What Is User Experience, Why Do You Need UX Design

ARE YOU WONDERING WHAT IS USER EXPERIENCE?

User Experience (UX) is somewhat of an elusive notion with many different definitions, even amongst the UX community themselves.

There is user experience involved in all product and service design however my focus here is purely on digital user experience (e.g. websites, intranets, applications, software).

There have been studies conducted, theories put forward, discussions and research has been undertaken – as a result of which there are now several formal definitions of User Experience that co-exist.

WHAT IS USER EXPERIENCE (UX)?

ISO 9241-210 (Ergonomics of human-system interaction) defines user experience as “a person’s perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service”.

The problem with this definition of user experience is that it still leaves so much to interpretation. User experience design is a combination of an art and science with many “rules” actually being guidelines based on user behaviors during testing.

Additional notes in the ISO definition go on to explain that UX includes all the users’ emotions, beliefs, preferences, perceptions, physical and psychological responses, behaviours and accomplishments that occur before, during and after use.

That really is a lot to think about – with much of it out of our control.

Further UX definitions can be found all around the web and in print – the result of the UX communities’ own efforts to agree on what we do, and how we define it.

WHY THE WEBSITE USER EXPERIENCE IS IMPORTANT

It is very likely that every person reading this article has had an interaction with a product or service that doesn’t work the way you expect or that doesn’t quite meet your needs. Think back to the time, and how it made you feel. Frustrated? Confused? Stupid? Angry?

When your product or interface doesn’t work the way your users expect it to, these are some of the feelings that they experience.

Generally your users are your customers and as such, any of these emotions are the last thing you want them to experience when engaging with your business.

In addition there are some key areas in your business that can be affected by the user experience you offer.

1. CUSTOMER LOYALTY
In the simplest terms possible, if your users have a bad experience on your website, they won’t come back. So not only have you lost a customer, you’ve increased the likelihood that your customer will go to a competitor.

If your user has an okay experience on your website, but a better user experience on your competitors website, they’ll go back to the competitor.

You can add all the features and functions you want but when it comes to customer loyalty the user experience offered has a far greater impact. All your new fancy features and functionality won’t bring a customer back to your website – but a great user experience will.

It is also well known that loyal customers make some of the best brand