Why UX is Important for Business – What is hidden under the words “user experience”? How does a well-designed UX design affect the long-term success of a company, and what can lead to financial losses? We explain why UX is essential for modern business and how to get the most out of it.
What is UX and what Affects it
UX literally means “user experience”. This is about a clear interface, functionality and adaptability of the product, and also about emotions: good UX gives the user satisfaction, comfort, a feeling that they have been thought about and taken care of. Simply put, this concept hides how convenient it is to use a website or mobile application.
The success of UX is influenced by several values that are important to the audience:
- security comes first – the product should not pose a threat to users, their data, finances;
- stability is important – the service should not break, be unavailable;
- an important role is played by the speed of work , the response of the system to pressing buttons and other user actions: if the application takes a long time to load and slows down, gives errors, you won’t want to work with it;
- the product must have a convenient structure and navigation that is understandable on an intuitive level;
- technical support should correspond to the general style and tone of the resource, be aimed at the convenience of the client;
- a unified design style , high quality content is important .
Why UX is Important for Business?
By providing a good UX for its customers, the company increases their loyalty. If a person turned to a product with a specific need and the product helped him close it quickly and comfortably, he is very likely to recommend this service or resource to other people. The company will receive repeat purchases, good reviews, free recommendations.
User experience helps customers make purchases – as a result, the company’s profit grows. The mechanics here are simple: if placing an order is quick, convenient, and does not raise additional questions, then buyers will have less doubts. He will not leave “to think, look again”, but will immediately buy.
In addition, an intuitive product in itself reduces the cost of consulting and guidance for use, “tightening” and reworking.
In a competitive environment, thoughtful UX is very important for a company. Even with a modern product, a good sales force and a communication strategy, you can lose many customers due to an inconvenient site or application.
How User Experience is Researched
The very concept of user experience emerges the moment users interact with a product, either during its use after launch or through research during the design phase.
User experience research helps to understand how attractive and convenient the product will be, to identify strengths and growth points, and to compare it with competitors’ analogues. You can find out exactly how users work with the product, what is missing, whether the navigation is clear, whether it is easy to find the information you need, how people evaluate the appearance, interface design, and much more.
The researcher’s tools are both interviews with users and a number of technical indicators (metrics) that reflect the user’s experience when using the product. For example, the number of clicks required to solve a user’s problem, the percentage of errors and successful operations, and other indicators are measured.
Research data is the first step in the UX design process, then scenarios of user interaction with the product are described and the idea of the project is formulated. The next step is prototyping and then testing.
Why bother with user experience at all?
Why not just give a pretty picture? Because profit is important for a business, and a beautiful design will not work without taking into account the convenience of the client. So, if you work out the main points of contact with the buyer on your website or in the application (contacts, pop-up windows with an offer, online consultations, sliders, etc.), then even in one day you can significantly increase the conversion of this resource.
Example : A user experience study by consulting firm GFK found that users had difficulty finding the “buy” button. By adding more buttons below the product images, the company increased its revenue by $ 500 million a year.
But you can’t improve UX metrics once and for all: they need to be monitored constantly, as they can change over time depending on many factors. For example, over the past decade, the percentage of use of mobile devices has increased, and companies that have not paid attention to the adaptability of their software products for various devices have suffered losses.
Read Also: 12 Best UX Research tools to Use in 2023
In a highly competitive business environment, there are two ways: rely on their own experience and intuition, or go to the user. The first option is rare, but everyone is talking about it: Henry Ford with his car for everyone, and Steve Jobs with a new approach to creating phones and players. It is impossible to deny these guys the visionary and ability to bring their ideas to life. However, there are many more sad stories when an untested hypothesis takes on a material form, but does not resonate with “ungrateful” users.
In order to save time and money on an unviable idea, and vice versa, to squeeze the maximum benefit out of a cool product, we go to the user. Who else to talk to about how the product should look, how it will be used, what problems arise during use? Let your customer be a full participant in the product creation process. This approach will not only save you money on extra development, but it will also make your users a little happier, it will require less energy to figure out how your product works.
How UX Helps Save Money and Increase Revenue
UX research and iterative testing saves company resources. If you fix a problem during the development phase, you will spend 10 times more if you do not take into account the user experience. And if we are talking about a product that has already entered the market, this amount must be multiplied by another 10.
The convenience of the site or application, thoughtful navigation, high-quality content, visual hierarchy: if you pay attention to each of these points, you will get a product that is understandable to the user on an intuitive level, helping to solve his problems quickly and easily and increase the company’s income.