What is User Experience (UX), and the key benefits  –  User experience design (UXD, UED or XD) is the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product.

Good UX Is Good Business

User experience (UX) design focuses on enhancing user satisfaction by improving how we interact with the websites, applications and devices in our lives. In other words, UX makes complex things easy to use.

Keep it simple, stupid

The KISS principle states that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore simplicity should be a key goal in design and unnecessary complexity should be avoided. The phrase has been associated with aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson (1910–1990). The term “KISS principle” was in popular use by 1970. Variations on the phrase include “Keep it Simple, Silly”, “keep it short and simple”, “keep it simple and straightforward” and “keep it small and simple”

The first requirement for an exemplary user experience is to meet the exact needs of the customer, without fuss or bother. Next comes simplicity and elegance

User experience (UX) focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations. … UX best practices promote improving the quality of the user’s interaction with and perceptions of your product

User experience contributes to many other success stories.

Jeff Bezos invested 100 times more into customer experience than advertising during the first year of Amazon. AirBnB’s Mike Gebbia credits UX with taking the company to $10 billion.

Tom Proulx, co-founder of Intuit, was one of the pioneers of usability testing, putting emphasis on ease of use in his products.

Example: 1

Desire path – In the world of user experience, this term is used to describe cases when users overcome limitations by creating their own shortcuts… 🙂 🙂

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What are the benefits of User Experience design?

There are several benefits to user experience design, and I’ll list some of them. Before I begin, a quick note: user experience design to me encompasses EVERYTHING, from UI design to customer support processes to retail store design and packaging. So when I speak of “user experience” I’m thinking about any touch point a user can have with a company.

In general UX practices allow for a product/service team to do the following:

• Gain empathy for the people who’ll be using their designs.
• Understand the capabilities and limitations of humans generally and your target audience more specifically.
• Understand the cultural, behavioral modes of your audience so that your designs fit existing behaviors or maps against existing behaviors so that changes in culture and behavior feel more natural.
• Solutions are validated with people who will be involved.
• Gain consensus from stakeholders and end-users.
• Build off of existing vetted patterns of UI towards creating efficiencies in design decision making.
• Connect the various elements of user experience across touch points, channels, experience avatars, and experience containers so that people have a clear, coherent and where appropriate consistent experience.

Increased customer satisfaction. The better experience you create for your customers, the happier they will. And the opposite is also true: the worse experience you provide to your customers they will become more and more frustrated with what you are providing them… And they will be far less likely to recommend your offering to friends and families. And dissatisfied customers call to complain, which means when you provide a good experience you also have…

Reduced cost of ownership and support. If you produce a product (hardware or software) that has an easy-to-learn (and easy-to-use) design, you will have to support that product less. Good design also reduces your total “cost of ownership”, in that you will need less documentation, a smaller support staff, and less salespeople. Which brings us to…

Increased sales. Happy users share their happiness with their circle of friends and family. They also review your offering online. Providing a good experience helps build positive word of mouth, and increases sales. It also often results in increased customer loyalty and therefore repeat business.

Good karma. OK, this one is not really a measurable benefit, but I think that if you create something that helps people do something well and makes thier lives better then you will benefit from that effort. Case in point: One of my first major successes in user experience design was the creation of a streamlined process to sign up for electronic bills. This process resulted in a huge “hockey stick” uplift in adoption, which in turn meant a lot less trees were destroyed to print paper bills. My company did well, it had a positive environmental impact, and the success helped my career. Win, win, and win.

Defining and Measuring Success

In addition, there are some other ways to define and monitor success related to your goals.You can do so by identifying specific targets for various performance and satisfaction goals:

Goals	Measurements	Target
Improve Performance	Reduce number of user errors Increase ease of use Increase ease of learning	Identify Specific Targets for Each Measurement You Choose to Improve
Increase Exposure	Increase traffic/ audience size Increase number of return visitors when appropriate (retain users) Increase number of new visitors (attract users) Increase number of visits from search
Improve Credibility	Increase user satisfaction Increase trust in the system Increase number of visits referral
Reduce Resource Burden	Reduce development costs Reduce development time Reduce maintenance costs Reduce redesign costs Decrease support costs Reduce training needed Reduce documentation costs
Increase Sales	Increase transactions/ purchases Increase product sales

Creating a great user experience requires a user to answer these questions:

Can you use it?

One of the most basic requirements of good UX is actually being able to achieve what you’ve set out to do. If you can’t use the product, then the product is useless to you.

Can you find it?

Finding the information you need is also important. Is the navigation menu intuitive? Is the search bar where you thought it should be? If you have to think too much about how to find what you need, the UX is lacking. This also applies to being able to find the product itself—whether by searching online or by other means.

Does it serve a need that you have?

A product can be beautifully designed and easy to use, but if it doesn’t help address a need you have, you’re not going to be interested in it.

Do you want to use it?

If a product’s design is intuitive and a delight to use, you’ll want to use it. And if it’s not? Even the most useful and functional product can provide a poor user experience if it’s a total bore, or the user has no incentive to use it.

Do you find it valuable?

If a product doesn’t provide some sort of value in your life, chances are you won’t use it for long. Does the product save you time, or money? Does it help you achieve personal or professional goals? Whatever the benchmark is, a product should add some value to you when you use it.

Do you trust it?

Credibility is huge. If you don’t trust a website, you’re not going to give them your credit card information to make a purchase.

Is it accessible to you?

If you can’t get to your intended destination, you can’t utilize the goods or services offered there. Users with disabilities must be considered to ensure everyone has access to your product.

 

Good Luck… 🙂