As consumers we are constantly interacting with brands all of the time, sometimes consciously and at other times subconsciously. User experience or ‘UX’ is a term that designers use when reviewing a website, app/interface basically any experience when interacting with a brand online.
The result when design has considered the user is absolute bliss, a seamless experience which you will want to tell everyone about because it was ‘Soooo Good!’.
Are you winning the attention of your audience ?
We believe the best place to start is by understanding your audience and identifying the problem. I.e. what action do you want that person to take ? The biggest fundamental issue we see is that sometimes people skip the step of understanding their audience. The user simply isn’t a ‘number’ within your analytics or measuring metrics, remember they are an actual human. Take time to think of them as a human and understand their persona, interests, habits and more. The deeper you go with this understanding the more you will understand what it is they are looking for, and the context in which they will be looking for your brand or product.
Getting to the core of the problems…
All too often it is likely you will have one area of your product or online experience working well however the key is understanding the areas or elements that are not functioning properly. Understanding the users key issues or problems in some cases is a critical factor required to make change. Try not to focus on the problem symptoms but look to get to the core of the problem, in turn this will likely eliminate the ‘problem symptoms’. Every step of the UX journey matters, the more you can understand it with an ‘overall’ perspective the more refined the journey and experience will be.
Genius Idea Vs Real People
No matter how good or genius the idea is, nothing will be better than seeing actual users learning and interacting with your product, app or online experience. Throughout this process you will learn more and more, the design will evolve and you will make significant improvements.
Understanding UX and undertaking a review?
Undertaking a review will provide you with valuable data and insight and the support and help of a UX designer. The UX designer will be able to interpret the data and research to make valid and informed improvements and recommendations to the UX journey.
There may be many reasons why you decide to undertake a UX review. A good example might be that you have an established website and want to introduce a new product or feature. Understanding how to integrate this new product or feature will require consideration on how to integrate this into the already existing journey. In doing so the existing UX journey will need to be reviewed and then in turn the research and relevant work will be carried out for the new UX journey.
How will UX help my brand?
It is proven that poor user experience will certainly have a negative impact on your brand reputation and customer experience. Users today are simply intolerant of poor design, slow page loading, confused navigation and more. If you have ever stopped and watched someone scrolling through an app or website on their phone then;
- The continuous scrolling rarely stops for more than a few moments
- If they can’t find what they are looking for they will simply open a new tab and start a new search for what they were looking for.
With good UX, comes happy customers and happy customers = brand loyalty. Good brand experiences will not only help to retain existing customers but it will also help and attract new customers too.
The end of this journey…
Technology will always continue to develop but we must remember that we live in a human centered world. Technology and design should be aligned. Design should be usable, informative and focused on your target audience. The design experience should meet their needs and requirements. User Experience design is and should be focused on user satisfaction, accessibility and overall making the experience and journey as organic and easy as possible.
