User interfaces have the power to entirely shape the feel of an online destination. They are one of the first and most impactful ways brands, particularly those with plenty of similar competitors, can stand out and build a following. Knowing why and how those UI decisions are impacting the play experiences in real time, however, is how you, as a developer or site owner, can command greater control over the impact your site is having on your users.
So what are the UI features that are impacting play experiences the most? Let’s get into it:
Color Theme
One of the first elements a user will see is the theme of the site. For a long time, this theme standard has been minimalism first, but we are slowly starting to see a shift. The gaming community was certainly the first to take on a darker, cooler edge than more corporate-facing platforms, and for good reason.
Just look at Lonkero Casino. Its black, purple, and lime-green color scheme makes it visually stand out from other sites, differentiating it in a split second from other brands that have followed the same templates.
Navigation Intuition
The second major determination that affects how successful an online gaming platform is navigation. It’s not enough to have parent family groupings and links on each page. You need to really dig into player psychology. On an iGaming site, for example, a player will head to the main page. What does he want next? He may want to:
- Take the bonus and start playing
- Explore what games and providers a site has
You can also encourage this player with specific hooks. A jackpot, for example, can be just the unique offering that takes that player from the home screen to the sign-up page.
Extensively testing navigation intuition with players of all ages and digital literacy is also going to be essential. You want your site to be simple to use without a tutorial for everyone, including older generations who may not engage with the Internet as often.
Individual Game UI
One thing that gaming platforms need to consider, on top of their own platform, is the UI and play experience of the games themselves. While you do not necessarily develop the games on your platform, the ones you feature need to have your stamp of approval. Having an editorial team go through and create a list of recommendations, or using play numbers and other analytics data, can help you showcase and advertise the best-designed games to draw in users.
Smooth Sign-Up
Frictionless sign-ups are essential to a satisfactory play experience on an online platform, which is why fast “instant” casinos are becoming so popular. You will need to go further to offer this by using BankID or similar systems like the Finnish Trust Network (FTN) to run a fast, behind-the-scenes check once a customer makes a deposit. You’ll need to go in later and verify their identity more formally once they reach a certain transaction limit, but being able to make a preliminary check instantly can help smooth the play experience for your users, getting them to the game and having fun.
This sort of UI and back-end technology makes the largest difference, so work out the kinks and fine-tune your approach so you can offer the smoothest play experience while maintaining regulatory compliance