While it certainly may not be the first thing you think of when you think of the manufacturing industry, good UX design plays a pivotal role in the efficiency and productivity of the entire industry—specifically in website design.
Good UX design removes sources of frustration, promotes better communication with clients, and increases website conversions. On the other hand, a website with poor UX design can leave visitors irritated and maybe even cause them to go over to a competitor’s website instead.
Let’s face it, many manufacturing companies have outdated websites, and most have massive product information databases, making it incredibly difficult for customers to find the information they need. The role of UX is often to condense these content-heavy manufacturing websites into well-structured pages with solid information architecture and site navigation.
Why Is A Good UX Design Vital For Manufacturing Websites?
1. It Considers How a User Will Behave
A solid understanding of how users will navigate a website enables UX designers to create maps and designs that make website navigation as efficient and seamless as possible, providing a frustration-free experience from start to finish. Good UX creates intuitive user pathways—these are important because they allow users to spend less time finding what they need and make it so there are fewer clicks to get there.
2. It Allows Visitors to Find Products Easily
An exceptional product manufacturing website is well-organized and enables customers to find their desired product or service quickly. It means that products are correctly organized into user-friendly categories, subcategories, and individual SKUs. With loads of machinery, supply chain management systems, and content-heavy user management systems, the need for updated, functional information architecture is always in demand.
3. It Provides a User-Friendly Search Option
For anyone who’s experienced an extremely unforgiving search query on a manufacturing website, it can be a supremely frustrating experience. Good UX eliminates this particular pain point by designing a more forgiving and user-friendly search function. Take it one step further by adding a search bar with drop-down suggestions, making searching quicker and more efficient.
4. It Offers Product Spec Sheets and Technical Information
Often, manufacturing websites make technical spec sheets hidden or challenging to find. However, spec sheets are vital for potential purchasers and employees who need validation that the product they have found is the correct product for a particular job. If spec sheets are hidden and hard-to-find, this creates huge pain points for both employees and website visitors.
5. It Simplifies Requesting More Information
Older manufacturing websites can often complicate the process of purchasing or requesting more information about a product. Good UX can bridge this gap by providing signifiers that guide users toward the right “user pathway” to ultimately purchasing the product, filling out a request form, getting distributor information, or directly contacting you.
6. It Makes Information Easy to Access
Manufacturing plants often have content-heavy websites that make it tremendously difficult for buyers to find the information they need. A good UX design allows for a structure in which content flows intuitively and creates a better experience for users on both sides of the manufacturing food chain.
Final Thoughts
The manufacturing industry is rife with opportunities for the UX sector. By connecting the demands of website users in conjunction with the business’s day-to-day operations, good UX creates harmony and efficiency in the manufacturing industry.
A good UX will easily put your website a step ahead of your competitors while creating better relationships with both customers and vendors.
