Can you afford to go without UX design?

Investing in growth has become inseparable with investing in technology, which is why many companies that provide online products and services have technology as their main focus. But focusing on technology alone without a focus on user’s needs and satisfaction doesn’t guarantee success.

For example: Google would just be another search engine amongst others if UX would not have been the bottom line. They invest relentlessly in the best search algorithms that ensure relevant results and optimal sorting for its users, while keeping the interface clean and simple.

These days practically all products, services and information are instantly available online. Therefore the biggest challenge is to hold the attention of your (potential) customers and to lead them through the process of conversion.

This shows a significant gap between companies talking about UX and actually placing UX at the center of their business strategy and growth efforts, which may point out a lack of understanding of what UX design is and its effective results.

On the long run, UX design is the best approach to support your product’s evolution. Sure, it is possible to build a product or service without paying attention to UX design, but the real question is: can you afford it?

If you presume that you are improving your website or app based on your users’ needs but as a result your conversion rates are decreasing, it is likely that you’ve fallen into one or more of the UX design pitfalls:

In other words: the tendency to presume that your own needs, expectations and opinions are the same as those of your customers.

I have seen many senior executives manage their digital products or services exclusively based on their own vision, perhaps consulting their peers if they would need a second opinion. No real user behaviour analysis, no tests on real users, no data to back up important business decisions.

Knowing the market trends, analyzing the competition, knowing your users’ profiles, these all should translate into quantity and quality metrics that will help you design your product focusing on your customers’ ease of use.

With so many visual designers turning into UX Designers overnight it is only normal to expect them to deliver a top-notch user-journey. In reality, if you don’t go through all the phases of the UX design, you may end up with a nice interface, but zero added value to your users’ experiences.

If you have taken the wise decision to test your products with real users, your first impulse might be to gather as many users as possible in order to generate enough feedback.

Unless you are already a well-established name in your industry who can afford the luxury to be a trend-setter, don’t try to change users’ browsing patterns. Your attempt may backfire and deter them from using your website or app.

On the other hand, don’t embrace a trend just because everybody else is doing it. The standard hamburger menu for instance, which helped save space for menu items, was also adopted by websites that didn’t have any extra items to show and no space challenges to overcome.

Want to know more about how you can improve your projects, websites or services by investing in User Experience design?

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