The Importance of User Experience Design
Have you ever gone to a website, only to close the tab after just a few seconds? What about going to a trusted company’s website, only to be disappointed at how hard it was to navigate on your mobile device?
If this sounds familiar, you can already see the value of good user experience design and how it can help a company gain a better return on investment.
What is UI/UX Design?
With the increasing interest in UI/UX design in North America, it is important to know what UI/UX design means. While the two can overlap, they overlook different processes; one is visual, while the other is functional.
UI Design
UI, which stands for user interface, deals with aesthetics. These include aspects of design like colour scheme, font, and logo design. Graphic designers and web developers who specialize in user interface will work closely with UX designers to create the best experience possible for their users.
UX Design
User experience design, or UX design, is a user-centered approach to design. It focuses on designing a product that users will find easy to use, navigate, and access. This can incorporate operational parts of UI, such as emphasizing the call-to-action (or CTA) button by making it a different colour.
It is important to understand that UX and UI design work in tandem with each other, and depend on the successful execution of both sides to create the optimal user experience. Imagine a website with beautiful graphics and animations, only you can’t find any of the links you are searching for. If a website looks gorgeous but is unusable, the majority of clients will not return to the same site a second time around.
Why Does User Experience Design Matter?
As UI/UX design becomes increasingly popular, user experience has proven to be an essential component of the way we conduct online business. The process of creating an app, designing a website, or making a product needs to incorporate usability testing to ensure that potential customers will be able to navigate the interface smoothly and intuitively. In fact, research suggests that well-designed websites can increase conversion rates up to 400%.
Good User Experience Design Saves Time and Money
Good user experience should be seamless and natural. It allows your users to automatically know where to click on a web page or an app, preventing them from wasting their time deciphering a confusing navigation menu. Proper UX design can save money too; resolving user-related problems after a product release costs 100 times more than fixing them during the developmental stages.
Not only does good user experience design save money, but it also saves time. McAfee’s customer support calls decreased by 90% after a redesign of their product made it more intuitive for users to navigate.
The Impacts of Bad User Experience Design
Bad user experience for your customers can mean having to do a lot of guesswork when it comes to webpage navigation, especially the search button is difficult to find. Second-guessing webpage functionality can frustrate users, but it can also cause them to second-guess your company and its promises.
If you’re still not convinced, think of it through the lens of IKEA furniture. Would you prefer a long and confusing instruction manual to guide you or simple and intuitive labels on each component that tell you what to do next? Unlike Ikea furniture, you’ll want your users—and potential clients—to be happy and satisfied after interacting with your product, and this can be achieved with good user experience design.
What Can Good User Experience Do for Me?
In multicultural cities like Toronto where workplace diversity is common, it is especially important to conduct usability testing to ensure your product can be easily understood by people from different cultural backgrounds.
With many banks’ headquarters in the city, such as Bank of Montreal, Toronto-Dominion, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, and Scotiabank, users need to feel like they can trust these banks’ websites. If a bank’s website or app is hard to navigate due to a lack of usability testing, users might not trust the bank.
In today’s world, it is important to have a website’s user experience design tailored to build and establish trust with its client base. 86% of users seek information about a company on its website, which means trust can be established by making the information easier for users to find.
Another study found that 45% of users trusted a company more if they had a positive user experience with that company. Good user experience was also found to help companies increase sales by up to 41%.
In essence, by conducting usability testing and ensuring your product or website has the best user experience design, you can get many benefits, such as:
- More trust from clients
- Less money spent on resolving problems
- Increased sales
- Better return on investment
- More lead conversions
How to Have Good User Experience Design
Here’s where usability testing comes in. Usability testing is part of generating a good user experience; to ensure your customers have a positive experience with your product, you must also ensure your product is easy for consumers to use. With only 55% of companies currently conducting user experience testing, it is becoming increasingly important to set yourself apart from other competitors by ensuring your website is easy to use and navigate.
Usability testing usually involves asking the test participants to do something specific on your product or website while taking notes and making observations about their journey. For example, the path that the participant takes to complete a task is important when figuring out how to improve user experience, which can be done by creating a shortcut for longer paths. You can also get the participant to “think out loud” and express any frustrations with your product or website, which can bring to light other improvements you may need to make for future users.
Get in Touch With Us
Here at Imagine Better Solutions, we strive to be a one-stop-shop for ease of management. Our services include graphic design and web development in addition to UI/UX design. Good user experience design and usability testing can be incorporated into all aspects of your company’s journey, helping you improve relationships with clients, generate more leads, and optimize experiences for current and future customers alike.
You can contact us to learn more at www.imaginebettersolutions.com.
