What “Shark Tank” Can Teach Us About Selling UX

“Customers want more than features.” Since the early days this has been the lament among user-centered designers. Do you feel like your job is to make products pretty and stuff in as much “easy-to-use” as possible without affecting the budgets or schedules? Do you feel like 80% of your time is spent convincing projects that design matters. There is a way out, but it requires a change of perspective.

“It takes time to persuade <people> to do even what is for their own good.”

- Thomas Jefferson

UX folks focus on how to create behavior and emotions in others. So the pitch for good design tends to take one of two approaches:

Emotional — Companies should show that they care about their customers.

Logical — Companies should create products that are easy to learn, easy to use and useful.

Engineers are usually rewarded for getting new products out the door bug-free, on time and under budget. PMs tend like long feature lists. And in Americans good enough is usually good enough. Given all this, “easy to use” and “caring” on their own don’t get much traction.

Key to the conundrum

Early in my career I was lucky enough to work somewhere where the answer was staring me in the face. My first job had me designing the UX of copiers. Yes, glamorous I know, but don’t be too jealous. In the ’80s, every accommodation to UX was a battle. My project teams fought UX tooth and nail with one exception, usability testing. Why testing?

In those days copiers weren’t sold, they were leased. And a lease came with a service contract. When paper jammed and stopped a copier, there was no Internet or Youtube to help customers through it. If they couldn’t figure it out they could call for a service rep….. at a cost to the company of $75/hour in today’s dollars. Needless to say jam clearance was a topic of great interest.

“It is a narrow mind which cannot look at a subject from various points of view.”

- George Eliot

Anyone who watches Shark Tank knows there’s only one reason to be in business… to make money. If an endeavor doesn’t make money it’s a hobby. I’m guessing for most of us don’t think of UX as a hobby. At a minimum it’s a job and for some of us a life-long career.

Be the change you want to create

We may start our careers hoping to focus on something “greater” than the profit motive. Yet, if we’re to succeed we have to present UX in a language PMs and engineers understand and respect. That’s the language of sales, customer contact and company reputation.

I’m not suggesting every design conversation has to be a cost-benefit analysis. But we as designers need to stop speaking solely to our stakeholders’ heads and hearts. We need first to speak to their stomachs, as in wants, desires, greed and fears. It’s essential we learn to relate UX to in term out stake holder care about if we want them to take our mission and methods seriously.

It’s not as daunting as it sounds. After some time hearing me present design in terms of sales and crushing the competition, my teammates start to make the connection on their own. Then when I talk about empathy, ease of use and user research, they start to hear dollars and success in the marketplace.

ROI of UX

With any luck, we only have a dollars and cent conversations a few time in our careers. When it’s necessary to estimate the ROI (return on investment) of UX, here are a few books and articles explaining how to do it.

Book: Cost-Justifying Usability: An Update for the Internet Age — Randolph G. Bias & Deborah J. Mayhew (2005)

US Gov. Site: www.usability.gov/what-and-why/benefits-of-ucd.html

Vendor Site: www.measuringu.com/ux-roi/

Generic Support Material: www.experiencedynamics.com/blog/2014/07/making-strong-business-case-roi-ux-infographic

DISCLAIMER: I have no responsibility for, or connection with, any of the above sites or book.