Today, in a rapidly changing technology environment, companies have to work hard on customer engagement, brand awareness, and finding new sources of income. In a digitally-driven world, it’s crucial to use the most advanced methods without having to invest huge time and financial resources.
The effectiveness of a digital product is measured by a first-class user experience. Experts say that every $1 invested in user interface design brings $100, that is, a 100% return on investment. By comparison, even the best marketing strategies won’t give you that kind of ROI. In fact, email marketing, considered one of the best tactics, only brings in about $38 for every dollar spent.
One way or another, a fast and user-friendly website or mobile application has become a must have to survive in a competitive environment. That’s why brands are increasingly addressing UI/UX design companies. But why is it so important to businesses?
Why is UI/UX design important to your business?
People love products that fill their needs quickly and easily. They provide a positive user experience, are easier to sell, require less advertising spend, and scale faster.
And companies that don’t do well with user experience start to suffer from high costs per customer acquisition and retention.
What makes a good UX?
#1. Grows conversion and increases sales
When competition grows, users stop wasting time understanding the interface. You may have already heard about the 7 second technique on the site – this time you have to encourage visitors to stay. If it doesn’t work out, they’ll leave and never come back. Because the neighboring site will already solve their problem.
#2. Boosts customer loyalty and retention
If a person has solved his problem with your product, then a well-developed user route will allow him to keep and encourage to buy again. So UX design directly affects the CLTV metric. After going through a positive buying scenario several times, customers leave positive reviews and rarely go to competitors.
#3. Reduces the cost of attracting new customers
Reduced lead generation costs are a consequence of high NPS and CLTV. Loyal users develop long-term relationships with the company. They are satisfied with the product, buy it themselves and recommend it to friends. And for you, these are good reviews and free advertising.
#4. Cuts development costs
Working on UX at the start reduces the number of bugs at the product launch stage. User research, CJM building, prototyping and testing all help to identify problems when it’s not so expensive; then fix them, and reduce the cost of the development itself.
Solving a problem at the development stage costs 10 times more than at the design stage. And if a company is trying to solve a problem in an already released product, then it is 100 times more expensive.
For which projects is UX vital?
- Complex systems. First of all, these are online stores, where there are many points of interaction. Particular attention should be paid to the process of choosing a product and placing an order. As a rule, at this stage the highest level of user stress with abandoned carts and checkouts. See how the process is organized by leading retailers. They are constantly improving UX. For example, Amazon.
- Startups. First of all, these are online services. The most successful projects use the following model: create a product – get feedback from users – make improvements based on the feedback received.
A couple of simple tips to improve UX
- Use arrows
If the user has viewed a long content page and wants to return to the menu, they will have to scroll the entire page up again. But the user doesn’t like to spend a lot of time and at some point can simply close the site. At the bottom of long pages and landings, you can place a button with an arrow “Up”.
- Keep the state of the previous page
Make sure that when working with the site, the user doesn’t have to repeat the actions that he has already performed once. If the user filled in some data or applied filters, went to the next page, and then decided to go back, the previously entered values shouldn’t be reset.
- Use generic icons
Leave the complexity and pretentiousness of forms for contest sites. Regular users appreciate simplicity. Users are already used to many scenarios and notations, and if, for example, you place a box or a bow instead of the basket icon, they simply won’t understand what to do.
- Check that all interactions are interpreted unambiguously
Ambiguous wording or badges in a poorly thought-out UX is confusing and makes the site experience ineffective. Not only graphics are important, but also UX texts – they don’t tolerate confusion.
- Don’t ignore service pages
Service pages indicate unforeseen situations that arise when working with the site, such as errors. Instead of simply reporting a bug to users, you can use those pages to useful ends, such as building trust, selling something, or helping the user make a choice.
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UI/UX design is an important component of your brand’s credibility on the Internet. Therefore, it’s a must to invest in it.
