We talk a lot about user experience, and there are various reasons for that. For any brand or company, a good user experience eventually is one of the most important aspects of any solution to meet their business goals.
When you create a good user experience, you don’t do it just to make an end user happy. You want the the UX to lead to something. It can be filling out a form, downloading a whitepaper, returning to the application in the future, word of mouth marketing, etc.
Although nearly everyone may agree that an application must be intuitive and user-friendly, many brands aren’t willing to invest in developing something compelling. This makes it integral for UX advocates to explain the impact of the design and UX on the company as a whole.
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“User experience matters a lot. More than most people realize. The best designed user experiences get out of the way and just help people get things done. Less is more. If you have to explain it, you’ve already failed.” – Jason Goldberg
So how can a user experience affect your brand?
1) Brand Perception
User Experience is one of the key factors in determining the image of your brand. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, for example, are applications that grew exponentially through word of mouth marketing. Amongst the essentials of a word-of-mouth marketing is a great user experience. When users have a pleasant journey on the application, chances are higher they would share the experience with people in their circle. That’s free marketing for you, based on the user experience you provided. On the other hand, if the UX was poor, you end up having a bad perception of your brand, and will eventually lose opportunities to grow. Give your users a stellar experience and they will reward you; with their trust and business.
Another important thing to note here is the multi-device interaction. As we are moving towards a mobile-centric lifestyle, marketers need to embrace the new capabilities in technology that are driving innovation. If you are paying attention to small details, such as a user’s experience on a smartphone along with the desktop version, it gives a sense of high quality standards to the user. Otherwise, you leave an image of not paying attention to tiny details, that eventually, do matter.
2) Search Engine Optimization
The relationship between a user experience and brand perception may be the most significant, but it would be unfair to say that the UX does directly affect the SEO. As Google has always emphasized on great UX of it’s own, it also cares about the websites that are serving its users. For Google, it is integral to provide high quality content to its users. Hence, the UX plays an important role in the search engine’s ranking algorithms, which makes it essential for brands to design good experiences.
3) Business Objective
For any business, the end-goal eventually is leading a user towards a desired action; the business objective. As we mentioned earlier, for example, it might be downloading a white paper or purchasing an item on a website. IBM mentioned in their write-up on User-Centered Design that “every dollar invested in ease of use returns $10 to $100”.
Some of the factors that contribute to these returns can be listed as:
- Reduction in Waste Time
- Reduction in Customer Support
- Increased Customer Retention
Here is a great video by Dr. Susan Weinschenk, explaining how UX delivers ROI:
Wrap up
There is no doubt that UX plays an important role in how brands are perceived. Every interaction, moment and mention that a user shares with your brand is a chance for you to improve their perception of your company.
Start with the essentials and ask yourself the following questions:
- Does your brand translate into a meaningful experience?
- How will the end users describe you?
- Is your brand aligned with the user’s needs?
By providing your users with a unique and memorable experience, you begin to build a relationship with them and will eventually nurture them into promoting your brand.
Enjoyed reading? Now, check out our take on some UX myths you thought were actually true!
