effort required is too difficult, an undecided prospect will click away!
If you have any questions or comments about your firm’s website UI or UX, contact Kirkpatrick Creative today!