3 UX Tactics to Help Increase Profitability

Dawn Lim
Dawn Lim
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read

As UX designers, we spend a lot of time to understand a customer’s emotions, cognitive and behaviours about using a particular product, system or service.

In this article we will show you how you can make better product decisions that make your business much more profitable. These are actual tactics UX Experts used in helping decision-makers to prioritise profit and increase profitability.

1. Peak-End Rule

We judge a product experience by its most intense points and its end.

The Peak-End rule states that the way an experience ends determines the happiness we ascribe to it. An experiment was conducted in year 1993 demonstrating the Peak-End rule. Participants were subjected to two different trials. The first trial had participants submerge a hand in 14°C ice water (very cold) for 60 seconds. The second trial had participants submerge the other hand in 14°C ice water for 60 seconds, then an additional 30 seconds, during which the temperature was raised to 15°C ice water. Participants rated the second trial (90 seconds of ice water exposure) less painful than the first trial because the second trial ended with exposure to a “warmer” stimulus.

So — what can decision-makers learn from the Peak-End rule on designing better experiences? Ending on a high note will always leave users “wanting more” despite negative occurrences during the interaction. The UX tip is to avoid dead-ends when designing product experience loop.

Example of dead-end UX — “Retrieved my forgotten password but how do I get back to the main task now?”

2. Round Number Preference

We perceive round number as more trustworthy and representing higher quality.

There are two schools of thought on the use of rounded vs non-rounded.

Price tags that end in .99 is a non-rounded strategy often called “charm” prices. With the seemingly-limitless number of .99 price tags we see, you may think consumers appear to favour non-rounded pricing when paying for goods and services.

So — why would we still think Round Pricing is effective? This is where it gets interesting. Mounting evidence showed that, when confronted with non-rounded charm prices, customers are more likely to perceive the price as being relatively low and representing a discount. This has a negative effect on the perception of goods quality, and this present a problem.

Decision-makers should consider the round-pricing preference when defining your pricing strategy. Think about how you’d like consumers to perceive your brand.

3. Trivialisation Effect

We feel less appreciated and satisfied when receiving a smaller-than-expected financial gift for thank-yous.

Do you acknowledge customer’s loyalty or support by adding small financial benefits?

Microsoft sent loyal Xbox customers a birthday e-card with a gift value of 20 Microsoft points (worth $0.25) to express its appreciation. The financial benefits of this birthday e-card are smaller than what the community expected that the inclusion of it backfires.

Financial benefits can add to customer goodwill if a financial benefit amount meets or exceeds expectations.

Similar to offering financial benefits, Gamification introduces elements such as points, rewards, money. Tech giants like Microsoft, Dropbox, Samsung uses Gamification to drive customer and employee loyalty.

Example of Gamification at work
Another example of Gamification at work

Gamification is a delicate UX strategy that can have a transformational business impact. Understanding your user’s expectations can mitigate trivialisation effect when introducing elements such as points, rewards and money. This should include user testing and post-monitoring to keep it relevant.

Conclusion

Gaining insights of what customers want, how customers think will make a product, service or system more desirable and pleasant. UX Design establishes a fruitful relationship between Users and Product Design and therefore leads to relevant and lasting products.

Dawn is a UX designer from UX Experts based in Singapore — www.uxexperts.sg

Dawn Lim

Written by

Dawn Lim

Co-Founder at UX Experts (www.uxexperts.sg)

UX Experts singapore

UX Design & Innovation Agency

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