Why a UX Investment is One of the Smartest Investments You’ll Make

The discussion about UX investment is certainly heating up. From a designer’s perspective, UX investments make total sense. However, it can be a bit more challenging to convince business leaders why something intangible like UX is such a critical component; one that needs to be continually tracked, monitored and improved. Here, we’re going to make the argument why an investment in UX is a smart move.

First, let’s ground ourselves around the term “UX.” The term has become a bit of a buzzword, yet there a bit of a lacking consensus on a definition. According to Oxford Journal, UX or user experience design is a concept to “improve customer satisfaction and loyalty through the utility, ease of use, and pleasure provided in the interaction with a product.” Others have described the UX concept as being a customer-first mentality. This includes intimately understanding the customer, anticipating the customer’s needs and delighting the customer at every engagement. That’s a lot of customer!

In the last few years, UX has leapfrogged from designer-speak to business lexicon. Some professionals consider UX as a pivotal part of their business strategy. In fact, these businesses invest in their UX by adding roles such as UX researchers and UX designers to their payroll. Even, Steve Jobs inspired some CEO’s to roll up their sleeves and dive into the nitty-gritty of the user experience. Whether it’s a new iPhone, or a vehicle launch or just an app enhancement, the product-centric reveal wouldn’t be as impactful without the customer experience being front and center of the design process. This has inspired a new wave of thought leadership within businesses to refocus on UX.

However, there are other business leaders who still think UX is a fad, something that can’t be quantified or justified. For example, they may think that the thought of UX is nice, but ROI is simply not there. Another criticism is that UX just provides people the warm and fuzzies, but that it is not legitimate enough for serious investment.

For those still unconvinced or only semi-convinced that a UX investment is a smart investment, consider the following:

Invest in UX — Increase Efficiency

When businesses invest in UX up front, this usually means investing more in the initial development of an application. Yet getting the design right at the start can save businesses a lot of money in the long the run. Reworking an app can cost an organization hundreds of expensive engineering hours alone. In fact, some estimate that programmers spend 50% of their time on reworking things that could have been avoided with better and more UX data.

Companies can determine the best enhancement options quickly by studying their app’s user behavior through visualization tools like Appsee’s UX app analytics. Appsee provides valuable insights to designers, developers, product managers the like and eliminates the troublesome guessing games when it comes to optimization and troubleshooting aspects of one’s app.

Invest in UX — Add and Retain More Customers

When formulating sales and retention strategies, leaders need to have vision. Consider this, that by 2020, UX will trump price and product as the key brand differentiator. Companies need to get ahead of this, and start investing in UX today. UX investments are critical if an app wants to continue to win new customers and keep the customers they have already.

In fact, apps with the best UX have a conversion rate that increases from a standard 2 percent to 10 percent. That’s five times more sales just by getting UX right. Additionally, a well-designed and updated UX can lead to higher customer loyalty, Customers are more likely to use, pay and return to a product that is designed well and meets their needs.

Invest in UX — Improve Image

At the end of the day, if a customer has a good user experience then they will tell people about it. Moreover, if they have a poor user experience, they will tell even more people about it. If for nothing more than a PR-play, UX investment can improve a brand’s image and reputation. However, UX investments can offer so much more.

Take a look at Apple. They are a company that puts the user experience at the front of all of their projects. Creating a great product in this fashion leads to the top ranking brand in terms of customer loyalty. Your brand is no different! By investing a little into the UX, you can be assured that customers will appreciate the ease of use, and become more loyal to your brand based on their great experience.

Clearly investing in UX yields an ROI. In fact, industry surveys have shown that every dollar invested in UX will bring $2 to $100 in return. UX is a lens through which all designers should see their product. However, UX is evolving and changing as customers are changing. Many younger consumers want their products to be easy to use and have instant accessibility. The mobile phone culture is certainly driving this. While there are evolving trends in UX, the overall concept remains the same. Companies should focus outward by studying and anticipating their customers.

Investing in UX is a smart investment. Period.