Organizing the page structure according to the decision journey.
When website navigation reflects how the company organizes itself rather than how customers think, customers get lost before reaching the contact point.
The structure and navigation of the page must align with the customer's thought process, not your departmental diagram. The core principle is: if customers often look in a certain place, place the content there. When the structure deviates from the user's familiar model, the completion rate decreases and errors increase, no matter how beautiful the interface is.
- customers need to be guided through consideration steps before contacting.
- want to navigate according to customer language, not internal
- navigating to reflect the organizational chart
- name items using internal terminology that customers do not understand
The structure of a website is often built for the convenience of those who create it, not for the users. The service department creates one section, the marketing department adds another, and the leadership wants to include a company introduction page. The result is a navigation menu that reflects the internal organizational chart. Meanwhile, visitors to the site have one question in mind: "Does this help me, and where do I start?"
Customers do not read the website in your order.
Visitors come to the site with pre-existing expectations about where content is placed and what it is called. These expectations are formed from dozens of websites they have used before, not from how you organize your business. When the structure deviates from that familiar model, users search in the wrong places and miss important content. They leave because they cannot find what they need, even though it is somewhere on the page.
This principle comes from research by the Nielsen Norman Group (a leading user experience research organization). If customers often look in the wrong places, don’t correct them; move the content to where they are searching. The right question is not "Does this page have enough information?" but rather "Can customers find that information in the way they think?"
Two structural arrangements, two different situations
Organized by decision journey: Suitable when customers need guidance through the consideration steps before contacting or purchasing. For example, customers may not be sure what services they need, require help identifying their issues first, then find the right solution, and finally feel confident enough to reach out. The structure should guide them step by step, without jumping straight to the pricing.
Organized by familiar content types: Suitable when customers already know what they need and just want to find it quickly. For example, customers may have been referred and are looking for the contact page or a specific service category. At this point, the structure needs to be short, clear, and straightforward.
Most service brand websites in Vietnam fall into the first category, as customers often visit the site when they are uncertain. The structure needs to create a consideration pathway, not just display information.
Factors to check before structuring
- Customers often start their search from somewhere and call for what they need using specific terms, as the guiding language must align with the customer's language, not internal jargon.
- The order of steps for customers to make decisions: what they need to know first, what to know later, and what makes them hesitate before reaching out.
- Is the path to the conversion point (where the client takes action such as contacting, scheduling, or purchasing) short and clear? Each additional step is an opportunity for the client to drop off.
- Is the primary navigation overloaded with too many options? When customers have to read too many items before deciding where to click, they often end up not clicking anywhere.
The most common mistake when structuring a page
The number one mistake is navigation that reflects the departmental structure. If you have a design department, a communications department, and a consulting department, then three corresponding items appear in the menu. But customers do not know or care about how the company is organized internally. They just want to know what you can do for them.
The second mistake is naming sections with internal terminology. "Integrated solutions" or "Brand ecosystem" are phrases that make sense to the internal team. However, for first-time visitors to the site, they do not evoke any action.
Mistake number three is cramming too many level one items due to fear of missing information. The result is that customers get lost in navigation, unable to read any content before losing their way.
Creating a system that matches the user's thought process: if they are looking in the wrong place, move the content to where they are searching.
NN/G: Mental Models and User Experience Design
The approach to this task
A solid approach is to start with a customer journey map, which outlines each step a customer takes from not knowing the brand to contacting or purchasing. From that map, the site structure (sitemap) and wireframe are created in the order that customers decide, not in the way the business wants to present itself.
For projects that require a higher degree of certainty, card sorting techniques can be used. This involves giving a small group of actual customers cards with the names of each piece of content and allowing them to group them in a way that makes sense to them. The results often reveal surprising discrepancies between how the business categorizes and how customers categorize the same content.
The overarching principle is that the site structure is a tool for guiding decisions, not an index of information. When the structure is arranged correctly according to the customer’s decision journey, customers can more easily reach the contact point without needing to change the interface or content.
Decision checklist
Topic: Organizing page structure based on how customers make decisions. Sinh Vũ guide, sinhvu.com
Tick each item that applies or that you can already answer, then print or save as PDF to take with you.
If you have marked most of the signs above, this is the time to discuss in more detail. Sinh Vũ can help you review and propose a direction.
References
NN/G: Card Sorting, Uncover Users' Mental Models; NN/G: Mental Models and User Experience Design; Information Architecture Authority: Core Principles of IA. Sinh Vũ's practical experience in brand website projects in Vietnam.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to hire someone to conduct user research to get this done?
Not necessarily. For small and medium-sized businesses, you can start by directly interviewing 5 to 7 actual customers. Ask them what they typically look for and what terms they use to describe it. The results will immediately reveal discrepancies between internal language and customer language. This step should be done before sketching the site structure.
Fewer navigation items are much better than many, but how few is enough?
There are no absolute numbers, but the best practice principle is that level one navigation should encompass the choices that customers genuinely ponder when they first enter the site. If customers only need to know what you do, for whom, and how to contact you, then three to four level one items are usually sufficient. Adding more items just to have 'everything' is the most common mistake when redesigning a website.
I already have a website, how can I tell if the current structure has issues?
The clearest sign is when customers have to ask you about things that are already on the website, or when the rate of people visiting the site and then leaving without doing anything is high. A simple way to test this is to watch someone who has never seen the website use it for the first time without guidance. Just observing a few times will reveal the sticking points.
This article is for reference. The scope, pricing, and specific commitments of Sinh Vũ are detailed in the proposal and signed contract.