How to deliver great user experience on a budget

First, the case for UX. Fundamentally, it’s about removing any hassle or friction for visitors to your site and making it as easy as possible for them to browse your website and find the information they need.

It’s also about making it easy for customers to do the things you want them to on your site – actions that drive leads, or enable them to make a purchase. This may mean completing forms to ask for demos, booking an appointment, or going through checkout.

User experience is a big factor in creating an excellent overall customer experience (which also includes elements such as customer service, speed of delivery etc). With plenty of competition online, users who find a website frustrating to use can easily find a better experience elsewhere.

If you remain unconvinced about the business case, here’s a stat to underline my point:

88% of online consumers report that they are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience (toptal).

For small businesses which are not necessarily well-known, a good user experience is one way to build trust with potential new customers. If they arrive on a site that looks good, loads quickly and is smooth and intuitive to use, it gives them a great first impression.

The flipside, is that poor UX can have negative impacts. The most obvious is that people will abandon a website, meaning that time and money spent on marketing to bring them to the website is wasted.

So how can sites deliver the best possible user experience?

It’s important to design websites with the user in mind so that the ways people will use a site is the driving factor, rather than what you think will work.

By moving away from opinion, and putting the user at the centre of the design process, companies can take the first step towards providing excellent customer experience.

There are processes in place for user centred design, and the key benefit is that, by considering the user throughout the design process, less redevelopment work is required further down the line.

This user-centric approach goes well beyond the design process, as learning about the way people use a site throughout its lifetime helps brands to identify areas of friction and make improvements to the user experience.

Fundamentally, it’s a way of thinking that will help website owners to maintain a focus on what the user expects from their site.

There is no right or wrong answer when looking to provide the best user experience. Website visitors have varied tastes and preferences, and it’s impossible to please everyone.

It’s about finding the best possible blend, the one which performs best in terms of higher conversions and lower bounces.

This can be arrived at through testing and optimisation, more on that later, but there are basic principles to follow, which are common to any usable website:

These include:

• Clear navigation. A user should be able to find their way around the site without too much effort. To this end, navigational links should be clear and prominent on the page, and taxonomy should make sense.
• Web accessibility. Around one in four people in the UK are affected by some sort of disability. While not all of these may affect someone’s ability to use the internet, failure to make a website accessible means potential customers may be unable to find what they need on your website. Indeed, seven out of ten disabled users will abandon a site that’s difficult to use.
• Page speed. According to Google, 53% of visits are abandoned on mobile sites that take longer than three seconds to load, so speed matters. Google’s Page Speed Tool can analyse your site and suggest ways to reduce load time.
• Avoid the obvious UX mistakes. There are some mistakes which you can avoid from the beginning, such as slow loading sites, or making forms too complicated.
• Simplicity. Remove unnecessary elements and keep interfaces clean.
• Clarity. Ensure content is easy to understand and actions are obvious.

While any business should ultimately test and find the best blend for their own site, it doesn’t hurt to look at what some of the best sites (and your competitors) are doing, and use this for inspiration.

This way, you can spot user experience and design trends, and adapt and test them for your own site.

Think about the sites people use regularly, and why. For example, they shop at Amazon, or browse bbc.co.uk because these sites load quickly, are easy to navigate, and make it easy to find the information you need.

Key features from already well-designed websites are a good place to start when designing your own user experience.

There’s another point here. People’s experience of the web, and their expectations around UX are shaped by sites they use regularly, and of course, sites like Amazon are shaping this. This means that people will often expect your site to work in a similar way, so it’s not always a good idea to go against convention.

Analytics can help you to see where visitors are dropping off your site, or identify changes in site performance which may indicate areas for improvement.

Analytics can help you to identify key trends on your site. For example, if one page has higher than usual bounce rates, then this means something about the page may be deterring people. From here, you can look into why elements on the page may be causing users to leave.

Session replay and heatmap tools can help you to better understand how people use your website. There are a wide range of tools, and many offer free or cheaper options for a range of businesses.

Heatmaps can tell you where people are clicking on your pages, the elements that catch their attention (as well as those that go unnoticed) and how far they scroll down a page.

Session replay tools capture people using your site, so you can follow their journey, see where they click and view any problems they may encounter. For example, you may discover that a particular form field is causing problems for some users, or people are failing to see certain calls to action.

These are useful, and provide some useful insights, although they can’t tell you why visitors are doing what they do, which is where customer feedback can help.

By asking users of your site directly, you can gather some valuable insights into how they use your site, any areas they found annoying, and why they may have decided not to buy.

Direct insight like this can often pinpoint problems more precisely, allowing you to improve the user experience.

There are a number of ways to conduct surveys, from online surveys that pop up while a user is browsing (though they shouldn’t be intrusive) to email surveys sent (with the right permissions) after a customer has made a purchase, or even abandoned the site.

Customer service teams and contact methods like live chat can also be a great source of feedback.

Observing people using your website and being able to ask them about their experience is a great way to gain insights and improve the user experience.

It doesn’t have to mean expensive user testing labs or paying big fees to agencies to conduct user testing. There are cost effective, and even free ways to test with real users.

1. Remote user testing

There are companies which can carry out remote user tests on your site, using panels of real web users.

You can simply set a test, such as asking people to select an item and go through checkout, or to find some key information or book an appointment, then view users as they use your site, giving their impressions as they browse. This shows you both how they use the site and their feedback as they do so, combining the best elements of surveys and session replay tools.

It doesn’t have to be expensive either. There are free trials available, while some might charge as little as £50 per video, so for a few hundred pounds you can gain some valuable insight.

2. Guerilla testing

Guerilla testing means using real people, in real life situations, to test your site. This may mean approaching people in a cafe and asking them to use your site in return for a cup of coffee.

This can deliver some useful insights, and it helps that you can get their feedback directly, and ask them questions as they use the website.

3. Recruit test users from existing customers

Reach out to current users and offer small incentives such as discounts for their feedback. You could also use email lists or social media to find volunteers.

4. Run A/B tests with minimal resources

Test different versions of a feature or design using free A/B testing tools like Google Optimize, which is integrated into GA4. Track conversions or engagement metrics to identify what works best.

5. Analyse session recordings & heatmaps

Use tools like Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, or Crazy Egg, which all have free plans to see how users interact with your site. Identify drop-off points, confusing navigation, or areas that need improvement.

6. Conduct short & focused user surveys

Use tools like Google Forms, Typeform (free plan), or SurveyMonkey to ask quick UX-related questions. Keep surveys under five  minutes and focus on specific pain points.