User Experience vs Functionality: Which Should You be Focusing on?

What is user experience?

User experience of your website is exactly that; it is the experience that your web users have when using your site. Google has repeatedly emphasised that user experience is key for their rankings, making it an essential aspect of SEO strategy.

Google puts the web user first and rewards websites that do the same. Therefore if your website has a good overall user experience then you can find yourself higher in Google searches, resulting in more traffic and ultimately more sales, engagement or enquiries.

A good user experience is a culmination of different aspects, including the speed of your site, the amount of broken links and images and how friendly your website is for screen readers and those who are visually impaired. Improving your user experience is a great way to ensure that your website is supporting your business or project to its fullest potential.

What is website functionality?

Web functionality is how well your website works; this can mean making sure that nothing is broken, that all links work and that your site is performing as it should. However, it can also mean the amount and quality of features on your website. Good websites offer a feature-rich, yet simple experience for the user and provide tools to make their customer's journey as easy as possible.

The link between functionality and user experience

Functionality and user experience are two sides of the same coin in reality; they are both working to achieve the same goal, just in slightly different ways. Improving the functionality increases the user experience of your website and vice versa, as without proper functionality the user experience of your website can be frustrating.

However, striking a balance between making your website as user-friendly as possible and adding as many functions as possible is essential. Choosing functions that enhance user experience, such as flexible search, quick checkout, endless scroll or quick view, offers a feature-rich website with high functionality that does not complicate the user experience and in fact improves a user's visit to your site.

A focus on developing complicated or unnecessary functions, which can also lead to slow site speed, breakages and a time-consuming process, can hinder your user experience. It is worth considering how new function updates will impact your user and website: will the new function benefit your user? Will everything work? Will the new function overcomplicate a simple process?

Keeping things as simple as possible, as quick as possible and as reliable as possible are the main concerns for both functionality and user experience.

How can Tarka Web Design help?

Our team understand the importance of a stable balance between user experience and functionality; we can offer expert advice, recommendations and strategies to aid the development of your site and create a personalised user experience for your company. A user's experience of your website is often the first impression a potential customer or client will have of your company.