UX and UI are common abbreviations that you may or may not be familiar with. For most, it can lead to an automatic assumption that UX and UI are highly technical, difficult-to-understand roles that are only required in highly technical organisations.
However, UX and UI can benefit virtually all organisations when understood effectively and used correctly. We’re going to break down what UX and UI really are, and how they can impact your business when using it.
What is UX?
UX stands for ‘user experience’ and refers to how a person feels when interacting with a business, product, or service. There are many different layers to UX, however key areas for consideration are:
Ease of Use: How easy and intuitive it is to use the product. For example, a website with clear navigation and straightforward instructions has good UX.
Functionality: The product should work well and do what it’s supposed to do. If an app constantly crashes or a website has broken links, the UX is poor.
Enjoyment: The overall enjoyment and satisfaction someone gets from using the product. A game that’s fun and engaging or a sleek, stylish app interface contributes to a positive UX.
Accessibility: Making sure everyone, including people with disabilities, can use the product effectively.
What is UI?
UI stands for ‘user interface’ and is more focused on a device or software that a customer interacts with. For example, buttons, menus, icons, and touchscreen controls all make up UI.
What are the benefits of investing in UX and UI?
Enhanced customer satisfaction
One of the key benefits of investing in UX and UI is enhanced customer satisfaction. Understanding your target market, knowing their wants and needs and actually putting it into practice can take your business from good to great. An example of a product that is continuously improving its UX and UI is the iPhone.
Apple is completely committed to enhancing the customer experience through creating new and improved models of iPhones on an annual (or bi-annual) basis. As a product-centric organisation, Apple need to invest heavily in highly skilled UX and UI professionals to keep customer satisfaction at an all-time high, whilst also understanding when it’s time to discontinue products. A great example of this is the discontinuation of the iPod when the UX and UI were superseded by better, newer products that the iPod couldn’t compete with any more.
Improve or drive more sales
Another key reason to invest in UX and UI is to improve sales or drive new sales. Let’s say you’re an online retailer such as Asos, Ocado, or Amazon. You are highly reliant on user experience and user interface to drive sales and ensure that customers aren’t clicking the ‘X’ button on your website to shop elsewhere. Hiring UX and UI professionals can ensure that your website is always being updated to reflect customer needs/desires and ultimately improve or drive more sales.
Tailored experiences
UX and UI also enable you to create tailored experiences for customers which encapsulate both an increase in sales and an increase in their satisfaction as a customer. Whether it’s authenticated parts of your website providing a tailored set of products for customers, or a set of call-to-action buttons that can give you data to understand user behaviour, UX and UI are core factors that enable all of this to happen!
The bottom line is that prioritising user experience can only do good for your organisation and its performance. Getting into the minds of customers and truly understanding their needs through UX and UI will result in sustained business growth.
