Creating magic for end users

Improving user experience with magic 

Taking your user experience to the next level is all about creating those “wow” or “magic” moments that spark delight and emotional connections to your brand.

Let's be real, who wants a website or app that's a snooze-fest? You’re selling a “why” more than a “what” and magic moments can be the secret ingredient in your UX recipe that connects your users to your mission, as subtle as they are.  

Magic moments can have a big impact, keeping your visitors engaged, invested, and on the path to conversion. They can be as simple as a cool animation or as complex as a personalized recommendation system. So, let's add some sparkle to your user experience!

How to create a seamless user flow

According to SmallBizGenius, good UI can boost conversion rates by up to 200% and with effective UX by almost 400%.

A key aspect of a good user experience is understanding the user flow — the steps a user takes to complete a task or achieve a goal on your website or application. On the other hand, inefficient, unintuitive, and confusing flows lead to high bounce rates and low conversion rates. It’s important to condense and optimize user flows to ensure users can easily navigate and get what they want from your site. 

But that doesn’t mean doom and gloom for longer user flows. To boost the experience of longer flows, you just need to sprinkle in magic moments! 

For one client, we worked to understand the confusion within the online banking landscape. To help guide users on a stress-free banking journey, we developed straightforward and intuitive user flows for our client’s new website.

Additionally, we stuck to our established UX guidelines, including maintaining minimalism, avoiding clutter, and keeping the user’s goal in focus. Using clear, consistent language and ensuring the layout is easy to navigate are also essential.

Tips for crafting engaging UI elements

Small details impact the overall user experience, but they shouldn’t clutter the experience or distract your users. Use these elements to complement your offerings and they’ll help:

1. Keep users engaged and on the page
2. Reinforce your brand’s identity
3. Encourage users to continue their journey by acknowledging progress

You don’t need to be a wizard to create magic in your digital experience. You just need a little effort, or even just a great design agency. Let’s take a look at some elements that can bring magic to your user experience.

Microinteractions

What’s the difference between a mediocre and an excellent user experience? It’s all in the details of your design — yes, even the tiny ones.

With all of our projects, we integrate microinteractions — small interactions that occur when a user takes a specific action, such as hovering over a button or scrolling to a certain point on the page.

We created a variety of dancing characters for our client, Motusbank. They appear at the end of longer user flows to celebrate progress.

Think of microinteractions as the fairy godmother in your storytelling toolset, creating a deeper, emotional relationship with users and can encouraging brand loyalty. Wait…that could actually work. Someone get me a designer — STAT!

Gamification

Design can’t be all fun and games but the parts that are can have great turn around. So, we say, game on.

No, seriously, gamification is an effective tool to keep users engaged, whether in journeying down the marketing funnel or staying loyal to your product over time. Sure, games are fun — but, they’re also strategic. We, humans, strive for dopamine release — the brain chemical responsible for our pleasurable reward system and motivation. Integrating game design elements makes the experience more effective. 

For one, Duolingo rewards users for completing tasks. While this facilitates the user’s learning process, it also strongly encourages consistent use over competitors or other hobbies. Everyone knows you do NOT want to upset Duo the owl.

Personalization

Aside from striking animations and interactions, personalized recommendations can be used to suggest relevant products or content. This shows your users that you value their time and are the obvious fit for their needs.

On Cambrian’s website, we designed a feature that helps to sort out the user flow by asking visitors what their goals are. We implemented a version of this early on to immediately improve the experience. Now, Cambrian clients don’t struggle with complex menus. The optimized menu items you see above direct users to their intended destination, but with an extra magic moment of seasonal graphics. 

Continuously improving user experience

Technology isn’t static and neither are your users’ needs. Gather feedback and conduct user research on your designs to identify areas for improvement in your user flows.

Based on the feedback our clients receive, we continuously iterate our designs. This might mean making small tweaks to the UI or bigger changes to the overall user experience.

The power of magic in user satisfaction and loyalty

Factoring in magic moments to your project can enhance user satisfaction and build brand loyalty. By understanding the user flow and crafting engaging UI elements, you can create a seamless, delightful experience that leaves a lasting impression on your users.

‍At The Digital Panda, we handle both the big picture and the tiny details of our clients’ digital experiences. Ready to take your website or app to the next level? Let’s elevate your user experience with the power of microinteractions and optimized user flow. Connect with us today to see how we can help increase engagement, retention, and conversions for your business.

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Our image for this blog combined a number of models. Credits for these models can be found below:

Bouquet by Naira 001 sketchfab.com/naira001

Flowers by Rahumbarger27 sketchfab.com/rahumbarger27

Flower by Td991 sketchfab.com/td991

‍Monstera by Zadira3D cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/plant/pot-plant/monstera-potted-home-flower