10 Reasons Why You Should Invest in UX

With the continuous advancement of technology, there is a correlating increase in expectations and demands for user-friendly products and services. In order to meet these needs and to stay relevant, an online presence and investing in UX is more important than ever. Many think having a website, product or app is enough, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With the evolution of technology, a good User Experience (UX) is the new norm that users fully expect businesses to provide.

UX can Make or Break Your Business

Here are the 10 good reasons why you should invest in UX:

1. Increase Customer Acquisition & Retention

Successful user experience and design gives you an edge, providing your business with a competitive advantage, likely overtaking price as a key brand differentiator in attracting new customers.  According to Walker, customer experience will overtake price and product as key product differentiators, those who put their customers first and give them a fantastic experience will not only retain those customers but it will increase. Reason why is that aside from spending money and returning to your business, they will recommend it to their friends and become loyal customers.  By building and investing in a digital product that is not only beautifully designed and intuitive, people will want to use it, and keep using it. Customer retention is increasingly important in the digital world that is constantly evolving, by investing in UX, your customer retention rate will increase along with customer acquisition.

2. Lower Acquisition & Advertising Costs

A good user experience is the best advertisement you can have.  If your users have a good experience, they will recommend your business to others based on their positive user experience.  Social proof is a great marketing tactic and it’s free! When your bounce rate decreases and more people are coming to your website based on recommendations, the less you will need to spend on marketing dollars.

3. Increase sales and market share

The crucial reason for business to invest in their UX is because of the value in return. What if I told you that the return on investment (ROI) of UX is 9,900%? Compared to their peers, the top 10 businesses that are leading in customer experience outperformed the S&P index with almost triple the returns. Research from Forrester shows that on average, every 1 dollar invested in UX gives 100 dollars in return – that’s a gargantuan ROI of 9,900%. Research by Experience Dynamics showed that after an e-commerce site underwent a UX revamp for their mobile experience, they experienced 30% increase in sales, 50% decrease in bounce rate, and an increase of 70% in quantities of products sold.

4. Decrease Bounce Rates

People are leaving your website – do you know the reasons why? By investing in UX, the reasons are identified and tackled, users no longer have a reason to leave, keeping them on the website and taking them further down the conversion funnel, as a result increasing your conversion rates.

5. Reduces Development Time & Costly Redesign

Oftentimes, a large chunk of engineering time is spent redoing work to fix mistakes that could have been avoided. Common mistakes like incorrect assumptions on user behaviour, confusing navigation, a feature that users don’t want, or a design that just isn’t accessible. By investing in UX and making sure the design is done right and done well from the very start, it prevents future headaches and work needing to be redone. If you include user testing throughout the design process, there’s validation in the design. This is an effective way to mitigate risk in product development.

6. Ease Decision Making & Increase Business Intelligence

If you invest in UX, it gives you a good understanding of your users’ opinions and needs, aiding in your business decision to ensure it is fully aligned with your users’ needs. The more research you do, the more you know about your users, resulting in a better alignment with their thinking. There’s no need to make anymore best guesses, ask your users instead. Remember you are not your user.

7. Increase Customer Satisfaction & Decrease Customer Service and Support Costs

A feeling of satisfaction that the users feel from a positive user experience will create an emotional and affective bond between them and your business, as well as a sense of engagement which motivates them to use your product further. If your users are satisfied, there is no need to contact customer services for further help. If they can find the information they need on your website, there is no need to resort to customer service or support. This will reduce the need for customer service and support, resulting in a lower cost.

8. Reach Full Potential

UX is an ongoing process, it’s constantly evolving and it’s a loop – user research, refine and iterate your product, push it to the public and repeat. By investing in UX, you are constantly updated on what your users think and feel about the product, this feedback gives you an up-to-date and meaningful insights and knowledge. This information is vital in ensuring your product is relevant for today’s market and helps plan for what’s next to come. For example, do you know how a pandemic such as Covid-19 changes the user behaviour towards your product or services? Do you know how to adapt your business to their behaviour changes? UX is a goldmine of information that helps to build your business in reaching its full potential.

9. Enhances Your Brand & Reputation

Your website is the online presence of your business. The better the experience you create for your users, the happier they will be and more likely they’ll be to recommend them. When you invest in UX, it shows that you care about the service and product that you are providing. No one mentioned investment in UX is going to be cheap as you are investing in building a better quality product or service. But rest assured, your users will feel it and see the convenience and value. To new potential customers, they will see this as a sign of credibility and this helps to build confidence.  By providing an intuitive and functional user experience, your users will like it and will keep coming back, they’ll recommend and speak well of your business. Word of mouth advocacy works wonders for marketing and advertising, your brand and reputation will flourish.

10. Gives You A Competitive Advantage

In this crowded marketplace, it’s important not only to make a good first impression but a lasting one. Investing in UX is investing in optimising your business. If your users find your product so easy to use, they won’t need to think twice. This quickly becomes a habit. You know when you go to buy some bread, there’s always a first choice you prefer. Why? Because you know it’s good, and it’s the one you usually get. This works the same way as digital products, when users find something they enjoy using, they make it their go-to and this increases your stickiness as a product or service. This competitive advantage will continue to compound as long as you continue to invest in UX.