Three areas of User Experience Design you need to get right

UXD is a critical part of any customer interaction and extends to every brand touch point be it physical or virtual. Getting this experience right when planning digital media campaigns is the cornerstone of a successful campaign.

Take a look at three main areas of UXD within the digital media process that you need to get right:

Clear messaging

I often see banners that deliver a wealth of information across multiple, animated frames. These banners are hard to read and the full message is not delivered to the users in the short period of time that you have their attention. Clear, simple and single-minded communication is the key to effective online advertising.

Think carefully about what you want to communicate on the creative and simplify as much as possible. Split the messaging into different banner variations if you need to, but make sure that your message comes across clearly.

Actionable call-to-action

This is something that all digital media are familiar with, but is possibly one of the most important. Every piece of digital media that you release into the wild needs to have a strong call-to-action. If your banner does not ask the customer to engage in some way then you can bet that they won't engage at all.

Your call-to-action should be prominent, clear and informative giving the user a reason to engage with your creative. If possible try experimenting with several different call-to-actions and then optimise based on the most effective one.

Delivering on the promise

Your creative message and call-to-action builds a level of expectation for the user. If you showed product A and asked the user to "buy now", when the user clicks on your banner they expect to be taken to a page where they can buy that product. Logical, I know, but you would be surprised how often advertisers get this wrong and end up sending the user to the homepage instead. Make sure that your landing page is relevant and delivers on the promise that you banner creative has made.

Improving the user journey and ease of user not only provides the user with a much better experience but also increases the effectiveness of your campaign by minimising drop-off and increasing conversion ratios. Make sure that you spend time planning your campaign architecture and thinking about how the user interacts with each stage. Getting this right will determine the difference between success and failure.