The Human Element.
How to use psychology to enhance product experience.
“User experience” encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services, and its products. We all know that we are in businesses whose success is clearly defined by customers using our services and products. Needless to say, it becomes crucial for you to consider the underlying motivations and expectations of users, in order to make the interaction between the two, a simple and usable one.
Not to worry, that’s where Kutung comes in. We know the benefits of bringing psychology and technology together is at the heart of UX design. Because “UX is people”.
While the title (read slogan) above is interesting, let us help you dive in to the importance of why we address psychological factors while designing digital products for your customers.
Addressing three fundamental psychological needs in digital products increases user motivation and well-being.
People have limited sources of time and energy to spend on any activity. While performing any task, physical or digital, efficiency is high when people “want to” do it rather than when they “have to”.
According to the “Self-determination theory of motivation” by Ryan and Deci, humans are motivated to spend time and energy on tasks that meet three basic needs — the needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence. The better something can meet these needs, the greater the motivation and sense of well-being. Let’s introduce you to these concepts.
Autonomy
When people experience autonomy, they are free to make decisions that match their interests, without any compulsion. When this need is satisfied, people become confident and tend to explore more.
Relatedness
As social animals, humans seek to build and maintain meaningful relationships with others. Whether one is introverted or extroverted, there is always a need to feel connected with people around.
Competence
The ability to perform a task efficiently and succeed in it without falling short of any expectations, can be termed as competence. Feeling competent greatly improves one’s psychological well-being.
Why consider these factors in UX design?
Any design that satisfies the user’s fundamental needs, gives them a sense of delight while using it. This experience is what motivates the user to continue engaging with the product. Yes, it is not feasible to modify industry-specific tasks (example, banking or government tasks). However, designing the task flows in a way they address user’s autonomy, relatedness and competence can greatly improve the user’s experience.
1. Autonomy
Designs that promote user autonomy lets the users experience control and freedom. While nurturing user’s feelings of control and freedom, they get a sense of ownership of the experience with the interface, thereby adding a greater personal value to the product. This is an important thumb rule in usability heuristics.
Personalisation is a simple technique often used to implement autonomy.
Considering the limited source of time energy, users can enjoy content of their choice. Designs that force users into one predetermined way unnecessarily limit their autonomy, thereby reducing their chances of future engagement with the product.
2. Relatedness
People are pleased when they feel understood. As designers, discovering how users feel at different points in time and building relatable products can be a difficult balance to maintain. However, relatedness can be influenced by small interactions. With the help of user research, designers can identify opportunities to meet users’ need for relatedness (example, customer journey map). Not considering this criteria when building for your product alienates a user from the greatness you wanted them to achieve through your product.
One way that designers can demonstrate to users that they understand their needs is by communicating absolutely relatable and helpful content. A well-timed message that has simple, helpful content can help in satisfying the need for relatedness.
Prompts to give feedback on the purchased product is also an effective way of relating with the user. Social media platforms fulfil the relatedness needs of users by allowing people to connect with each other.
A well-known example comes from Amazon. Based on an item recently purchased, Amazon suggests similar product(s) that contribute to better relatability, and in turn usability, of the purchased product.
3. Competence
Understanding the user’s level of competence while designing innovative solutions is very crucial for the success of any product. Users may feel incompetent if the design is too complicated. By using tips and video tutorials, designers can help users to learn how to successfully navigate within a product.
However, it is important to carefully designed such assistance by considering the user’s cognitive load. Extensively written tips or help documentation can strain the cognition of the users. Prompts can be introduced as overlays during moments when users feel stranded, or when a new feature is updated.
A great example comes from Otter, a voice-to-text conversion tool that helps users attend meetings productively by recording conversations and summarising the gist of the meeting. Their product ensures relevant tips appear as pull-revelations when the user is about to perform a task.
The way forward.
Popular products today are designed in a way that they address these fundamental needs of the users. The more designers focus on satisfying users’ needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence, the more usable the product becomes. This, in turn, helps to improve user engagement and better the user experience of digital products. Simple enough we would say.
Just like you, we believe that our users’ successes are intrinsic our product’s success. This is why it is necessary that we craft every solution with the users, and everything they bring with them, at the center of it all. At Kutung, our core goal is to collaborate with your teams to build products that make our users happy. If you would like to know how we balance all of this with how unique you want your product to look and feel, please feel free to contact us. We are always ready to challenge the status quo and craft your big idea, together.
