UX Design: How Does It Add Value To Your Business?

User Experience or UX is of paramount importance in a software application. It is probably the first thing that users are drawn towards, not the products and services. To make people/users like your products and services, you first need to make them like your application, and UX plays a pivotal role in it. No user would want to use an application that is complex and aesthetically distasteful.

What is a Good UX about?

UX design is a process of designing products that your customers find helpful, easy to use, and delightful to interact with. It is primarily about enhancing the experience that users have while interacting with your product and ensuring that they find value in what you are providing. But UX isn’t just about enhancing the experience or adding some functionality to your application but also making sure that the application perfectly caters to the audience it is being built for.

A good UX is something that makes users understand your design, navigate easily through the context, and foresee actions. The better the UX, the better the overall business metrics. It possesses the potential to greatly increase conversions and generate great value for any business. As per a study by Forester, companies who invest in UX witness a lower cost of customer acquisition, lower support cost, increased customer retention, and increased market share than their peers who don’t.

But just knowing what a good UX isn’t enough, it needs to be implemented the way it is planned. UX designers go through a lot of thoughts and ideas and have ample concerns dominating their thought process, such as will the users easily know through the design how the app works,  how well the design will hold up in the future, are the features going to need updates down the road, or whether a feature is actually required or not.

As a UX designer, ask yourself what the risks are when implementing a particular feature. Analyze them, and determine if your research/findings actually support the need for the feature.

Pro tip: Always consider the longevity of your designs before finalizing them. The mobile app industry is constantly evolving, and half of what we consider to be cutting edge today might be obsolete tomorrow.

The wonders a great UX Design can do to a business!

Let’s delve into how investing in UX design can add value to your business.

1. Effective UX Design Can Increase Revenue

Your business can achieve better ROI by investing in stronger UX design. One key element is catering to the proliferation of mobile users today, specifically in e-commerce.

Think about how your product engages users from the moment they click through. Ask:

• How long do your images take to load?

• How easy is it to navigate from one page to the next?

• Do videos play on mobile devices quickly?

• Have you chosen the right background for your website?

• Do clashing colors make reading text difficult?

These are just a few questions to consider, but they demonstrate just how much detail you must go into to maximize the value of UX design.

2. It can help convert leads

Working on UX design can pave the way for more leads or conversions. For example, the landing page that greets your leads could be a problem in your website or application. Perhaps you hit visitors with mammoth blocks of poorly formatted text covering why your business is so wonderful. This could be clumsy and off-putting enough to chase prospects away well before they convert.

You could improve your UX by replacing all that text with a video instead. But good UX design has to incorporate videos in the right way. Make sure they load quickly, play smoothly, and don’t disrupt the product’s performance elsewhere. Otherwise, it may cause more problems than it solves.

3. It can encourage word of mouth

People enjoying a positive experience with a business are likely to tell or influence other people to connect with the same business. But it requires investing enough time and resources into your UX design. Investing in quality UX design can leave users satisfied enough to spread the word and become an advocate for your business or product. Their endorsement may help drive fresh traffic to your site, build credibility, and increase conversions.

The need for initial testing in UX design

Many business owners desire the product to be ready and out at the earliest. They do not feel the need to deal with the UX testing at the beginning. They try to focus on UX issues later based upon the interaction with the users.

There is no harm in validating your business model by releasing the product immediately. But it is worse when you use your users to measure the stats before applying changes. According to British researchers, the first impression is 94% about the design of the website. If it is not up to the mark, the user would never come back.

The Norman Nielsen Group states that UX is the prime authority for determining the rank of your website. You need only five users to test and interview before uncovering the main usability errors in your product. All you need to do is prepare some hypotheses and get 5 participants to represent your target group. Start observing their interaction and behavior towards your product. It is going to be your first usability test.

So, instead of releasing the complete product and then waiting for users’ feedback, choose a smaller focus group to test your innovation. It can save you from future embarrassment, the chance of losing potential customers forever, and hitting off with a bad reputation. Test and then proceed with your idea and product.

The Bottom Line

Effective UX offers your business real, provable value. Yes, it would take considerable time and money to achieve the level of UX design that’s right for your product, but this would surely pay off when you build a loyal audience of brand advocates.

Constantly improve your UX design. Changes based on feedback will be necessary with even the best UX, but never use these as a safety net. Focus on delivering the best user experience you possibly can from the very beginning. Remember, a great UX designer is a forward thinker who doesn’t just settle for executing the design but strives for optimal results.