User experience

User experience (UX) is the overall experience a visitor has when using your website, app or digital product. It encompasses everything: from the speed at which a page loads to the clarity of your navigation and the emotions someone experiences whilst searching for information or completing a purchase. A good user experience ensures that visitors find what they are looking for, understand what they need to do and can carry this out with as little frustration as possible. For small and medium-sized companies, this translates into: more conversions, fewer abandoned shopping trolleys and customers who return.

How user experience works in practice

User experience arises from the interaction between people and the interface. A visitor arrives at your site with a question or a goal. Your design, copy, buttons and structure determine whether that person finds the answer quickly and easily. Think of an online shop where the filtering process works intuitively, product photos are clear and the checkout is completed in three steps. Or a service provider whose contact form is immediately visible and contains no unnecessary fields. Every click, delay and error message affects the user experience. Good UX anticipates what a user expects and removes obstacles before they cause frustration. This requires an understanding of your target audience, testing with real users and continuous refinement based on behavioural data.

Why user experience matters now more than ever

The concept of user experience emerged in the 1990s when Don Norman introduced the term at Apple. Since then, it has evolved from a design principle into a strategic priority. The reason is simple: visitors have a choice. If your site is slow or unclear, they’ll be gone within three seconds, heading to a competitor. Moreover, Google rewards sites with good UX with higher rankings via Core Web Vitals and usage signals such as bounce rate and time on site. In a competitive market, user experience is no longer a nice-to-have, but a prerequisite for online success. Those who invest in speed, accessibility and a clear structure will come out on top, both in search engines and in terms of conversion.

What user experience delivers for your company

A well-thought-out user experience translates directly into measurable results. Visitors stay on your site longer, click through to subsequent pages more often, and are more likely to fill in a form or place an order. For online shops, we often see a 20 to 40 per cent reduction in abandoned shopping trolleys, simply due to a clearer checkout process. For B2B service providers, a well-organised services page with clear calls to action leads to more qualified leads. Would you like to know how you can specifically improve the user experience for your situation? A professional approach starts with an understanding of your current pain points. In web design and UX optimisation, we combine user research, A/B testing and conversion data to implement improvements that make a real difference. You can also find more information on accessibility and user-friendliness at the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative.

User experience is not an abstract design concept, but a practical discipline that you apply at various levels. Whether you run an online shop, are a service provider or manage an internal platform: wherever people interact with your company digitally, UX plays a role. Below are four concrete applications that have a direct impact on your results.

Conversion optimisation for online shops and lead forms

In e-commerce, user experience determines whether a visitor actually places an order. An online shop with unclear product filters, slow loading times or a checkout process with too many steps loses customers before they pay. By simplifying the purchasing process, prominently displaying trust signals such as reviews and payment options, and formulating error messages clearly, conversion rates increase measurably. The same applies to B2B sites with contact forms: the fewer fields, the clearer the value proposition, the more leads. In practice, we see that an optimised online shop often generates 15 to 30 per cent more turnover without any additional traffic. User experience makes the difference between browsing and buying.

Accessibility for a wider audience

Good UX takes all users into account, including people with disabilities. Think of keyboard navigation for those who cannot use a mouse, alt text for screen readers, sufficient colour contrast for the visually impaired, and subtitles for videos. Accessibility is not just a moral or legal issue; it also broadens your reach. Around 15 per cent of the Dutch population has some form of disability. By making your site accessible, you avoid excluding this group whilst simultaneously improving usability for everyone. Simple adjustments such as clear headings, a logical tab order and error messages in plain language help all visitors achieve their goals more quickly.

Strengthening brand perception and customer loyalty

User experience goes beyond functional convenience. It also determines how people perceive your brand. A website that is fast, well-organised and pleasant to use exudes professionalism. A website full of pop-ups, unclear menus and slow-loading pages causes irritation and mistrust. That emotional layer influences whether someone returns, recommends you or chooses a competitor. Particularly in competitive markets where products or services are similar, the user experience makes all the difference. Investing in a clear brand identity that is also reflected in your digital experience strengthens recognition and trust. Visitors don’t remember what you say, but they do remember how your site feels.

SEO impact via user signals and Core Web Vitals

Google measures user experience indirectly via signals such as bounce rate, time on site and click behaviour. Sites that cause visitors to leave quickly or where nobody clicks through drop in the rankings. Since 2021, Core Web Vitals have also been taken into account: loading speed, interactivity and visual stability. A slow site with shifting layouts scores lower, even if the content is strong. By improving UX, you therefore also strengthen your position in search engines. This makes user experience an integral part of any SEO strategy. Technical optimisation and content quality are important, but without a good user experience, visitors won’t stay long enough to convert or click through.

When user experience is the right focus – and when it isn’t

User experience is always relevant, but the priority varies depending on the situation. Do you have an existing site with sufficient traffic but low conversion rates? Then UX optimisation is the logical next step. Is your site not yet live, or do you have hardly any visitors? Then the focus is first on visibility and content. Investing in UX without traffic yields little return. Even for highly niche-oriented B2B services where customers are acquired through personal contact, UX carries less weight than it does for self-service online shops. The rule of thumb is: the more visitors need to be able to navigate the site independently, the more important user experience becomes. Unsure where your priorities lie? Start with the data: identify where visitors drop off and test targeted improvements.