The User Experience – a blessing or a curse

Most business owners have encountered the term ‘user experience’ at some point in their businesses lifetime. However, for many the user experience, or UX as it’s otherwise known, is still an area they lack knowledge or experience in. This can often mean that your business misses out on all of the magical elements that need to come together in order for your customers to make a purchase from you.

What is UX?

Simply put, UX is how your customers perceive the information located on your company’s website. When anyone visits your site they are assessing whether or not your site contains what they are looking for. Users are very likely asking themselves whether or not your website is of value to them, whether it’s easy for them to use and whether using your site is a pleasant experience.

User experience is an incredibly important part of the purchasing process, because if a customer can answer ‘yes’ to the questions above, then the chances of them making a purchase from your website are high.

Although many think that UX is about web design, UX is really about the use of technology. A UX professional understands how to use technology in order to help envision the ideal user journey.

Who should manage your UX?

Many businesses opt to manage the UX of their website without the input of a professional. Whilst this may keep costs down, there are situations that benefit from professional UX design and management.

For example, if you have a website that offers rich content and features to visitors, or if yours is an e-commerce site with several sections or departments, professional UX design and management can be a definite advantage due to the scale and complexity of the task.

Even start-up companies can benefit from professional UX assistance, albeit in a different way. For these companies, the high cost of hiring dedicated employees to handle UX tasks can be avoided by contracting out the work to a trusted company instead.

Businesses that want to save on web design costs may also benefit from having some sort of professional UX input. This is because a UX professional can complete a variety of different tasks that normally would be taken on by web designers or even developers.

How much does hiring a UX professional cost?

Contrary to popular belief, the cost to hire a UX professional is far less than one might expect. Perhaps the perception of increased cost stems from the assumption that UX will add too much time – and therefore, money – to a project. UX does allow for simple user experience design techniques to be introduced that can have a significant impact on a project. Although UX involves custom-tailoring elements to suit the needs of a business and its customers, this does not necessarily mean that doing so will cost the business owner an exorbitant amount of money.

The risks of bad UX

Thinking that you don’t need assistance when sculpting your site’s UX can sometimes end up costing you more. The truth of the matter is that no business sets out to provide customers with a bad UX. However, seeing that customers are having a bad experience and doing nothing about it can spell disaster.

The entire UX process is something that business owners should consider as a base requirement for their company’s success, and not an addition to what they may already be doing. Experts warn that thinking of UX as a low priority option can result in ideas for products and services becoming stagnant.

Graphics with UX

In the old days, web design decisions as they pertain to function were made according to what the designer thought was best for the brand, as well as what looked good. Today’s technology allows us to move far beyond just making websites functional and aesthetically-pleasing for their users. Today’s websites can get their message across to visitors using several elements such as dynamic content, rich features and interactivity.

User interaction is no longer based on what the designer assumes will ‘work’. UX breaks through those barriers, giving both customers and businesses a place where accessibility, marketing, design, ergonomics and many other elements seamlessly combine.