UX buttons hold immense power when it comes to customer experience.
That’s why we’re diving into the world of UX buttons! We’ll show you how you can utilise these powerful tools to guide uses, spark curiosity and transform site visitors into loyal customers. If you think that buttons are a rather insignificant element of your website design, think again! These small, interactive elements are the key to unlocking your website’s potential. After all, irresistible buttons that incite customer action will drive sales and conversions. Let’s get stuck in!
Know your purpose
Before it comes to designing your UX buttons, it’s imperative that you understand their unique purpose. The location of a button will influence its purpose for example, a button situated beneath a product image could read ‘Buy Now’ whilst a button on the homepage may want site visitors to ‘Subscribe’ or ‘Learn More’. The context of these buttons will guide your UX design so get a clear purpose in mind and then begin your design based on the intended function of that particular button. If your designing a navigational button, it’s likely that this will look dramatically different to a button designed to incite customer action such as adding a product to their bag or signing up to a newsletter.
Your design will vary greatly depending on the function of a particular button so be sure to consider all aspects of design such as size, colour, contrast, messaging and font.
Ensure your buttons look like buttons
When it comes to button design, it can be tempting to reinvent the wheel and design an unusual shaped button to stand out from the crowd however, studies have shown that this can be detrimental to conversion rates. Be sure to design your UX buttons so they are easily recognisable as clickable elements. As soon as customers begin to scratch their heads at whether or not a button is in fact, a button, you pretty much know you’ve lost the sale! We demonstrate a few recognisable button styles below:
Colours are key
Colours are your secret weapon when it comes to button design. Choosing attention-grabbing colours that contrast well against your website’s background but don’t cause eyestrain is key to a successful button palette. Be sure that your colour choices are consistent with your existing colour scheme and brand values. Buttons should feel like an extension of your overall website design and should definitely not be an eye sore!
Whilst colours are great for making your buttons stand out against the rest of your website, they’re also brilliant in terms of guiding the user. For example, when it comes to customers adding or removing products from their baskets, using colour coding can help the user journey tenfold. Colours such as red and black can be used to display caution and confirm that customers want to click a button whilst green can be utilised to encourage customers to click the ‘correct’ option. At the end of the day, it all comes down to colour theory! If you’d like to find out more about this topic, read our recent post on colour meaning and web design.
Size matters
Size must be a key consideration when it comes to button design. Whilst you may think ‘the bigger the better’, this is not necessarily the case. Bigger buttons are great in terms of UX as it makes them easily clickable and therefore provides a positive user experience. However if they’re too big, they can overpower surrounding elements and make your site look cluttered and potentially confused the user.
Strike the perfect balance between being too small and too big by ensuring that there is plenty of white space surrounding your buttons to make them stand out and ensuring that the buttons are easily clickable with a tap of a fingers on mobile devices. After all, you don’t want users accidentally clicking the wrong button and ending up somewhere they didn’t intend to be!
The magic of microcopy
Microcopy is simply the text that accompanies your button, whether its instructions or a call to action. This text can be the difference between a customer clicking on your button and navigating through the user journey or abandoning your site altogether. Keep this text punchy, concise and action-oriented to give your buttons the best chances of success. Instead of lacklustre language such as ‘submit’ or ‘okay’, try out different phrases such as ‘get started now’ or ‘adventure awaits’ to keep your buttons engaging. Inject personality into your microcopy, but always be mindful of your brand’s tone of voice and keep it succinct to incite customer action.
Don’t forget hover!
An often overlooked element of UX button design is what they look like on hover, but this is where you can have a little fun! When users hover over a button, it should provide a visual clue to let them know that firstly, it’s clickable and secondly, they’re in the right place to click on it. Whether it’s a subtle change in colour, a shadow or all-out animation, be sure that there’s something to indicate that the button has been touched by the cursor or finger.
Test, test test!
Remember, testing your designs with real people is key to maintaining a successful website design as you can gather feedback and adjust your designs accordingly. By conducting A/B experiments and using tools such as Hotjar, you’ll be able to analyse user behaviour and identify any areas of improvement as well as any elements that are working very well. Continuous reviewing and refinement is key to consistently enhancing the user experience and maintaining a delighted audience!
There you have it, our comprehensive guide to designing UX buttons that will leave users clicking with joy! Keep in mind that UX button design is an art that combines purpose, aesthetics, and user intuition.
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