In today’s virtual world, if you do not have an online presence then you are not using all the possible resources to maximize your business. Some even believe that if a business doesn’t have a website, then it is not legit. This has led to everyone developing either a website or an app dedicated to their trade.
Though having a website sounds easy, it isn’t a walk in the park. Several sites are nothing more than a burden on their owners rather than a scalable asset. And the reason for this is that they do not possess the key features that make a site successful. One of the most important factors for said success is user experience design. If you wish to know more about this term, then jump right in with me as I try to explain it in detail.
Let’s understand the phrase before divulging into the depths of its working. Now if you split the words, then you have “User”, “Experience” and “Design”. Here, the “User” means the end-user or the potential or returning client. “Experience” means the feel of the interaction with your company, product, or service. Lastly, “Design” stands for the process of developing a good interaction between your business and your customers.
So in simple words, “User Experience” is how a customer feels while interacting with your website or app. It focuses on bringing a balance between the user's need and the business goal. It is decided basis on the emotions, feelings, perceptions, and preferences of the potential end-users. A good UX design supports the user by enhancing usability, convenience, and satisfaction while browsing a site or page.
Most people who have heard of UX, also know about the UI. Now that we have understood the definition of UX design, it’s time to differentiate it from UI design. As we have figured out that UX is about how the client feels when interacting with your brand’s site, product, or app.
On the other hand, User interface design or UI design refers to the graphic outline or placement of the elements that a user sees and interacts with on a website or digital product. In basic words, everything you see on a webpage including the images, text, color scheme, etc., even the layout is what comes under UI design.
So though both UX and UI design is about user interaction; UI handles the aesthetics and adds useful elements to the site for easy user handling; while UX is all about how the user feels while this interaction increases the chances of simpler access.
Everyone wants to do business and serve all potential customers. But very few can dominate their niche. That means everyone has competitors. So several sites are selling the same or similar products. And yet some are doing tremendously well, while some are not so much.
The reason is that people are more inclined to open a site that is more user-friendly as compared to its counterparts. We as humans are creatures of comfort after all. So if your site provides a simple yet interesting user experience, you are more likely to get an increased number of visitors. This is important as the conversion rate is directly proportional to the traffic. That means the higher the number of guests on your page, the higher are the chances of conversion. Everyone knows that a 2-5% conversion rate is considered good. And a study shows that the conversion rate goes up by 400% with good UX design.
Investing in UX design can be beneficial in increasing the company revenue and hence a leaving the work to a professional team may be a better option.
Having a good UX design means, that most of the customers can find and execute everything themselves without the help of any customer support service. This means that you can get away with lesser personnel appointed for the customer care department. Lesser staff in turn means lesser people on your payroll and in the end means you have to shell out less amount of money. If your support cost goes down, while increasing your overall revenue, then it will lead to an increase in profits for you and your company.
Putting the time and effort into the UX design seems better with each passing point, right?
Since it is established that everyone has competition, we want to outperform them, right? So how can we do this? If we talk about online presence, then the google ranking of any business is a good way to see where a business stands in comparison to its rivals. Someone has very rightly said that the best place to hide a dead body is on the 2nd page of google. And you can know that someone is desperate when they go to the 2nd or 3rd page of google to find an answer.
But do you think your customers will be that desperate? The answer is no. Potential clients will always find someone to serve them on the very first page. They will find someone to help them with their need at the very top of the page. So if you wish to get more traffic on your site via google search, then you need a good UX design as it will deal with the SEO ranking. So hiring someone who has great experience and expertise in SEO for your website, might be of great help.
Building a product takes a lot of time, effort, and money, right? But imagine if you made a mistake or if your product was faulty. You would either have to repair the mistake or will have to recall your product entirely until you can solve the issue. Now if this happens do you think your customers will stick around, waiting for you to decipher the problems? No. They will not. They will instead go to your competitors with a bad image about your company, brand, and product with the resolve to never return unless and until required. To top it off, it will cost even more money and time. The time that you do not have to spare especially after the launch.
So it’s much better to have the correct product design from the get-go. And this involves a good UX design as well. Especially if you are an e-commerce site or are selling a digital product. If you wish to convert the visitors of your site to paying customers, you need a good UX design.
If you want to stand out in comparison to your peers then yes, you do need it. Having not just a good UX design but one better than your rivals is not just a luxury but a requirement. Let’s take a few examples to get a better understanding.
Anyone who uses an app to call for a cab is aware of Uber. They started the company in 2009 as a ridesharing company in San Francisco, but have spread across the world. The reason is that they make the process of calling for a cab easier, more accountable, and more secure. They took a cloud-based technology and with clever use of UX design disrupted an offline market. Today, several people prefer calling for a taxi online rather than walking to a stand. This is due to the ease of having a mode of transport available at your doorstep with a very easy-to-use app.
Though the usage is simple to understand, the same cannot be said for the UX design behind it. It is the task of the UX designer to make sure no matter how complex their work is the user experience must be the same.
Let’s see another example of a very fast-growing company. Swiggy started its functioning in a small area of Bangalore with only 6 food partners but soon turned into the most predictable food tech company. They have spread all across India and were even titled as the fastest-growing unicorn in the country. This was due to the high number of people returning to the app over and over again in the hopes to buy the food at their convenience.
The reason why it works is because of the simplicity the app offers to all its users. They serve a large population and have users with different needs, they still have been able to manage to have an overall easy-to-access UX design. The reason for people’s return to the app or site is that the core of Swiggy has remained the same. You can order anything you like very easily and it will be delivered to you within the given time frame. You can also track where your order is in between without much hassle.
They have even applied this to Swiggy Genie, which will do all your small and big tasks of picking or buying stuff from one place and delivering it to another location. It is the simplicity on the user end that makes them this popular in contrast to other similar companies.
So maybe having a better UX design can help you in curbing your competition as well while excelling in your market.
Recognizing the benefits of having a good UX design, let’s talk about the current scenarios outside of Silicon Valley:
Even though, with the global pandemic, pushing people to work from home, most of the good tech support staff like UX designers are working only for the giants like Apple, etc. Due to relocation of work, these people have shifted to remote areas for a better quality of life. This has led to some local businesses including start-ups fighting with the big companies over their recruitment. But since most companies are not able to match the salaries that these tech giants can, the availability of good UX designers is still low despite the high demand.
Due to this shortage, many companies are not able to hire designers at their asking price. This is leading to a huge disparity in the reach of different companies.
Several companies have the capability of hiring the required staff but are still going about their old ways. They think that if something worked for years, there is no need to change it. Though this is correct for some things, but not when it comes to business. You need to stay up to date with all the current trends to keep yourself relevant in the market.
Some even think that my customers are not ready for something fancy like a good UX design. They think they will lose customers rather than gain new ones if they introduce something new. This fear of not wanting to miss out on the business of the current loyal customers stops a lot of business owners to advance further.
If everyone around you moves with the world but you are still sticking with your old ways, you will become the odd one out but not in a good way. Your consumers will assume that you cannot change with time and will lose faith in you to be able to serve them in the long run. This will lead to them jumping to other brands for their needs as they think it’s better to abandon a sinking ship.
If the above scenario doesn’t happen, this one is sure to affect you. If you do not have a good UX design, you will have to heavily invest in customer support, including hiring more staff in comparison to your rivals. Having lower grade technology will negatively impact the efficacy of your internal team as well as the visiting customers. The LTV:CAC ratio will drop for your company, making you lose on your potential clients and the profits.
Having a good UX design is mandatory in today’s world. So to succeed it is much better to hire a professional team of experts to help you in creating and maintaining your site or digital product without much thought and effort from your end. If you want more details on it, why not give us a call?
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