Are you giving your users all that they need while they are on your website? Do you actually think that they are enjoying a seamless experience over your website?
Have you ever tried checking it with them? If not, then my friend, you should be examining whether your website is giving them an awesome experience.
Many a time it happens that whatever we feel is the best, doesn’t work well with our audience. It could be in fact, a pain for them. Imagine you are on a website – there is no proper navigation and you do not have the least idea of what should be the next action.
You are annoyed and moreover, the entire struggle created a painful experience. Would you like to revisit the website at any point in the future? Not even once, unless all the others cease to live.
Before you start working on your website design, here are a few points that you need to examine to ensure that you are moving across the right path:
- Could this be confusing for the users? Are there a lot of jargons that cannot be easily interpreted?
- Could we be kind enough to use templates that are similar to the ones that have been used before and this is something that the users can also relate to?
- Would this be actually a simple task for the users or am I complicating things?
- Can we in any way accomplish in adding value to the lives of our people apart from the service benefits that we are offering through our business?
- Can we utilize the user’s previous actions and then customize the next course of action to fit exactly into their needs
- Could we prevent the user from attempting to make a mistake while they take an action?
- What medium should we be using to provide instructions on the task that will be performed, whether it should be audio or video or text?
If you could answer all these seven questions, then you are heading in the right direction.
The time of the traditional web will never again return, so as we head toward a new era, an anticipated change is all set to create a revolution. So is the era of anticipatory design going to take over the existing trends of website design and development.
Our users want a flexible and painless movement through the websites while they are here. Unlike the traditional days of the web, when websites were new and people had least idea of how this works, things are changing and the intellect of people too. Now, their needs are varying and since there are a lot more options, they do not wish to stick on to something that might not be interesting.
Anticipatory design is evolving
If you take a closer look, the giant heads like the Facebook, Google, and even Amazon are using anticipatory design tactics to give a no-nonsense experience to their users.
How does it feel when Google comes up with relevant suggestions for you before you can even think about these?
Wow! Awesome! I never thought about this, though this is what exactly I was searching for. Most of us have experienced this “moment of surprise” that Google’s anticipatory design gifted us with.
What exactly is this anticipatory design?
I would like to simplify it as a design that knows way before what the user is looking for and takes them to their destination smoothly and efficiently.
Achieving the extra milestone
When you already know what your people would think, you can plan well beforehand and ensure that the design bumps into them with what exactly they are looking for, right before their senses interpret and carry the message to their brains to search for the “specific” thing.
The most wonderful thing about this anticipatory design is that it is magical because it has the power to interpret what the user is in need of or what the user is going to think about, long before the user thinks about it or attempts to take an action with regard to their needs.
The experience for the user is that your anticipatory design will offer them with an exact flow of what they were wishing for using the same route they had wanted without waiting them to take an action or provide an option.
The challenge
Don’t you think this could be a challenge? There are a large number of users around the world and how can we expect them all to think across the same lines?
Their needs vary; expectations vary; way of thinking varies and their story behind how they arrived at your website is different.
Customizing the website’s design to anticipate each of their thinking and intellect and then, ensuring that your website is all set to provide them with the expected experience is never an easy task.
How does this work?
Just like Google’s relevant searches and Amazon’s recommendations, anticipatory design takes into account all your previous actions and then, customizes a perfect interface that will interact with your people giving them all that they want.
You could use various means of analyzing customer behavior – for example, you could save the auto-filled sections and then, use it at a later time or ask to turn on the location settings and then, bring them some suggestions that are relevant.
Anticipatory design comprises majorly of three main important components that includes artificial intelligence, the internet of things and anticipation. When you combine together machine language, user behavior and old school design you are automatically creating something to impress your people.
Don’t even think of overdoing it, like if you are forcefully asking your people to turn on their location settings before they proceed further, it can be annoying. Because too much of anticipatory and artificial intelligence could give them a feeling of being watched and that they have been revealing a lot of information which no one wishes to do.
Just make them experience that things are happening just as they wish rather than creating a persuasive feel.
Always keep two things in mind while working with anticipatory design –
If you are successful, you will ultimately end up winning your customer’s heart.
If you lose or if your attempts fail, you are going to take them through something that they never wanted. But, do not worry; a lot of research can help you on this part making things easier for you.
You should be aware of what could go wrong when the user has to choose between forceful action and anticipated action.
With these points in mind, go ahead and create a design that gives a cool and seamless experience over your website to your customers.
Are you looking for something?
Acodez can help.
How?
Acodez IT Solutions is a web development company based in India and we have experience in customizing excellent web design services for our clients to fit into their business needs. We also offer SEO services being an SEO agency based in India. We do not limit our services to just the businesses in India, but we are widespread offering all kinds of online marketing and web-based application development services to our clients in India and abroad.
For further details, contact us today.
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