Ria du PlessisAre you an online shopper? Then you have had the chance to navigate a mega menu.
Mega menus are seen in online stores or sites that have a lot of links. The big question is, is a mega menu a good idea to implement? Will it enhance the user experience of your site?
Let’s start from the beginning and look at what a mega menu is and where it can be implemented.
What Is a Mega Menu?
A mega menu is a navigation menu found on certain websites. A mega menu is a menu where you have a lot of options available at once. The menu items will usually be laid out vertically and horizontally or split into sections.
Mega Menus and User Experience
So, how do mega menus influence and fit in with user experience when it comes to websites? The secret of a great user experience is to make sure that users can navigate your site easily.
It’s important to remember to not make changes on your website, just because it is the latest “thing”. When you implement a mega menu onto your website, it should be because it makes your user experience better.
It should improve the navigation process and make it smoother and more intuitive.
Before you decide to implement a mega menu, you can also ask yourself the following;
Will it help meet your website objectives?
Understanding your objectives will help you to know exactly which pages on your site you want users to visit to achieve these objectives.
If your objective is that you want people to buy products from you and you have a large online store, a mega menu may well be the way to go. But if you have one specific product or service and you want to funnel people into the sales page for that, then a mega menu could be a distraction.
Before you decide whether to add a mega menu to your site or not, you need to take some time to consider what you want your website to achieve.
When to Use a Mega Menu
Let’s take a look at a few scenarios where a mega menu can improve your user experience.
When you have an online store
As we mentioned before, if you have an online store, then a mega menu will be the way to go. Your website visitors will expect a mega menu when navigating your website.
People are used to navigating mega menus on websites for large department stores and expect it on a large online store.
When your drop-down menu is getting too large
In some cases, a drop-down menu can get so big and full of options that it can mess up your user experience. A mega menu may well enhance your user experience, but you must make sure you structure it in a way that’s intuitive for your users and that you use design cues such as colors, text effects, and fonts to make your site easy to browse.
When Not to Use a Mega Menu
There will be times when you shouldn’t use a mega menu. Here are some examples.
When you don’t have a lot of links
If your site doesn’t have hundreds of pages, then a mega menu will be overkill. If you have an average small business site or blog, a mega menu will just confuse your website visitors.
When your home page is nothing but links
Some websites consist of only links. These might be websites with links to government information or listing sites. If your homepage is just a page full of links to subpages, then you don’t need a mega menu.
When you want to funnel visitors to a specific page
Sometimes a website is designed to sell just one or two products or to encourage signups to a mailing list. If this is the case, you may well have a banner on the homepage directing visitors to a landing page.
For this reason, you want to keep navigation on your website to a minimum. A mega menu will give your visitors too many options that will make them far less likely to visit the page you want them to.
How to add a mega menu to your website
If you’ve decided that a mega menu is the right option for your site, the easiest way to add one is with Divi Areas Pro.
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