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User experience (UX) is the centrepiece for successful businesses across all industries.
It refers to the overall experience of individuals with a product, service or system, and can involve everything from how easy it is to navigate through a website right down to the visual appeal and functionality of digital interfaces. In simple terms, UX determines users’ perceptions and interactions with a brand’s offerings — making it an integral part of any digital strategy.
Investing in UX means investing in customer satisfaction, retention rates and profits.
If you’re not putting enough into UX then your business is already behind; since 2018 budgets for enterprise technology have been steadily increasing year-on-year (YoY). By 2024 Deloitte predicts that technology budgets will consume 5.85% of revenue – up from 3.65% in 2018.
Businesses that focus on improving UX gain a competitive advantage by building stronger relationships with their audience which in turn fosters loyalty thereby increasing repeat business as well as positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
In this article, we’ll explore some strategic methods which can be used to enhance user experience.
A lot of what you’re doing should revolve around understanding your market.
You may know who you want to sell your product/service to but why would they buy from you? What do you need to demonstrate that shows them can deliver better products or services?
Follow these three steps:
Ask & listen about preferences from your target market; most often there’s plenty of secondary source data available where someone has done thorough research on your market.
However, if what is required is primary data so can take a personalized approach try using these:
After collecting the data all this information must be consolidated into a user persona.
User personas are fictional characters representing different segments within a target audience based on research findings and insights from the process. Ask yourself these questions:
Once you’ve created your user persona, you can step into their shoes and map out how they would go through their interaction with your product or service. This is what is referred to as user journey mapping.
Break down the user journey into steps that correspond to the marketing and sales funnel, such as:
Also, consider digital and offline touchpoints (website visits, social media interactions, email communications, and in-person meetings). You should be able to know their level of engagement, satisfaction, frustration and barriers encountered.
Accessibility means that anyone can use digital content without obstacles. It’s a legal requirement in many countries and a moral obligation — as well as an opportunity for businesses to reach more customers.
Here are some inclusive design techniques:
Different needs of people with disabilities should be considered when designing inclusively; these may include visual impairments like blindness or low vision; hearing impairments such as deafness or hard of hearing; motor skills limitations like difficulty using hands/fingers due to arthritis etc.; cognitive impairment caused by conditions like dementia etc. For example, there should be alternative text descriptions on images/videos so that those who cannot see can still get context from them; captions/subtitles should be provided for audio content so those who cannot hear can also understand what is being said; keyboard navigation is important because some people may not be able to use mouse due paralyzes of different body parts thus different keys should trigger specific actions.
DifUsers have different abilities and preferences therefore various ways of achieving tasks according to accessibility requirements are necessary. E.g., give both visual & auditory prompts when conveying important information or allow alternative methods for completing actions thereby allowing them to interact with digital interfaces flexibly based on their needs.
Assistive technologies like screen readers, magnifiers and voice recognition software are necessary for enabling individuals with disabilities to easily access digital content.
If a website or app is difficult to navigate through, you will associate your frustration with the company that owns it. This creates a bad user experience.
To ensure top-notch service for both current and potential clients, prioritize navigation as well as user architecture in these four ways:
Navigation serves as the backbone of user experience; it guides users effectively through digital interfaces. Clear and intuitive navigation ensures that users can find what they’re looking for easily and move between different sections of a website or application.
Effective content structure organizes information in a logical hierarchy, making it easier for users to understand and consume.
Break down your content into digestible chunks, using headings and subheadings, and employing visual hierarchy techniques such as colour, size, and contrast all contribute to improved content structure.
This is often a best practice among professional writers with or without completing MFA degrees online and in person. Copywriting can make or break your brand.
The search feature allows users to find specific items/areas within an interface quickly.
This can be achieved by your digital marketing team with a strong search feature that has autocomplete suggestions, filters, advanced search options etc., which will save people’s time and energy in finding what they need from the site/app/service. You could also work on optimizing the search algorithms/indexing mechanisms used behind the scenes so that results obtained from each query made by the user while interacting with the website are accurate/relevant.
In 2023, 96.5% of global internet users are projected to access the web through their mobile phones according to Statista. This means it is important to make digital experiences available for mobile platforms because people want them wherever they go.
The process involves designing responsive and adaptive interfaces that work seamlessly on different screen sizes and orientations – prioritize essential content such as descriptions; dynamic web design solutions can also be used.
Before launching a new website always test both the desktop/tablet view and mobile view of it.
Design is another technical aspect that enhances user experience. Some things to keep in mind:
When a video buffers for too long or pictures don’t load quickly enough – it kills interest fast.
One of the ways through which you can keep your users engaged and improve UX (User Experience) is by optimizing your website/app performance. This involves:
In summary, it’s not optional but necessary to invest in UX if you want to stay competitive in the business world today.
Organizations that invest time into making their user experience better than anyone else will connect more strongly with customers leading to higher levels of loyalty towards brands resulting in increased repeat purchases among many other advantages.
For your digital experiences to resonate with who they are meant for; make them easy to use and seamless – ensure all aspects from design through content down to the technology used work hand in hand putting users first.
