Delivering engagement and revenue with UX Design

User Experience Design (UX Design) is the process of enhancing user engagement with a product by improving the usability, accessibility and satisfaction in the interaction with a product.

The purpose of UX Design is to solve a problem, and communicate the message and design to potential customers. So how can it help you achieve your sales goals? 

With a clear understanding of your goals, knowledge of your marketplace and customers, great visual design and usability testing, Serenity Digital can ensure that you always see positive returns from your investment.

The wider experience

Websites have become progressively more complex as technologies have advanced and have become a means to interact with content, products and services. Businesses now need to consider giving potential customers the best experience possible so not to lose their interest. 

• 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience -  SmallBizGenius 

This illustrates that UX Design can be the perfect opportunity for organisations to keep users engaged, but far too often we see websites where user experience has not been considered at all or is no longer relevant to the target audience.

What we’re seeing

We work with clients across a huge variety of industries and as such have seen the struggle that marketing professionals face when implementing the best user experience for their target market and existing customers. Below are the common pitfalls:

No deliverables and vague strategy

Businesses make the mistake of moving into a UX project with no clear strategy and not knowing what their key deliverables should be. A company who adopts a “suck it and see” approach will inevitably make errors along the way and the best result is unlikely to be achieved for the user or the business.

No testing

Without a clear testing strategy, businesses can’t know if their UX Design is as good as it can be. Those without this often end up reacting to problems later down the line when users are already disengaged and then have some catching up to do. This can compromise return on investment if this testing is not built in early.

Content is not up to date

We often see out of date content which can seriously undermine a UX. Once this is rectified, there must be a plan in place to keep content updated and fresh, otherwise users will not achieve their goals and you won’t achieve yours.

Poor navigation

This is a common problem when UX Design hasn’t been considered or has been done badly. When users cannot navigate through the site properly, they become frustrated which leads to high bounce rates.

The stats tell us that once you’ve lost trust you rarely get the user back and therefore the opportunity to impress and turn that user into a customer is wasted.

The UX team doesn’t consider the design

UX teams are not necessarily designers. They may have the user journey sewn up and therefore the structure, but if the design is not considered, users will be turned off. 

“First impressions are 94% design related” - 8Ways

Inconsistent user journey

In today’s multichannel world, it’s important that businesses continually validate messaging and user experience across all channels being utilised. However, many businesses are not implementing this strategy which limits usability and marketing goals for the organisation in question.

Watertight strategy

When used in combination with a well thought out strategy, logical design, good navigation and consistent refinement, user experience will deliver a successful return on investment.

Our 6 tips below will get any campaign well on its way to success:

Know your users

It sounds obvious, but to create the perfect user experience, you must try to understand what makes your users tick and if this varies depending on the channel they are engaging with.

You may wish to create personas based on typical users who the product is being designed for. This research stage will form the foundations of your design, so you can be assured of the best possible start

Get your UX team working with your designers

When UX teams are not designers the design can sometimes be forgotten. We know users interact with designed assets over text, so the UX experience should be viewed as an opportunity to capitalise on great design too. If your UX team are also designers, even better!

Prioritise information

Instead of being tempted to design pages that have too much content for users to process, identify which content deserves the highest priority. Make it easy for users to digest the information by making certain information stand out on the page. This will increase engagement, which in turn increases returns.

Improve navigation

Provide users with clear cues on how to return to a page or move onto the next. Be sure to provide a set of wayfinding tools and visual cues so people don’t get lost in the UX. This will increase the amount of time users are on your site or engaging with your content, maximising return. 

Test your UX

Test, test and test again! There are many times a UX goes to market without adequate testing and refinement, so testing for the best experience in mind for users is essential for success. 

Whilst a project is underway you can carry out experience mapping, usability testing and A/B testing to establish if the design of the product is successful, and if not, how this can then be improved.

Create consistent experience

UX designers must understand the tasks a user has to undergo to reach the end goal, so it’s important that a business can communicate this to the developer. 

This can be achieved using a range of techniques including using standardised code to create consistent qualities across multiple platforms.

To conclude...

Whilst UX Design may still be a new concept to some organisations, most businesses can succeed in making significant returns by approaching a project differently and avoiding these common mistakes.

To learn more about how UX Design can help you achieve your sales targets, or get started with a strategy, please get in touch.

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