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All successful companies started to be leaders in their industries not only because of the brilliant ideas and smart business models but also because of the customer-centric approach, designing not only cool and beautiful websites & apps, but platforms that fully satisfy customer needs and make it easy for them to interact with the brand. Now almost everyone knows about UX design benefits and being a web or app designer is not enough, now companies search for UX designers, who would not only create beautifully designed platforms, but platforms that would increase conversion rate and enhance customer satisfaction & loyalty.
We can finally see UX designers being given higher degrees of responsibility within organizations. User experience is not a differentiator anymore, it is a necessity, I would say even a must.
If you will study your customer’s’ journey, you will see that the major part of it is online and key touchpoint with the brand in on your website or app.
Marketers can do everything they can to bring clients to the company’s web & app, they can include elements of trust by putting testimonials, logos of the clients, projects, case studies, demo’s etc but the user flow, CTA buttons and the location of them is the responsibility of UX designers that track the results of usability studies, eye tracking, heat map analysis and many more to improve the design and make the interaction with the brand easier and more engaging.
UX designers always study and evaluate how users feel about the web or mobile app, looking at such things as ease of use, perception of the value of the platform, utility, efficiency in performing tasks and so forth in order to improve usability, accessibility and pleasure. UX is not based on assumptions or on tastes of a particular designer, UX design is based on the research, taking into account business goals, customer needs & preferences and market trends. UX designers’ goal is to create great experience in every touchpoint that customer has with the app or web.
What I want to say that is that now not only marketers are in charge of digital strategy, marketers can bring all the key data about SEO situation, about customers profile, about company positioning and goals, but it is a UX designer who will put all this together to come up with not only awesome design but with an effective platform that would generate more sales and create a wow effect.
Let’s look at some key statistics that are a clear proof of the importance of UX and later on show the UX design benefits. Now, there is no doubt that every company needs to work on UX design to stand out from the crowd and catch customer’s attention!
KEY UX DESIGN STATISTICS IN 2017
- 88 % of visitors said that they are less likely to revisit a website if they had a bad user experience
- Every $1 invested in user experience can result in a return up to $100
Once on a company’s homepage, 86% of visitors want to see information about that company’s products/services - After reaching a company’s website via a referral site, 50% of visitors will use the navigation menu to orient themselves and 36% of visitors will click on the company’s logo to reach the homepage
- 73% of consumers access websites on their mobile devices, excellent responsive design is a must
- 57% of users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site
5 INTERESTING UX DESIGN FACTS IN 2017
1. STORYTELLING
User-driven storytelling is recognized as an effective way to deliver a memorable pitch.
2. DESIGN AS A CORE SKILL
Design competency makes people better thinkers, facilitators, and storytellers. Companies invest more and more in UX design and design skills are considered to be a big plus regardless of the department. HR starts offering design training to employees across all business categories, like presentation skills classes are typically accessible to all.
3. NO TO SLIDERS
UX design trends for 2016 also include the death of some old practices. A major one is the use of automatic image sliders. Research showed that a rapid change in something triggers the reptilian part of the brain and distract site visitors. Also, because carousels are often placed at the top or at the bottom of a webpage, they can be mistaken as banners. This can be a problem because users avoid things that look like an ad.
4. AGILE METHODOLOGY
UX design is one of the fields in which Agile project management has become much more popular over recent years. Agile teams of UX designers agree that this methodology facilitates transparency and makes team more productive. Issues are identified sooner and features are delivered faster. Time estimates are more accurate. For some UX designers, the biggest benefit to using Agile is communication.
Agile has minimized last-minute surprises, for example in Apiumhub, we work with 2 weeks sprints, using Jira, so designers, developers, Project manager can access it and see what a designer is working on, what has been done etc. So at the end it is 100% that a client gets what he wants because of constant evolution and adding relevant features to MVP! It helps to identify priorities and iterate based on user research. Minimum risks, faster ROI, higher business value!
5. UX – HOT TOPIC FOR A QUALITY CONTENT
In 2015, the most shared pieces of content about UX have been created by a company and published on a corporate blog. UX is getting traction among businesses and designers and people talk about it, share their case studies, share their tips and thoughts. And this is also a very effective way to sell UX, talking about it, sharing real cases and educating clients about it’s impact on business.
UX DESIGN BENEFITS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
1. MORE SATISFIED CUSTOMERS
First on the list of UX design benefits is that User Experience design is about creating an app or website which is easy to use, and which provides an outstanding experience to customers. Whatever purpose your platform may have, UX will allow your users to complete their tasks smoothly in a way that is engaging. Simplify life of your users and they will appreciate it.
2. INCREASED USER TRUST
A seamless, enjoyable experience leads customers to believe in a brand, to like the company and this leads into loyalty, and brand recognition.
3. HIGHER NUMBER OF SUCCESSFUL CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS
UX design makes the process of interaction with the brand and task completion as simple as possible. It ensures that your customers are able to achieve what they came to do on your app/website. Whether that’s to buy something, to find information by making that task as intuitive as possible.
4. REFOCUSES YOUR BUSINESS ON CUSTOMER NEEDS
Nature of UX design is that it’s user-focused. With user research, user personas, user journeys and user testing, UX designers are able to actually gain an insight into the needs of the customers and design based on those insights. Any number of experts can say you need this feature or that, but if your users don’t like it, or can’t use it, then you know changes need to be made. Whether it is a small change or a large one, user testing helps ensure your product has the features that people want and need. What this means for your business is a renewed focus on the importance of the user. Many businesses come to realise the true, hidden potential of their model only upon listening to the feedback from UX tests.
6. REDUCED COST OF OWNERSHIP AND SUPPORT
If you create an easy-to-learn design, you will have to support that product less. Good design reduces your maintenance costs and costs of redesign. Create your product right from the beginning.
7. INCREASED SALES
Happy users share their happiness with their circle of friends and family. They also review your offering online. Providing a good experience helps build positive word of mouth, and increases sales.
Also, UX design helps to sell your products just by having awesome platform! And pull sales are much nicer than push ones, let your users choose your brand just by being cool without doing hard sales.
If you are interested in this topic, I highly recommend you to check these articles: user research tips and best practises, ux design process at Apiumhub, the importance of user research in UX design.
