UX Research And Design

Inside most boardrooms, clear signs of a recession are top of mind: high inflation, rising interest rates, negative consumer sentiment, and supply chain disruption to name just a few. Across industries, business transactions are closing at a slower pace as procurement teams stall and gauge the direction of the economy. At the consumer level, overall spending on products is down, but demand for services remains up. It’s more proof that even during a financial downturn there is always ‘inelastic demand’ for products and services that continue performing well because they are essential.

Over the last 10 years, as every company has become a digital experience company, digital experiences on desktops and smartphones are the only way we interact with many brands. That reality has forced a change in the way we build software too. Ease of use has become essential – so user experience (UX) is now a must-have, rather than a nice to have.

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A great digital user experience is an essential worker for nearly every company today.

While great digital experiences used to be a luxury only the most successful software companies invested in, that’s no longer the case. UX has become the essential worker on behalf of the customer experience. As economies tighten and nearly every company competes on their digital experience, thoughtful design is a critical tool for business survival. Why? Because no brand can afford the risk of bad customer experiences and small, thoughtful changes can have a substantial effect on user behavior, satisfaction, and revenue.

As global economies stare down a potential recession, I believe there are several strong reasons companies need to invest more into great digital UX than ever before:

Informed digital UX saves precious time, money, and talent resources.

During a financial downturn, organizations that continue developing new products and service models naturally look for opportunities to do more with less time, money and talent resources.

Cloud-based software solutions help scale and automate much of what's needed to gather digital user insights, without relying on manual work, in research, design, and development stages. Collecting valuable customer and prospect feedback can be initiated, adjusted, and completed often and early in the product design and development cycle, helping everyone get to the best finished product faster. Finally—and this is no small benefit given the rising price of fuel—digital UX insights can be gathered remotely, sparing organizations from the time accrued and travel expenses associated with on-site testing.

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Investing in digital UX de-risks product development.

Whiteboards and sticky notes are always less expensive than a team of pricey developers unpacking problems after the fact. Indeed many UX evangelists often cite Tom Gilb’s research from the late 80s that found every dollar a company invests in UX can yield a return of up to $100. More specifically, newer research shows that when you invest in UX it also plays a role in value creation. In Strategic Data Consulting’s special report, UX Business Impacts and ROI, researchers found that UX investments made earlier in the conceptual phase shorten development cycles by 33-50%. One way to do this is to invest in discovery research to understand the needs and behaviors of your target audience, as well as quick, iterative usability testing during every agile sprint.

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Digital UX design protects customer loyalty.

I think everyone can agree: winning new customers is more expensive than keeping loyal ones. As consumers tighten their own spending on non-essentials, an exceptional user experience can strengthen a customer’s perception of value. According to Pew Research, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. On the flip side, they are more than willing to switch service or product providers after a bad one. Recent research from Zendesk shows that after just one bad experience, up to 61% of customers will take their business elsewhere. Especially during a stressful financial downturn, beautiful—and more importantly—convenient UX will increase the chances that your product will remain a necessity, and doesn’t devolve into a nice to have. It is therefore imperative to both deliver upon and measure the quality of your user experience to ensure customers continually receive the best version of your product.

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While it may feel counterintuitive to invest in digital UX design when customers are tightening their spend, research consistently shows us that great UX design drives solid financial results. Think about your own experience, don’t we all disproportionately reward the brands that stand out from the crowd? I know the market does - and UX design is perhaps one of the simplest ways a brand can quickly identify exactly how to stand out.

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