A good user experience (UX) is one of the most crucial elements in marketing and customer service. Already, countless studies are showing its correlation with increased brand loyalty, but one area where it remains underutilized is web design. One reason is the lack of appreciation of its importance to businesses.
Web designers tend to focus on using the latest trends and innovations, often at the expense of the brand image. One example is the use of design elements and colors inconsistent with the brand identity. Other areas of concern are poor navigation and content, which degrade rather than improve user experience.
So, how big of an impact does poor UX design have on businesses?
• Eighty-eight percent of consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience.
• More than half of consumers abandon a page if it takes more than three seconds to load. As a result, retailers lose $2 billion in sales to slow-loading websites each year.
• Eighty-three percent of consumers cite a “seamless experience across all devices” as important to their purchasing decision. If a site is not optimized for mobile, they are five times more likely to abandon a task. Furthermore, 62 percent are less likely to buy after a negative brand experience.
Poor user experience on desktop and mobile equates to customer attrition. Conversely, a good UX design can help businesses generate more leads, conversions and revenue. To improve user experience, some hire a UX designer, while others use the services of a UX design consulting firm.
What Is User Experience and UX Web Design?
UX refers to how a person interacts and experiences a system, product, service, or application. Apart from the utility, it also includes the perception of efficiency, ease of use and others. A good user experience in business enhances conversion rates and customer loyalty.
One term that often comes up with UX is User Interface (UI). However, these two terms are different, as UI is a subset of UX. In particular, UI refers to visual design (e.g., branding, colors, typography and layout). On the other hand, UX is a broad term describing user interaction and how products work.
Like UI, UX web design is also a subset of UX. In essence, it refers to the process a UX designer uses in creating websites. Sites with a good UX design usually have a responsive web design and provide a more meaningful experience.
Benefits of Websites That Give Good UX
Every UX design firm incorporates the elements of user experience in business websites. However, these are styles and techniques that not all web developers can do. For instance, user experience design firms focus on customers, while web designers focus more on visuals. Nevertheless, one thing a UX design consulting firm does is conduct extensive UX research.
UX research enables a user experience agency to:
• Avoid wasting time and money by developing the correct and most appropriate solutions.
• Discover the elements of user experience that enhance consumer perception of a brand.
Following are the core benefits of investing in the services of a user experience agency.
1. Reduced Costs
Over the long term, UX design helps reduce the cost of maintaining a website.
Consider business websites that do not have a responsive web design, of which plenty exist. They lose many potential customers because their pages do not render correctly on mobile devices. As a result, these companies need to spend more money to redesign their web pages.
Investing in user experience design services, for sure, costs more upfront. But the UX design process comprises extensive research, analysis and testing. Hence, the final product is more likely to generate a more positive experience and sales.
Sites with a good UX design need little to no significant updates or revisions on the web design. Therefore, the cost of fixing issues or further development is cheaper over the long term. In some estimates, fixing errors after development can cost up to 100 times more compared to fixing errors before development.
Another area where savings may be significant is the cost of development. UX research, for instance, can reduce development time by 33 to 50 percent.
2. Increased Leads and Conversions
As alluded to earlier, many consumers abandon a site or task after a bad UX. Conversely, sites with good UX can retain more visitors, increasing leads.
A good UX design process also helps improve conversion rates. Consider an eCommerce site as an example. By providing a better checkout flow and design, conversions can increase by up to 35 percent. But 27 percent of shoppers would abandon the shopping cart if the checkout process is long or complicated.
One of the elements of user experience is making it easy for consumers to buy products or services. Since many consumers research brands before making any purchasing decision, a good UX experience should also include providing easy-to-find, easy-to-understand factual information.
3. Better SEO Performance
All search engines share one thing in common – providing a “good user experience.” So they use complex algorithms to deliver results that match user search intents. Only by doing that can they ensure the continued use of their services.
On mobile devices, pages with non-responsive web design appear broken or too small to read. Because it results in a negative user experience, search engines usually do not rank them high in search results.
Mobile devices generate 63 percent of organic search traffic. For this reason, companies must invest in a responsive web design to ensure pages load correctly, regardless of screen size.
Another area where a good UX design can help is pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. Google, for instance, measures landing page experience. This metric allows them to suggest ways to optimize and improve user journeys. Indeed, landing pages that give good UX improve the ad campaign and increase conversion rates.
4. Stronger Brand Loyalty and More Referrals
Customer experience (CX) refers to how customers perceive interactions with a brand. It comprises the entire buyer journey, including the business website. So in more ways than one, the UX design process contributes to good CX.
The importance of CX to brand loyalty can never be overstated. One survey, for example, showed that 73 percent of millennials are likelier to continue doing business with brands that provide consistent customer experience. Furthermore, 88 percent build brand loyalty after making three or more purchases.
A great UX web design not only attracts more leads and increases conversion, it also helps forge stronger customer relationships. As a result, brand loyalty increases and satisfied customers begin sharing their experiences.
Happy and loyal customers, for instance, may post on their social media channels. They may also spread the good word to their family, friends and colleagues. In addition, they can also write positive reviews and help enhance brand reputation.
5. User Experience Design Services Provide Great ROIs
User experience design firms use design metrics to help businesses meet their goals. For instance, research shows companies that adopted UX design increased their revenues by 32 percent. Moreover, they also achieved a faster total return to shareholders (TRS) by 56 percent.
UX Design Is Necessary for Growth
Why do companies need to know how to improve user experience by adopting UX design? The short answer is that a UX design firm helps create a meaningful buyer journey. A positive user experience, in turn, leads to higher customer satisfaction.
Do you want to learn more about how UX helps your business provide customers with a seamless, positive experience? Contact us at 866-908-4748. One of our UX designers will answer all your questions.
