UX means befriending billions of users
User experience (UX) is the lifeline connecting humans, products, and brands. It’s the ability to appeal to individuals passively through an object without saying a word. Although it’s broadly based on product usability, it extends far beyond just developing a sexy product.
So why haven’t you made best friends with UX yet? Because it’s like a complicated person with often contradictory wants and needs; you can’t just approach them with a simple “Want a cookie?”.
Apart from its rocky personality, UX offers endless business and user value if approached correctly. But to get on its good side, you must invest time, effort, and money. Fail, and risk losing all the personalities you’re trying to communicate with.
How UX affects businesses
According to UX research by Salesforce, 84% of customers think the overall business UX is just as important as its products and services. Spiralytics research reveals 72% of customers will tell six other people about a good UX.
What happens when you have a good business UX?
- Customer loyalty
- Strong brand reputation
- Enhanced word-of-mouth marketing
- Higher conversion rates
- More sales and revenue
- A competitive advantage
“OK, but I can get all these from my customer experience approach.” True, but you can have the best CX in the world and still lose potential users to a bad UX.
You see, the UX approach is not solely customer-based, and focusing on the users is just half of the process. The other half is finding and designing solutions that match your brand personality.
Any friendship requires effort. The same goes for UX. Get to know your complicated friend by researching all the personalities. Understand who they are, their problems, and what they need to solve them. Then, test and ask for feedback to identify room for improvement before suggesting that you become BFFs.
Good UX examples to consider
Airbnb:
It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Airbnb because its founders fixated on creating a scalable product instead of focusing on UX usability.
Once they got their act together, they went from low revenue and zero growth to one of the world’s most famous holiday home rental platforms.
Google Chrome:
Imagine being up against Safari by Apple, Firefox, and Internet Explorer by Microsoft. When Google introduced Chrome in 2008, they needed a killer UX strategy…and fast.
With excellent user interfaces (UIs) and UX, they not only overtook their competitors but made them choke on their dust with a current market share of around 60%. And unlike many other browser brands, they continuously redesign and optimise their UX.
Putting the “u” in human
UX isn’t about your business. Sure, you use your business strategy to build on it and ultimately benefit from its outcome, but this should never be at the centre of your approach.
At the risk of sounding overly philosophical, UX affects every part of our daily lives. It’s what makes life enjoyable.
Think about it: if you’re buying groceries online and the website spews pop-ups, ads, and checkout error messages, this will ruin your experience or, at the very least, irritate you. The frustration may not last for the rest of the day or week, but it’ll leave a bad taste in your mouth when it comes to the brand.
Now, consider that hundreds or thousands of other users are experiencing the same frustration simultaneously. Multiply that with the website’s age, and you’ll find colossal brand damage.
Here are some tips to combat poor or ineffective UX:
- Use subtle graphics and quick wins to help users lighten up.
- Connect to humans using emojis, GIFs, or personable copy.
- If an error does occur, soften the blow with an animation or explanation.
- Don’t force emotion, fun, or interaction; encourage it to come naturally.
- Make the experience accessible, inclusive, and usable for all.
Or, get a UX partner to help. Speak to our pros. They assist brands in befriending users every day.