Having to navigate through an unclear and disorganized website is like driving on a road with hazy directions. The difference of having huge bounce rates and less percentage on sales is often pointed at unimpressed website visitors leaving the site because of unfriendly navigation. The navigation menu bar refers to the collection of links you see placed vertically on the left or horizontally near the top of the web page and sometimes on the footer of the web page. Oftentimes, website owners overlook the importance of devising a comprehensive and easy to use website menu. Failing to recognize that a well-organized navigation is the make or break aspect in lead conversions. If website users have the ease of navigating through your website from one webpage to another, best believe they are one step closer to closing the deal with you. But here’s more. According to Google, constantly improved navigation practices ups the integrity of the overall webpages and material to boost SEO rankings.
In this article we will discuss the three C’s of website menu navigation and some of its benefits for your website. The three C’s to consider in coming up with your own website menu navigation are: Clarity, Conciseness and Consistency.
- Clarity
Such as compelling content must carry with it a clear message of what your business is about, your website navigation must also be clear. The progression of the menu bars from your ABOUT US to CONTACT US page. Avoid using vague headings so as not to mislead your visitors. Remember that the majority of your visitors don’t have all the time in the world to linger in your site.
- Conciseness
Your subheadings and text should be concise. As this pertains to your homepage and not the actual body yet of the specifics of those content, one liners and impactful text are the heart of being concise.Navigation bars with concise categories allow people to rapidly and easily access information about your company.
- Consistency
This pertains to the overall look and feel of your website. The text and imagery must go together. Make sure not to use several fonts in your website and be consistent in the manner you are conveying your message and instructions.
What’s in it for me if my website menu is easy to navigate?
- Website visitors stay longer, thus decreasing the bounce rate of your website.
The rule of thumb is that a website visitor should be able to find what they need within three clicks. An easily navigable website increases the time a visitor or customer remains on your website. This allows visitors more time to explore your website and discover information about your company. Visitors don’t have that long attention span for them to linger on site longer than expected. A bounce occurs when a web site visitor only views a single page on a website rather than continues viewing other pages within the same site.
- Easily consummates sales on your products.
When a customer is new to your website but already has this end in mind to purchase your products, a perfectly curated and easy to navigate website allows a customer to breeze through the process. From the viewing and checking out to choosing mode of payment- everything won’t be a hassle.
- Higher engagement rates on websites having easy to access navigation panels.
According to the psychology of learning, there’s this phenomenon called the serial position effect which states that people tend to retain information based on stimuli presented either at the beginning or at the end. The more technical terms for these are the primacy and recency effect. When you present a stimulus, in this case, the text and imagery found in the website, visitors tend to remember only those at the top of the page or at the bottom of the page. This implies that as a website owner, do not overdo the body of your webpage because at the end of the day, what retains mostly are those falling in the primary and recent retention of your visitors. This will then lead to a higher engagement rate since the most important links and information are placed strategically.
- Provides an easy avenue for customers to air out their concerns and feedback.
One of the menu tabs for your homepage should be the Contact Us page whether or not such is an invitation for customers to engage with your services or for giving feedback or comments. The important consideration here is that an easy to use website encourages customers to drop their comments because for one, it’s not that hard to locate and second, they are assured that website owners like you are on top of it.