How UX/UI & Landing Pages Are Like Drunk People
The Essential Components of UX/UI & Landing Pages Analogized to Drunk People.
Written by Dylan Langei
WTF is UX/UI and why should I care?
Converging UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) is a difficult task faced by many companies. What a company believes they are presenting as an interface, may not reflect the user experience that they expect. A UX designer is primarily concerned with how the product feels - ensuring that the product logically flows from one step to the next. A UI designer focuses on how the product is laid out - visually communicating the path that a UX designer has laid out. This common misconception displayed in the picture above, illustrates that many people see UX/UI designers as solely performing one function, when instead they are completing a multitude of functions to reach an efficient user experience and user interface. Therefore, there are many behind the scenes contributions that must be made to integrate successful UX/UI.
How do I become a UX wizard?
UX Magazine illustrates four common practices successful UX Executives used, which were quite surprising and seemed unorthodox for the industry. The title "4 Techniques of Successful UX Executives" is fairly cliche, like an article titled "4 Ways to Become a Millionaire." But don't be alarmed, this is not a BuzzFeed article. Of course there are never just four simple steps to guarantee your success as a UX Executive, because then everyone could do it. But here's a good starting point:
- Study Those Around You as You Would Study Users: When we are so focused on the users, we sometimes lose sight of who we work with, our partners and stakeholders. In order to get an idea or opinion across regarding UX, take those people into account, along with your users.
- Study Isn't Enough - You Must Have Empathy: Once again, tracking back to UX leaders partners - as a UX expert you must be in tune with your partners day-to-day and their pressures and worries. What allows UX leaders to do this is listening to their partners concerns, empathizing with their pressures, and asking how you can help.
- Take the Long View and Build Relationships: Once you have an understanding of empathy, you must leverage that to form trust and long lasting relationships with your partners. This means putting down your ego, and not be constantly combative, as it damages the chances of a long term relationship.
- Remember, People May Not Understand UX: Wait, what! I'm working in a field that people might not understand? Yes, unfortunately you are. But, this is a teaching opportunity. Understand your partner's world views and what resonates with them. Grasp that understanding and craft it in a way to introduce them to UX and engage them in the design process.
Why is a landing page essential to my conversion rate?
A landing page is like a first impression. You know when you go to a party and you meet an extremely intoxicated guy perspiring out of every gland in his body, and spit spraying out of his mouth after every enunciated syllable? Pretty hard to forget this fellow. The next time you see him, you put your head down and walk the other way. A bad landing page is like this drunk guy. No customer or person wants to interact with them, because they are annoying, sloppy, unattractive, and do not satisfy the customers needs.
A killer landing page is like the cool guy from your high school. He's got his older brothers ID to buy all the booze, throws the coolest parties, and invites the hottest chicks. He maintains his composure during the party, incrementally drinks throughout the night, and never loses sight of optimizing his conversion rate. Get booze (UX path), throw a party (UX path), and end up with the cheer captain in his room at the end of the night (Conversion Rate) - a logical UX path. You meet this guy, and you idolize him. Girls are hanging all over him, because he embodies everything the "customer" wants. The cool guy analogizes an elegant and effective landing page by possessing fundamental components that it's customers' desire, and leads the customer directly to the conversion rate that the business, or cool guy, is looking for. It must be clean, simple-to-use, offer a clear call to action, robust incentives, design attractive, and click-ready.
What company has a "sweaty drunk guy" landing page?
Please welcome Safety BLR, the sweaty drunk guy at the party.
Safety BLR is a safety training & compliance company that simplifies compliance with state and federal legal requirements. They may simplify compliance, but they sure do not simplify navigating their website. There is no clear call-to-action, the page is cluttered with words, and there is unused space on the bottom right hand corner. We can assume Safety BLR's conversion is for you to buy their software, but the only call-to-action on this is the very tiny "Request Demo" and "Free Trial" at the top. This should be smack dab in the middle of the page, with a design that draws a customers eyes right to those links.
What company has a "cool drunk guy" landing page?
Please welcome Karma, the cool high school jock who gets all the ladies.
Now this is a kick ass landing page. This page actually has a demo video playing at all times (visit link or click on the image above), displaying the products use. According to Mashable, including a demo video on the landing page can increase conversions by 10-20%. Karma does it flawlessly - while also providing a link to the full film right on the front page. They also make it very clear what their product does, by using the tagline "Take WiFi with you everywhere," while stimulating a bit of curiosity from onlookers. A potential customer might wonder, well how is this possible? I want to take WiFi everywhere! I am always going over my data plan! Right away Karma is solving a problem faced by many, while also providing easy call-to-actions in the top banner ("Buy Now", "How It Works", etc.).
Lastly, I will leave you with a few reminders on how to establish an elegant and effective landing page:
- Make it clean and simple-to-use.
- Select a call-to-action that leads directly to your desired conversion using robust incentives.
- Make it clear what your product is/does or provide an easy-to-see link that will describe what it does.
- Don't be the drunk sweaty guy at the party.