UX Design

The Pressure Is On-How to create the perfect consumer experience

By: Jessica Bouchard

The future is: UX design

In the modern day, consumers expect products and services to seamlessly work in an efficient manner. If the experience is not easy and quick, the consumer will move on without hesitation. With this challenging dilemma and fierce competition, it’s imperative that marketers better understand their consumers' needs and wants. Now, some may argue that consumers don’t know what they want, which may have some truth. However, more so than ever, we as marketers can now do this by following the process of user experience design (UX design). 

What exactly is UX design?

UX design is “the process of increasing a user’s level of satisfaction with a product or service by improving functionality, ease of use and convenience.” The end goal is to provide experiences that are meaningful and relevant to the consumer. To do so, UX follows a human-centered design approach and includes the following stages:

  • User Research: Focus groups, observations, interviews, and usability testing are examples of how UX designers collect research to help them understand and empathize with their consumers. Personas are then curated based on the insights gathered.

  • Competitor Assessment: Conducting a competitive analysis report allows designers to better understand potential opportunities or situations that other competitors aren’t doing and provides a chance for them to differentiate.

  • Interaction Design: Next designers bring their research to life. A prototype is created and is a great way to get approval for the final product or solution. There are multiple tools that can be used during this stage such as Axure RP or Sketch.

  • Information Architecture: Finally, after researching and prototyping, it is time for the end product. Designers use the insights and feedback gathered to create an easy, meaningful product or service, which ultimately fits the need of the consumer.

Does UX actually work?

Ok, so UX clearly is thorough and well thought out, but are businesses really using this framework? The short answer is yes. Here are some companies that incorporate UX: 

  • Apple

  • IBM

  • Facebook

  • Google

  • AirBnB

You can also read more about other companies that incorporate UX here.  

Some pretty decent companies, I’d say. In fact, a well-designed user interface could raise conversion by up to 200%and a better UX design could yield conversion rates up to 400%. 

It is important to note the potential pitfalls that may cost businesses in the long run. When using the UX design process, User Testing Blog recommends avoiding the following:

  • Not doing initial user research

  • Listening to, rather than observing users

  • Making the design too complicated

  • Making the design too simple

  • Following trends that don’t work

  • Not usability testing enough

Why should I care?

By now, you might be wondering how content fits in with UX? In truth, it is an important, powerful relationship. A content strategist can work alongside UX designers to craft messages that match the user’s emotions and structure the content accordingly.   

In theory, the goal of UX is similar to our friend, behavior design. As marketers, if we better understand the behaviors or actions of consumers, we can curate content and strategy that is research driven and consumer-centric, leading to powerful results. 

Get smarter about UX Design: Additional Readings

CSG Studio