We all remember our first visit to Disney’s Magic Kingdom.  Stepping foot onto Main Street USA brings an awe-filled smile to even the most over-stimulated, jet-lagged child. Seeing the enormous castle made fairy tale living believable and enticing.  In a perfect world (such as that of the Disney fantasy), all websites would create similar reactions from visitors. Unfortunately, most sites cause visitors to turn and run away like adorable Dalmatian puppies from Cruella de Vil.

When your audience views your website, it is important to create a similar unforgettable experience.  While it doesn’t need to be packed with all the “Oooooh’s” and “Ahhhhh’s” that you might come to expect from an encounter with a Disney Princess, the excitement and eagerness to return for more interaction is important.

You want your website to be like a great Disney vacation.  Why?  As soon as those kids leave – they’re instantly wanting more.  It’s estimated that 64% of Disney’s annual traffic is in repeat visitors.  Most websites are lucky to receive a fraction of that.

So, how do they do it?  How do they get so many repeat visits?  While we agree that new visitors are also important, here are a few ways to improve your rate of repeat traffic:

1. Create a unique Experience
   As web designers and developers, we must work together to accomplish the best experience possible.  A good experience comes from a few things: easy-to-use navigation, attractive design, fresh content and information the user is expecting.  If the website doesn’t have good information architecture, users will become frustrated and will fly out of there quicker than Aladdin on his carpet.
2. Change things up
   Even if you visit Disney 2-5 times per year (Hey, it can happen.), you will not see the same decorations, shows, parades, etc.  Now that isn’t to say a website needs to be redesigned many times per year, but the site does need to offer something new each time the visitor returns.  In this day and age, it is imperative to have a website you can update easily using a content management system (CMS).
3. Provide unique tools and/or resources
   Allowing users to have features that your competition doesn’t will entice visitors back to your site on a regular basis.  It may be a unique blog, industry news, case studies, or other tools that users consider important.
4. Give your 404 pages a little love
   A branded 404 page is as important as a homepage. If a user lands on a page with no content and sees a generic 404-error page, the user may think the entire site is broken or worse, gone.  Having a customized default 404 page guides users to appropriate pages, thus keeping them on the site.
5. Create user-subscribed email marketing
   What better way to invite a user back to your “Kingdom” than by sending regular notes that tie to their interests.  Develop something exciting and unique about the services offered at the websites, and users will be as giddy as Princess Ariel to walk back to your site.
6. Make it easy to find
   Sometimes designers think everyone understands the overall site structure, and most usually do. However, no matter how easy a site is to navigate, a few users may get confused. To help these poor unfortunate souls, wrap a well-drafted sitemap in a beautiful design and you may very well be offering the user the experience they were hoping for.

A website doesn’t need to be a fantasyland or an over-the-top magical experience, just a great one. If the user enjoys their experience with your website, it’s almost certain they’ll be back.