Learn why investing in first-class user experience (UX) design is important in creating a top digital product and building a successful digital business.

A good user experience has become an expectation for most, if not all, consumers.

With so many software solutions coming to the market every year, the crucial success factor is no longer the mere existence of your solution. Instead, it’s that the experience itself is good.

Delivering a bad experience to users is no longer an option.

Although the concept of "UX" has been around for some time now, a lot of potential clients still ask us "Why is UX design important?"

To help answer this question, we’ve included five of the best benefits your business can get from investing in UX design at the beginning of your digital product cycle.

UX design benefit #1: create a better solution

People fall in love with experiences, not the technology behind it.

Good UX design is the result of user research, information architecture, wireframing, prototyping, user testing, and the implementation of all these elements in your solution. A UX designer does more than make your solution look good. He or she reorganises your ideas and software to meet the needs of your end-users.

A solution that is difficult to use or does not match the needs of users may create more problems and frustrations on the part of the user than it solves. The solution becomes a problem instead. A UX designer can help you avoid this situation.

By identifying the users' core needs – not the needs we assume they have, but their real needs – you can reach their hearts and achieve far greater customer satisfaction.

UX design benefit #2 minimise development costs

There is a widespread misconception that implementing UX design during product development causes projects to take longer and cost more.

When in reality, it’s actually the opposite. Proper implementation of a good design saves you time and money.

A skilled UX designer can enable you to quickly visualise and concretise your ideas for testing and improvement. This helps you avoid unexpected and extensive changes later in the software development process, where it will be far more expensive to fix.

In fact, Medium states that changes to project requirements increase by a factor of 10 at each stage in the project’s lifecycle. In other words, it becomes 100x more expensive to fix your digital product’s UX design after deployment than in the development stage.

UX design benefit #3: increase customer loyalty and retention

The better an experience you can create for users, the happier and more satisfied they’ll be. If you don’t live up to their expectations, they’ll become frustrated, disappointed and will even avoid using your solution again. Users may even give you negative reviews, causing you to lose future potential customers.

Modern humans have dozens of things to think about in their daily lives. So, it's hardly surprising that we try to avoid complex and complicated solutions. If you can make life easier for your users and improve their everyday lives in some shape or form, there's a good chance they’ll love you and your solution for it.

But it's not just that. A UX designer doesn't just figure out how to live up to users' expectations and make life easier for them. They also use their skills to find out how to exceed those expectations. Satisfied users become brand ambassadors for your business, telling their friends and family about your amazing solution. Their satisfaction acts as a free advertisement, which is crucial for startup businesses trying to build an established brand.

Think of tech brands like Apple, Amazon, and Google. They all understood the needs of their users and managed to make their everyday life easier.

UX design benefit #4: reduce the need for instructions and customer service

No one sits down and reads a user manual for fun. At least, no one we've ever met! Most people prefer to start using a product right away and find out how it works as they go.

The more intuitive a system’s UX design and user interface (UI) is, the less time it’ll take for users to learn the digital product's functions and/or features. As a result, they're less likely to waste their valuable time reading and trying to understand a user manual. This will also enable your business to reduce customer service costs, as fewer users call for clarification or instructions on how to use your digital product.

If you have a self-service solution, you can increase the number of users who can serve themselves without the help of the staff.

UX design benefit #5: avoid wasting resources and save money

The final benefit of investing in quality UX design is the number of resources and money saved. Often, there are many people involved in creating a solution. If their time is not managed optimally, you can lose resources which often results in financial losses.

According to research, developers spend 50% of their time fixing issues, such as reworking existing UX design elements, which could have been avoided.

No, this isn’t just referring to the cost of software development. A bad UX design can have more far-reaching consequences.

For example, a company can hire top-notch marketers to attract more customers to use their application. But if they don’t invest in the user experience of the app, it will fall below market standard and put visitors off from buying or downloading it. Consequently, this will have a direct impact on the company's conversion rate and the potential return of investment of the UX design.

A memorable user experience is just a call away

While it's not possible to predict with 100% certainty what your users' needs are, some methods can help you identify them. Acquiring an experienced UX designer will enable you to easily spot problems and potential market opportunities early in the design and development phases.

Stoked has partnered with many companies who are now providing their customers with industry-leading digital products with excellent user experiences. This has resulted in measurable bottom-line results and greater user satisfaction.

If you're interested in learning more about our UX design services, get in touch with our team today.