User Experience in Web Design: What, Why and How?

Scientist Don Norman gets credit for inventing the phrase “user experience” in the late 1990s. Fast forward to today, and user experience (UX) design dominates the way modern websites are planned.

But what does user experience in web design actually mean? And why does it matter so much for your business website? In this post, we’re going to look at:

• What user experience in web design really is
• The importance of UX website design
• UX vs UI in website design
• What makes great user experience design?
• The UX web design process
• Quick UX wins you can implement today

So let’s dive in.

What is user experience in web design?

User experience in website design is how people feel when they interact with your website. It’s the difference between a site that feels effortless and one that leaves visitors feeling frustrated.

Good UX web design considers everything: how easy it is to find information, how quickly pages load, how intuitive the navigation feels and how smoothly users can complete tasks — like buying a product, booking a call or filling out a form.

The goal is to remove friction. When UX is done well, visitors understand what your business does within seconds. They know where to click next. Nothing feels confusing or unnecessarily complicated.

Great user experience web design goes further. It anticipates user needs and answers questions before they’re asked. It also delights website visitors with useful little extras and surprises — above-and-beyond moments that stick in the memory.

The importance of UX website design

So, now we know what UX in web design is. But why would you want to invest time and money in it? Here’s what you can expect to gain from web design with UX at its core.

Loyalty

One in three consumers says they’ll walk away from a brand after just one bad experience. And that includes website experiences.

If visitors struggle to navigate your site or feel unsure about taking the next step, they’ll leave — and probably won’t come back. Not because your product or service is bad, but because the website experience was.

Strong UX web design makes websites intuitive and dependable. Users feel understood because they can achieve what they set out to do on your website quickly and easily.

This builds trust. And trust keeps visitors coming back to your website.

SEO

Google has been clearer than clear: user experience is a significant ranking factor. Websites that don’t prioritise user experience get less visibility in search results.

So what is Google looking for in terms of UX? Websites should be fast, secure, mobile responsive and as free as possible from annoying popups. They should be easy to use and understand, with all information arranged and formatted logically.

When your site works well for website visitors, SEO is a lot easier. You appear higher in search engine result pages and get more traffic to your website.

Conversions

Every point of friction on a website is a potential exit point. A confusing layout. A form that asks for too much information. A checkout process that feels clunky. Remove those issues, and more users make it through to conversion.

Good user experience website design improves conversion rates. It can increase order value, too. PwC found that brands with the best UX can charge a 16% price premium for their products and services.

UI vs UX in web design: what’s the difference?

UI and UX are often lumped together. But they’re not the same thing.

UI stands for user interface. In web design, that’s the visual layer users interact with — buttons, menus, forms, icons, typography and layouts.

UI design focuses on how these elements look and behave. Are buttons clearly clickable? Is text easy to read? Does the design feel consistent across pages and devices?

UX web design looks at the bigger picture. It considers the entire journey someone takes through your website — from the moment they land on the homepage to the moment they convert (or leave).

It considers things like which pages you need, the order information appears in and overall website performance.

You can have a beautiful UI with poor UX. A website might look great but still be frustrating to use. But on the best websites, UI and UX design come together to support every element of the user journey.

What makes great user experience design on websites?

Boil it down, and great user experience design is about two key things:

• Understanding what your audience wants
• Deciding which UX design elements best meet their needs

Let’s take a look at these points in turn.

User insight and empathy

User experience web design means putting the user first. This requires empathy. We have to understand customer priorities and why they’re on your website in the first place.

What problem are they trying to solve? What questions do they need answered? What’s stopping them from taking action? How do their values and views inform their choices?

This goes beyond surface-level demographics. It’s about behaviour, motivation and practical considerations too.

We need to consider a user’s state of mind when they land on your website. Are they visiting on their smartphone during a lunch break? Are they carefully researching before a big decision? Are they feeling stressed, curious, sceptical, goal-oriented?

Answering these questions shapes everything — from page layouts and content length to navigation structure and calls to action.

Key UX web design elements

Once you understand your users, UX web designers focus on how the website supports them across their user journey. They design a website that gives users what they need, and balance the following user experience web design elements:

Usability

Your website should feel familiar and predictable. Navigation should make sense. Labels should be clear. Website visitors should find your site easy and intuitive to use.

Usefulness

Every page should serve a purpose. If content doesn’t help users move closer to their goal, it probably doesn’t belong on your website.

Desirability

Desirability
Websites should work in a straightforward and intuitive way. But they should also feel good to use. Visuals, tone of voice and little details like micro-animations all play a part here.

As Don Norman put it:

“It’s not enough that we build products that function, that are understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and yes, beauty to people’s lives.”

Accessibility

Good UX website design considers everyone. Clear contrast, readable fonts, keyboard navigation and sensible layouts make your website accessible — so it can be used by as many people as possible.

Credibility

Users should feel confident in your product and your brand, trusting and believing what you tell them. In UX website design, that means clear contact details, trust signals and consistent branding.

Tick all of these boxes and users are far more likely to engage with, convert and return to your website.

What does the UX web design process look like?

UX in web design is a structured process. It blends research, design and testing. Here are the four key steps a UX web designer takes when building a new website.

Step 1: Research

UX design is empathetic and user-centric. It’s all about seeing things from a user’s perspective. And it’s important that we base our understanding of the end-user on research, rather than gut feeling.

Some common UX research methods include website analytics, card sorting, face-to-face interviews, user surveys, eye-tracking and A/B tests. But whichever research methods a UX designer uses, they’re aiming to find information related to:

• Who your users are
• The things that motivate them
• How they behave on your website
• What they’re trying to achieve
• Where they get stuck

This research grounds design decisions in reality and avoids assumptions.

Step 2: Design

Research done, a UX web designer then creates product wireframes and prototypes that map out the website experience.

They’ll be thinking about:

• Layout and structure
• Aesthetics
• Functionality
• Navigation
• Information hierarchy
• User flow

No coding takes place during this stage of the process, so it’s easy to make changes. And by the end of this step, stakeholders can view an interactive, clickable prototype to get a real sense of what the final website version will look like.

Step 3: Testing

The proof is in the pudding. So next, your UX designer will test the product on real life users. This is an opportunity to find out if the website actually helps them solve their problems. And if they enjoy using it.

Designers will ask questions like:

• Do users understand the content?
• Can they complete key actions easily?
• What route do they take through the website?
• Where do they hesitate or drop off?

Getting plenty of user feedback at this stage in the process helps a UX designer iron out any issues before creating and launching the final product.

Step 4: Launch

With feedback taken on board and final changes made, your website or app can now go live. But the process doesn’t end there.

Once your website is up and running, you’ll have access to lots of new UX data. You can use analytics — and seek further feedback from real-life users — to keep honing your UX and better meet user expectations.

Quick UX wins you can implement today

The best examples of user experience in web design are usually websites that have been designed with UX principles baked in from the start. But that doesn’t mean you can’t improve UX on an existing site.

Sometimes small, strategic changes can make a big difference to how users experience your website. Here are a few ideas:

• Speed up your slowest pages. Use a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify which pages are slow to load. Then, compress images and remove unnecessary scripts to speed things up.
• Simplify navigation. If your menu has more than seven items, users may feel overwhelmed. Group related pages under clear categories and make sure your most important pages are easy to find.
• Audit forms. Every field you ask someone to fill in is a potential drop-off point. So remove any questions that aren’t absolutely necessary from contact and email sign-up forms.
• Make CTAs clearer. Vague buttons like “Submit” or “Click here” don’t tell users what happens next. Be specific with your CTA text and make sure CTAs stand out visually on the page.
• Add trust signals. Customer reviews, testimonials, case studies and security badges all build credibility. If you have them, make sure they’re visible — especially near conversion points.
• Improve content structure. The words on your website should be easy to skim and scan. So break up long paragraphs, adding subheads and bullet points, so your content is easy to read and understand.

Want UX website design that wows your customers?

More and more brands are putting user experience design at the heart of what they do. They’re building websites that feel intuitive, trustworthy and enjoyable to use.

This approach is helping them boost customer loyalty and conversions, while edging them closer to the top of search results, too.

At Radical, we design and build websites with UX baked in. That means fewer headaches for users, better results for businesses and websites that really earn their keep.

If you want to improve your website user experience — or if you’re planning a new site and want to get UX right from the start — get in touch with the Radical web team to chat about your project.

User experience in web design FAQs

What is user experience in web design?

User experience in web design refers to how people interact with and feel about a website. User experience web design considers website navigation, performance, accessibility and overall ease of use.

What does bad UX web design look like?

Slow load times, confusing navigation, cluttered layouts, unclear messaging, poor mobile optimisation and forms that ask for too much information are all common website UX issues.

How do you evaluate user experience in website design?

Evaluating website user experience means looking at how real users interact with your website. You can do this with the help of:

• Website analytics that show user behaviour, popular pages and drop-off points
• Website performance data that shows page load speed and mobile responsiveness
• Heatmaps that show where users click, scroll and get stuck
• Usability testing, where real users attempt specific tasks and tell you what feels difficult or unclear
• User surveys and polls where users can tell you about their website experience

This data tells you which elements of your website work smoothly and which cause friction for site visitors.

How do you improve user experience on a website?

Improving user experience on a website starts with understanding user intent and removing anything that gets in the way of their goal.

Common ways to improve UX in design include:

• Simplifying navigation so users can find what they’re looking for quickly
• Structuring content logically with clear headings, FAQs and scannable layouts
• Improving page speed and mobile usability
• Removing unnecessary steps in forms and checkouts
• Designing clearer calls to action to guide users through your site
• Adding trust signals like testimonials, reviews and case studies

Making these improvements removes points of friction from your website and makes it easier for website visitors to use your site. Small UX improvements can have a big impact on engagement and conversions.