In a digital-first world, User Experience has become an essential investment for businesses. The majority of customers’ perception of a company is decided by their interaction with that company’s digital presence. As a result, UX is no longer just an important tool to deliver a brand. It is a part of branding.
What is User Experience (UX)?
User Experience is the feeling the user receives from interacting with a website or any digital experience. From the words of Steve Jobs, “It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” This encompasses the user’s interaction from the beginning to the end, including the speed at which a page and its assets load. In addition, it covers ease of use. Is the layout intuitive? Is the site fully featured, including anything a customer might expect or need?
The importance of UX.
User experience is the equivalent of customer service for many online businesses. You might not have a door greeter, but you have a homepage. Users’ judgments on a website’s credibility are 75% based on the design. Not only that, a majority of customers are willing to pay more for a better experience.
How to create a good UX?
Creating a good UX is a process that takes many iterations and collecting feedback. Keep in mind that creativity is always a part of the best User Experiences. Each brand is different, and UX is used as an extension of each brand to engage customers in a unique way. Although, there are some essential steps everyone should take in their process.
Step 1: Defining Needs.
The first step in designing UX is to understand the needs of the customer and how that ties into the needs of the business. We want to know what features and interactions a user will take before we start designing a site. We also need to prioritize the importance of different features on a page. For example, a login button or a cart on an e-commerce site will be much more important than changing the color theme on a site.
Step 2: Wireframing and Prototyping.
Wireframing UX differs from Wireframing UI, and in most cases, it is done first. A UX wireframe only includes functional pieces without any styling or extra UI components. The wireframe is only used to design a site’s layout and how a user’s interaction should flow. After a design team has settled on a finished wireframe, prototyping can occur. Don’t be afraid to make changes in this stage as complications or new design ideas arise, but always refer back to and update the original wireframe. It’s essential to make sure a consistent end goal is upheld for everyone on a project.
Step 3: User Interactions.
The most important rule of UX design is “You are not the user.” Getting feedback from users is the most important to this process, and you should pay attention to the feedback you get. It is easy for a designer to make a system that seems intuitive to himself, but if users don’t like it or understand it, it doesn’t matter.
Step 4: Final Product.
At this point, the end is in sight! After you get feedback from users, go back and implement any common suggestions and fix any pain points from users. If you make any significant changes after getting user feedback, then make sure to get your site tested again to get feedback again. If not, then you just completed a process a majority of internet businesses don’t bother with, and that’s given you an edge.