User Experience (UX) Design is a term that has become more and more common over the last two decades. Yet, some people are still questioning what exactly are the benefits of UX Design? UX is not just a bunch of rules and a trend to follow. Rather it is the entire experience a User gets while using a product. Perfecting this experience is the critical key to success for a product.
Direct Benefits of UX Design
Good Design is just as critical as any other factor for high customer satisfaction. And a happy customer will become the best form of marketing that a business can get. The benefits of applying UX Design to your business is invaluable. An improved User Experience means greater customer satisfaction and increased sales. If we break it down, good UX Design can lead to the following benefits:
Increased conversions
People want products and services that meet their needs. A good UX can help properly convey how a product or service will satisfy their need. Through implementing a good UX, a User may not end up going with a competitor offering which features a better UX.
Customer loyalty and repeat purchases
A good UX can be the difference between a once-off sale and repeat purchases. Take Apple as an example. They have gathered a cult-like customer loyalty following through good UX across all their touch-points. Customers needs are met and they know there will be a consistent UX offering over the different types of products.
Lower overhead costs
A good UX can lower development costs over time as only features which bring value are implemented and those which don’t are left on the cutting-room floor. Moreover, a good UX will lower workload on support staff who may have to help Users caught up in a bad UX.
Market success over competitor products
With so many product offerings available, a good UX can be the critical piece to standing out and coming out on top. With such a vast variety of products which may offer similar features to satisfy user needs, a good UX may be the make or break factor for market success.
How To Reap the Benefits of UX Design
So how can you begin indulging in the benefits of UX Design? The very first step is finding out who your Users are through User Research. It is key to clarify who your actual Users are and not who you think they are. From this, their needs and goals with your product can be established.
The Design stage which follows must ensure your product correctly addresses the needs and goals of your Users. This is where the interaction and User Interface Design are refined to best suit your User’s requirements. The whole UX Design process is often that of trial and error. It is good to make mistakes often and early, rather than when it is too little too late for changes to fix what has already been long broken. This is why Paper Prototyping is used in the early Design stages before moving to wireframes and Visual Design. At each stage of the process it is important to do Usability Testing as this verifies Design decisions and ensures you are following human-centred Design principles.
Once all of the above is done then you too can reap the benefits of UX Design. Do you need help in availing of these benefits? View Graphic Mint’s UX service offerings to see how we can boost your product to the next level.