Why Every Business Should Invest in Better User Experience

UX or user experience isn’t limited to just application design or buzzword that marketing agencies use. It’s at the core of every critical junction for users. They don’t want to invest in a lot of technology and innovation if they don’t believe that users will adopt it. That’s why so many companies design MVPs (minimum viable products) so that they can invest in the future of the business itself.

An MVP is a sure shot sign that you’re making the first attempt at perfecting the user experience. That’s where all businesses should focus on – the user experience. You don’t want your marketing, accounts or management team developing rich experiences without considering the customer. They should work in tandem with each other so that they can design the best experience for every user.

Classifying and grouping help a lot here, as users can easily be grouped into key segments. These segments represent, in large parts, the manner in which companies can target them. Targeting can include based on the initiation point (inbound blogs, website, WoM, etc.) or intention (contact us page, phone call, etc.). You can design the user experience to be flowing and light so that the user gets onboard with little to no hiccups. That’s the most important thing about designing better experiences, they need to be simple enough for anyone in the segment to adopt.

A bad example of user experience design is when websites want to onboard new customers but ask too much upfront. They want to know your date of birth, your full address and your customer ID in many cases. You need to let go of that mentality and make the user experience feel light and free. Just like an app that doesn’t want your data upfront, you should design business processes to behave in a way that it feels fluid.

User experiences are especially important in industries like VR, content, and e commerce. When a user has been successful onboarded, they tend to be higher on the retention cycle than others. Even if there has been a bad experience or two, these users tend to be the ones who stick around for a while. They are less price sensitive and have a greater capability to explore the businesses’ complete packages and offers. They’re more excited to be working with you as well, as your business design is unique and compliant with all regulations early on.

When user experience goes right, there are stark changes that can be seen in the business model. Customers become more open to hearing about new offers, and the whole experience is that much more consistent. You know where the customers are coming from, what’s the onboarding process and where they should go right after.

Even if you’re a big financial services company, the basics of user experience management can be beneficial as well. Imagine that you’re at the head of a large team that relies on information flow between departments. The more fluid that experience is, the more information you can get at the right time. This concept doesn’t just extend to users who are your customers, it extends to your employee base as well.

When thinking about upselling customers, you want to make sure that you have the user journey all set. That’s because you don’t want to be pitching irate customers or those who are on the verge of leaving you. You want to send out your marketing materials accordingly and engage with your customers at the core level. Customers appreciate a good conversation as much as they enjoy a good user experience. Everything needs to flow smoothly and be coherent enough to be scalable.

The key to any good user experience and the journey is consistency and flow. You don’t want to have one geography providing one type of experience, while another a different one. Customers might feel betrayed or sense a lack of empathy from the company if they have different approaches from different areas. One of the most important parts of ensuring that your user journey stays consistent is flow. When service reps, client calls, and marketing materials have a sense of flow about them, the message is that much more effective.

When customers want a more desirable outcome do they come to you or your competitor? That’s the difference between you and your user experience. If you’re noticing that a lot of users have gone elsewhere it may be the result of poor user experiences. When they start to pile up, you may have gone too far with negligence or poor experiences. The moment you start to notice a large migration towards your competitors, it’s time to start relooking at your user experience.

It can start from your website, your social media, your calls – anything. It has to be a part of a more comprehensive plan and be approached with careful analysis. Before making any sweeping decision, you need to have all the information at hand. You don’t want to make rash decisions as those could end up being more expensive than customers leaving. You also want to have the most amount of information needed to be able to make the right decisions.

User experiences can be some of the most important aspects of a business, which means that they count for a lot more than customer service or product quality alone. Companies must have a comprehensive approach when it comes to enhancing user experiences and approach any customer retention problem with diligent research. There is an element in research and data that are needed before any form of UX exercise.

Conclusion

Businesses have come to a point where they need to start focusing on creating a better experience. They need to stop thinking about developing the next big app or innovation, and instead focus on how they can enhance the experience of the customers. Everything from user journey mapping to taking care of each user step is critical. Developing a core product that depends on user experience is the key to making better business decisions.