There was a time when having a website was the new thing in marketing. In 2010, there were just 255 million websites worldwide. That number nearly quadrupled to 966 million in just six years.

As a marketing professional, this trend tells me two things: websites are a major factor in strategy planning and websites have to deliver more in order to rise above the crowd.

At first glance, you might say that I have only to worry about the first and leave the second to website designers. However, website designers tend to focus more on how a website looks than how it works and that can be problematic for marketers when the website design has a negative impact on the user experience or UX.

As Steve Jobs said, “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But, of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.” That is exactly what it means to have a website with good user experience or UX.

A Marketing Approach to Your Site’s UX design

The UX was not always a big issue, which is why there is a divide between marketing and website design. People, back in the day, were more patient and willing to overlook a cumbersome website if they could get otherwise inaccessible information.

That is no longer the case today.

Now, users have higher expectations when it comes to website performance. Since they have a wider option of obtaining what they want from other sources, they are more likely to leave a site if it has a negative UX design.

The factors that influence website UX include accessibility (loading speed, working links), usability (navigation), findability (SEO), value (content relevance and credibility) and desirability (design and layout). When a website lacks one or more feature, it results in a negative UX.

How does this impact on marketing?

Well, consider that the average user in 2017 will wait only a few seconds for a page to load and about 80% of users are less likely to use a website with poor UX. This means fewer conversions and that’s not good from a marketing perspective.

Marketing and UX Pairing

The question then is how marketing can improve the UX. The answer is simple: the two sides have to work as a team.

Sales and marketing professionals routinely deal directly with people, unlike website designers. As such, they have an in-depth knowledge of what people want and need when they visit a particular site.

For example, if you sell clothes online, the people that go to your site need to buy clothes. How can you provide them with a solution to their problem? The answer is to make it easy for them to find what they want.

Marketing professionals can provide valuable insight into buying behavior and psychology, which may not make much sense to web designers. On the other hand, marketers have no idea of the principles behind website design. They may know how to sell but not how to present it to the user effectively.

In other words, marketing and UX design have to forge a working relationship. Below are some brilliant ways marketing and UX design can boost your site’s conversion rate together.

Coordinate marketing efforts

One of the biggest challenges for many companies today is coordinating different marketing campaigns to benefit the company as a whole. One study shows that nearly two-thirds of companies identify marketing silos as a barrier to communications, productive and effective execution of a cohesive marketing strategy.

Collaboration with the UX design team can break down these silos and improve communications because it establishes a common ground to work on. Working with the UX design team makes any breakdown in communications among marketing glaringly apparent, so it necessitates agreement among them on major goals. When there is a cohesive message and approach, the UX design team can produce a better website. It’s a win-win situation.

Carry out user testing

Marketers may know people but, ultimately, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. UX design teams have access to information that reveals how users actually interact with the website through user testing tools. These provide valuable insights to marketers about what the users want so they can refine their marketing campaigns and maximize conversion.

This, in turn, will guide marketers on what they need the UX design team to fix on the website so that they can improve and create the ideal UX. This entails a certain measure of trial and error but it is a very effective method of designing the perfect website in the long term.

Unify campaigns across different channels

Websites often serve as the anchor for campaigns and the average company uses about eight different channels for their marketing efforts. While marketing strategies for each channel optimize user response, they don’t necessarily dovetail neatly into your conversion funnel.

You need to make sure your email campaign is in line with your mobile app so that they end up generating leads or sales for your company. The best way to do this is to design your website to be the pivot or hub for different channels so most of your leads can conveniently navigate across channels.

Actionable plans

Now that you know how marketing and UX can work and complement each other, your next step is to take action. Here’s how to do that:

• Do initial research

Designing a site for a kick-ass UX all begins with gathering information about your user. You need to find out who they are, what they care about and where they come from. You also need to know how they spend their time before you can even think about your site design. Learning about your target audience is essential for success in developing your website UX. After all, it is the user experience.

• Monitor users

Your initial user research will give you a good idea of how to design your website. However, until you take it out for a test drive, it is just an idea. Once your site goes up, you should monitor how users are actually interacting with your site and use tools to monitor and analyze their behavior.

Before you do that, take note of your own expectations on user behavior to serve as a benchmark for future observations. This will prevent you from “hindsight bias” and help you figure out gaps in your user research.

• Do a survey

According to TermLife2Go, after you have observed your users and identified certain behaviors you want to understand, do a survey to get the answers from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Most of e-commerce websites are doing actionable plans to enhance users shopping experience. They send specific questions to ask why users bought an item or why they clicked on a certain option. Your intention is not to be nosy, but to increase your understanding of how your users think. That way, you can improve the website UX as well as your marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

A marketing approach to website UX is simply about integrating two important elements of your conversion funnel. If you can manage to do this successfully, it will maximize your marketing efforts to an incredible degree.

See Also: The 5 Internet Marketing Trends That Will Dominate in 2017

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As communications become more convenient, it also becomes easier to immerse yourself in work and never look up from it.

If you are like me, you find yourself checking e-mail at all hours and addressing mid-level professional concerns via email or on the phone when on vacation, out with friends or even playing with the kids. This is not just a bad habit but it is detrimental professionally, psychologically and physically, too.

Who is to blame for this condition?

Is it your superiors who need your council at all hours of day and night? Is it your own sense of inflated worth? Are you really needed every moment? Or is it your needless guilt in saying no to projects that you should really decline?

At this point, you are probably cursing under your breath at an article like this, thinking that as part of the gig economy. You can’t just stop and unplug because you might jeopardize your livelihood. Perhaps, you are working several jobs and need that financial support to survive.

Though that may be true, overwork is actually setting you up for failure. Creating positive and selective work habits, however, will allow you to reduce stress and be more successful.

Overworking is Bad for Business

Ultimately, it has been shown that those that claim to work huge volumes of overtime are less productive than those that work less hours but with more sustained and focused time.

The 40-hour work week was originally put in place because it allowed for the best possible work to get done without jeopardizing products. Studies showed that workers who toiled for ten hours a day compared with eight had the same level of output. Basically, that means that employers were paying overtime for no return.

The same is true of any job. We only have so much ability to get things done before losing focus or being dazed by overwork and lack of sleep.

What To Do

To make sure that your work time will be productive, take the hours off that you are supposed to.

• Lunch away

Be sure to take your lunch away from your computer and plan to leave work on time. Setting that deadline for yourself will force you to stay on task rather than procrastinate.

• Take vacation

You are more productive if you have time to unwind and return to work fresh. Do not leave your vacation time on the table.

• Keep personal time personal

To keep professional resentment at bay, make sure that you have the time you need for your family.

• Ask about a revised schedule

In the digital age, more people are working on a flexible schedule. See if this is something your employer would consider for you. After all, who cares when your work gets done as long as it’s done?

Overworking is Bad for Your Brain

Psychologically, working without a break can lead to depression, sleep deprivation and even cause memory loss. These things can surely affect your effectiveness at work. Research into this phenomenon have revealed even more unsettling results.

For example, a Norwegian study from 2014 looked deeply at the relationship between psychological disorders and overwork in over 16 thousand workers . It found out that those that were classified as workaholics were about three times as likely to show symptoms of ADHD, OCD and clinical anxiety and four times as likely to show signs of depression.

What to do

If you find yourself feeling off because of overwork, take some immediate steps.

• Catch more sleep

Want to be more useful at work? Sleep is key. Though this may cut into your “leisure time” a bit, more sleep will allow you to process effectively, help your memory and keep you focused. Think you are just one of those people who don’t need as much sleep and can go on 4-5 hours or so and be productive? Think again!

See Also: Get Strong, Sleep, Repeat: The Importance Of Sleeping

• Get deep

Deep work is a strategy that actively cuts down on distractions in favor of a protracted amount of focused time. If you feel like your multi-tasking is out of control, it might be time to detox on distractions and see if deep work concepts are right for you.

• Ask yourself if there may be a larger problem

If you find yourself increasing your workload, make sure you ask the question: Is this because of drive or a more deep-seated psychological issue?

Overworking is Bad for Your Health

There are many studies that show that overwork is bad for you physically. It can increase your likelihood of causing conditions like diabetes, heart disease, stroke and increased fatality. Like a watch, we need to be wound down or our springs will start popping out.

Working more than 55 hours a week, says one study, gives you a 30% higher risk of stroke and 13% higher risk of heart disease as well as increased dangers for diabetes.

What to do

To protect your health, consider the following actions.

• Find time for exercise

Obviously, this is easier said than done. Make sure you take time, even if it’s just a walk at lunchtime or getting up to talk to someone on another floor rather than sending an email. And when you go there, take the stairs.

• Stand up for yourself

Prolonged sitting is pretty bad for your cardiovascular health – make sure you take a couple of minutes every hour or so to move your joints and get your blood flowing.

• Eat right

Overwork can lead to some strange eating habits (ever heard of Soylent, for example?). By planning your meals and investing in bringing healthy snacks, like fruits and veggies, to work, you’ll be able to lower your cholesterol.

Perhaps the best way to start balancing life and work is to be honest with yourself about what is possible to accomplish in the time you have allotted for work.

Most of those who end up being overworked do so because they have said “Yes” to too many projects. However, there are ways to say no to your boss or peers that will make you look both smart and sensitive, rather than a basket case or a slacker.

See Also: 7 Signs Of Overworking (And What To Do About Them)

Check out this infographic from GetVoIP to learn more about how to respectfully say no at work and avoid overworking yourself.

SOURCE

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