Effective Ways to Improve Your Apartment Website's User Experience

How many times have you visited a website only to immediately leave because of different aspects that compromised your experience? These problems could be the page loading too slow, hard to read text, or poor navigation. 

All of these factors can cause prospects to become highly frustrated with your apartment website and ultimately abandon the site and continue on with their apartment search.

Today, we’re providing you with simple ways to improve your user experience (UX) so that your website is never the reason for missed leads. 

Benefits of Good UX Website Design

Positive Brand Association

Providing a great user experience on your website will help to establish a positive association with your property. When a prospective renter can easily browse through your site and find exactly what they are looking for, they are more likely to make a converting action.

Lower Bounce Rate

If your site has a high bounce rate (The percentage of users who enter the site then immediately leave rather than viewing other pages.), this might be an indicator that users are either frustrated with your website or they are not finding what they need. A low bounce rate means the site is easy to access and use for your users.

Higher Conversion Rate

Implementing UX best practices will drastically increase your site conversions. These conversions can be clicking on a call to action (CTA) and scrolling through your pricing page or filling out an application or contact us form. High conversion rates mean your users are taking actions on the site and are engaging with your content. 

How to Improve User Experience on Your Apartment Website

1. Provide Clear CTAs

CTAs are like guides on your apartment website. They help your user take the next step in their renter journey and lead them to make a converting action. Every single page needs at least one compelling CTA that is the appropriate next step for them. 

For example, if they have browsed your floor plans, they may be ready to apply - provide a CTA to your corresponding  online leasing or application page. 

2. Consider Mobile Users

The fastest way to send your prospects to your comps is by ignoring how your website functions on mobile devices. Make sure your apartment website is fit to scale - meaning it can scale up or down in size to fit any screen without compromising the page. 

Things to keep in mind here are font size, content arrangement, buttons, menu display, and form functionality. Mobile users should be able to navigate your site seamlessly with little to no error in format display.

3. Include Easily Digestible Content

Bulk text and hard to read fonts will frustrate your users. Make it easy for them to quickly find the information they need by providing easily digestible content.

Your site should include content that is scannable and easy to read. Don’t skimp out on the use of white space throughout your pages. The use of white space increases your user’s attention by 20%. White space makes your content readable while also allowing the user to hone in on design elements outlying the text. 

4. Optimize Site Speed

In a world where any piece of content is accessible at your fingertips, users expect to navigate your site and find exactly what they need within seconds. When users are left waiting for your page to load, they will most likely bounce from the site. 

So, how can you fix it? The easiest way to improve your site speed is to first get your site speed score. Google offers a free tool called PageSpeed Insights that will score your page loading speed on a scale from 0-100. In addition, it provides tips and suggestions to improve your load time on mobile and desktop. 

5. Identify 404s

When a user clicks on a link or button that’s intending to get them to the next place but is blocked by a 404 page, they will probably exit out of the site and try another community for a faster solution. 

Encountering a 404 interrupts the experience of your users and puts a dead stop in their renter journey on your apartment website. Fortunately for you, identifying and updating 404s is an easy fix. You can use a free 404 checker to see if any of your website pages have a broken link. 

Use these tips as stepping stones to improving your user experience on your apartment website. Implementing our best practices will not only benefit your prospective renters—which is what it’s all about—but also increase conversions, lower bounce rates, and create a positive brand image!

For more UX insights, read our post about 5 examples of good user experience here.