Do you know?

• A Forester report says a well-designed, user interface can increase your website’s conversion rate by up to 200%.
• A one-second delay in page load time can lead to a 7% reduction in conversions.
• Mobile-optimized websites tend to have 11.5% higher conversion rates compared to non-mobile-optimized sites.
• Forms with only three fields have a 25% higher conversion rate compared to forms with four fields.
• Well-placed CTAs can increase conversions by 121%.

These statistics clearly state that a good UI is not an option, it is a necessity. But the big question is what does a good UI design actually mean?

Let’s say when a business’s sales are lagging, it can often be traced back to the site’s user interface. Customers may not make it to the end of the funnel for a variety of reasons, whether it’s your site having a lot of obstacles (pop-ups, lack of instructions, distorted user flow, etc.)

Whatever the challenge, it is important to ensure that customers get an easy path to make their decisions.

But before understanding the qualities, let’s address the concept of “interface resistance” and its impact on a product’s metrics.

A seemingly perfect interface is ultimately ineffective if the product itself lacks value for the user. The value of the product is defined by its positive and measurable impact on someone’s life, whereas the interface simply facilitates interaction with the product to obtain that value.

Users must overcome the obstacles presented by the interface to access the value. The six qualities outlined below help in eradicating this resistance and improving conversion rates.

High Benefit Ratio – 

The proportion of helpful to unhelpful information displayed on a screen is called the benefit ratio.  Any content that doesn’t guide users toward making decisions reduces the benefit ratio.

Thus, to design an effective interface, the amount of information needed for users to “make a decision” should be less.

For example, this interactive decision tree tool for cafeteria planning has fewer details making it easy for account managers to select the appropriate tier for each category for cafeteria planning.

Low logic ratio – 

• Logic ratio is the balance between essential and non-essential actions on a screen. 
• Crucial actions that contribute to the core value of a product should be prioritized to get a low logic ratio. 

For example, many users favor Apple interfaces for their low logic ratio while they may feel Windows interfaces are more complex. Despite their simplicity, MacOS interfaces are not functionally inferior to Windows. MacOS designers showcase only primary actions and conceal secondary ones. Aiming for a set of three or four actions can help in designing interfaces that help customers in decision-making.

If you check the interface below, you can see how in two steps you can book the calendar.

It is intriguing to see how groups of three elements frequently appear in everyday interfaces. For instance, each email in Gmail’s list displays only three actions and three informational objects.

Familiarity –

People resist changes and may feel uneasy about unfamiliar elements. The more familiar an interface is, the more intuitive and invisible it becomes. 

For instance, any organized shelf is easy to access, adapting anything new demands effort. The more familiar an interface is, the more intuitive it becomes.

It can be categorized into two types – 

• External Familiarity encompasses common industry interaction patterns, global interaction patterns, familiar terminology, and established mental models. 
• Internal Familiarity or consistency focuses on maintaining uniform interaction patterns, controls, and terminology, and so on within a single product.

The interface below showcases that the user interaction pattern is consistent.

Storytelling –

Humans and emotional connections go hand in hand. Psychologically, it is the basis of curiosity. Every story has a flow – a beginning, a middle, and an end. Similarly, every website has a landing page, which is the beginning; a service or about us page, which is the middle section; and a contact us page, which is the end.

Everywhere we see, we can see a pattern. Therefore, users expect this formula while interacting with any form of communication. Stories become relatable when audiences insert their own experiences and emotional bias into the narrative – emotions go beyond logic and culture without knowing the customer base. Thus, designers should touch on a broad range of powerful emotions that every user can relate to on some level.

Transparency – 

A transparent interface ensures no fact is hidden from the user, providing maximum responsiveness. To assess transparency, check whether every aspect is understandable – from the interface states to the meanings of icons and terms. 

Transparency is particularly crucial when a system encounters errors. Avoid using jargon like “Error 550” instead explain the issue in simple language and share guidance on the next steps. Additionally, the interface should clearly convey what is occurring on the other side of the screen

in response to user actions, For example, using animations you can explain screen changes, respond to hover actions etc.

Farsightedness –

A foresightful interface is designed keeping in mind user behavior. The designer anticipates user needs or actions to deliver an interface that saves users time and effort by proactively offering helpful suggestions.

Whenever you opt for online shopping, you get certain recommendations based on selection.

Farsightedness as the literal meaning it means at its core involves thinking ahead and anticipating user needs or actions. A foresightful interface saves users time and effort by proactively offering helpful suggestions or options. It guides you toward your goal and makes you feel safer.

A great example of the foresightful interface is the search form for booking flights. It effectively guides you toward the next steps, providing suggestions and also helping you correct errors.

Legibility –

Attaining clarity in visual elements revolves around legibility. It depends on the contrast with background and positioning of objects in relevance to each other. Positioning can be achieved by Proximity, continuity, and hierarchy rules. 

This factor depends on the contrast with the background and the contrast and position of objects in relation to each other.

Let’s consider Background Contrast first

As we cannot anticipate where, how, or with what eyesight users will engage with our product, it’s essential to optimize the contrast of interface graphics.

Aligning objects relative to each other affects legibility. Keep these principles in mind –

Proximity rule – Objects positioned closer together should be perceived as closely relevant to the meaning.

Continuity rule – Objects on a single visual line are perceived as more closely related in meaning.

Hierarchy Rule – Objects of greater importance should be positioned above or appear more prominent than secondary objects.

The below interface has clarity around the visual elements through the variations in colors used.

Making sure that your app is not only pleasing to the eye but is easy to navigate is important for having high customer retention. There are a number of factors that contribute to UI designs but these 6 qualities when inculcated can be a game changer.

The above guide helps you understand the approach to optimizing user experience, covering aspects such as reducing cognitive leads, anticipating user needs and delivering relevant, high-impact content. This 6 Qualities framework streamlines the development process for creating interfaces that require minimal time and effort from users and ultimately drives the success of business objectives.