Great websites are user-centred

A user-centred website focuses on the people who actually use it. That means understanding your audience and making decisions based on their needs, not just your team's personal preferences.

Don Norman describes this approach in The Design of Everyday Things as human-centred design: "the process of ensuring that people’s needs are met, that the resulting product is understandable and usable, that it accomplishes the desired tasks, and that the experience of use is positive and enjoyable".

Websites that don't have a human-centred design approach often result in high bounce rates, poor conversion rates, and frustrated visitors who can't find what they need.

To ensure people's needs are met, you need to learn as much as you can about the people you are trying to help. Talk to colleagues who interact with your audience regularly—your fundraising team, volunteers, or anyone who handles enquiries and support. Follow up with people after they engage with you to understand what motivated them and what barriers they faced. Run surveys or interviews.

Once you understand your audience, capture what you've learned in user personas. A good set of personas covers three or four key user types, including their wants, needs, challenges and motivations.

Use these personas as a decision-making tool throughout your project. When designing a page or writing content, ask yourself: how is this helping our users? Are we addressing their needs and challenges? This simple check keeps you focused on what matters to your audience, not just what looks good internally.

Want to start becoming more user-centred today? Find someone who matches one of your user personas, give them a specific task on your website, and watch what happens. Run this test with just five people and you'll learn a lot about what's working and what needs improving.

The more you listen, the more patterns you'll spot.