Inside Design: A Journey To User Experience

by Denys Zayets

What is UX Design?

User Experience Design (aka UX) has been around for almost 30 years, but it wasn’t until the first generation of Apple products hit the market that UX made a giant leap in awareness.

At that time, there was a gap when it came to describing how a person felt when they used a specific product or service. There was no solid terminology being used that could describe emotions, senses, interactions, comfort levels, and physical interactions. “Interface” or “Design” just weren’t enough! And so Donald Norman, Apple’s former Vice President, coined the term “User Experience”. It was a perfect term to combine three significant areas:

  • People
  • Design
  • Technology

At the center, is what we call a sweet spot: design centered on the customer.

UX Brings A Lot Of Value

Many confuse UX with UI - or Graphic Design in general. While UI (User Interface) and Design generally focus on features, visual elements, styling, and graphic enhancements, UX focuses on people and how they interact with these elements.

When looking at a project from a UX point of view, we need to ensure that each element has a purpose and brings value to the overall whole. UX is the foundation upon which the building blocks of your project will live and scale.

A robust and well documented UX plan will have, without any doubt, a significant impact on your ROI. In the long run, a great UX will maximize your profits and minimize loss for your company.

In 2017, after a well-planned and executed redesign of its mobile application and website, Bank of America increased registrations by 45%. In a recent report released by IBM, the company noted that every single dollar invested in UX resulted in a 10 to 100 fold return on the investment. Below are some examples of benefits they achieved with this UX design process:

  • Reduced maintenance cost by 50% for its products and supply chains
  • Reduced design defects by 50%
  • 75% time reduction for the overall design
  • Development time reduced by 35%
  • Increased deployment time

A great UX design provides your customers with an incredible and smooth experience. It also creates a more streamlined and organized design and production space for you and your team. The result is an excellent Customer Experience (CX) at a lower cost for your company.

Impact Of A Bad UX

Bad User Experience is terrible for your business, your user’s satisfaction, and new user onboarding. If your product is limited in functionality or challenging to use, then your users won’t invest time trying to learn how to use it - they’ll look for an alternative!

Poorly thought out user experience will result in your company needing to hire more customer service specialists and technicians to assist your clients with issues that could’ve been avoided.

How Do We Measure Our UX Success?

Likely there are many ways to measure your success and ROI. To look at some metrics, let’s pretend that we have a website and we have some merchandise to sell.

Conversions

Comparing your conversion rates is a clear indication of how your new UX process is working. Just take a look at new and unique visitors to your site and compare them to orders placed.

Abandoned Cart

Reduction in abandonment of carts on your website is a clear indication of a successful UX process. It means that from the moment your visitors land on your website, it’s relatively easy and simple for them to place an order and checkout.

Support Tickets

Reduction in support calls or opened tickets is also a great indication of a successful UX. People are smart, they can find what they are looking for and they take care of things on their own without a need for customer support intervention.

Returning Customers

Increasing the percentage of returning customers is very good. Your customers like your platform, they find it easy to use and to learn.

User Experience is tailored to the user, not the company. It’s all about content and process. You have to know your users: know what they need, how they use your product, the motivations behind their choices and habits. Putting the time in to get to know them better will pay off. Getting insights into what they need and look for on a daily basis will help you craft and tailor those experiences so you provide the best possible product - perhaps in ways you’d never thought of before!

If you’d like to read more about how Codelitt thinks about User Experience, check out these articles below that will shine a light on the tools and processes we follow!