How UX design can add value to the growth of SMEs?

Once upon a 2008, when a 28-year-old Londoner named Richard Pierson quit his job, and felt burned out even as a freelancer,? he turned to a Buddhist monk named Andy Puddicombe. While Puddicombe taught Pierson a 2,500-year-old meditation technique, the latter had a business idea. Both turned meditation into a successful local business in 2010.?

However, it was only when they converted this business into a meditation and wellness app that things really began to get global. Today, the app that the world knows as Headspace, has 11 million downloads, and around 400,000 paying subscribers.?

Question - Did switching from offline to online do the trick for the two local businessmen? Not at all.?

Headspace has a smooth user experience that instantly instils confidence. Mental health and wellness are not things that people easily trust. Headspace constantly gamifies the steps of meditation, offers tips and tricks, and helps users follow through on their goals. As a result, most users find themselves practising meditation every single day, inspiring them to become paid subscribers for deeper transformation.?

What is UX design?

User Experience Design, or UX Design, is a term that is used to define, and design how users will navigate an application, product, or service. There was a time when UX design only meant the technical experience of users on a mobile application or a website. Today, UX design is carefully crafted when designing even physical products, or service experiences.?

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We will keep our scope of discussion here for mobile, and web applications. UX involves bringing together the needs of the customers, and matching them with the technical aspects of any application.?

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How does UX design impact the growth of SMEs?

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1 UX design increases conversions?

For SMEs, the initial buzz around their product, or service helps them scale faster while also bringing them investment. Today, most customers will visit a business’ website or a service’s application to gain initial confidence. A good UX design will make them comfortable, and they will be inclined to buy that product or service. A significant challenge faced by Headspace UX designers initially was in onboarding more clients. They used relatable graphics that showed users doing meditation in their own zones such as workplace, kitchen, hobbies etc - a factor that significantly improved sales.?

2 UX design impacts brand loyalty?

User experience speaks to the emotions of the users. When a business pays attention to the UX of their digital applications, users feel connected. This impacts their (users) subconscious minds and keeps them for a longer time. Retained customers become an annuity to a small business, and become its brand ambassadors.?

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3 Saves run-up development costs?

When SMEs focus on UX in the beginning of their product or service launch, they can practically save redesign and re-development costs considerably. Remember, it will cost you less to create a great user experience from scratch than it will to fix a poor UX.?

"For every dollar spent to resolve a problem during product design. 10 dollars will be spent on the same problem during development. and multiply it by 100 dollars or more if the problem had to be solved after the product’s release."

Robert Pressmen ("Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach")?

4 UX design lowers support cost?

The reason why good website or mobile application development companies stress building a great UX design is because it ultimately saves support costs in the long run. When users are easily able to find what they are looking for, without getting distracted or overwhelmed by the design of the web or mobile application, they understand your product or service more quickly. This decreases the number of support tickets or calls that your executives will need to handle to answer users’ questions.?

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5 Leads to right messaging, and Google ranking?

Very few SMEs realize the importance of their site or mobile app's Google ranking, and the kind of messaging that their app has. A smooth UX design helps put the most important messages or goals of your product in the right place. This also paves the way for best SEO practices that your website or mobile app may need, resulting in a better reach for your business on Google.

6 Better understanding of your users?

Headspace designers consciously put in graphics, details, interface, and content language during UX design that normalized meditation for people. For instance, the team experimented with making the sign-up process easier; instead of a demo video, they simplified the usage of the app by using Gifs showcasing steps to use the app; and even added ‘Choose your own adventure’ option allowing users to choose how they wished to sign up. These small experiments in UX design at beta stage led to better understanding of users. Since the discipline of UX design begins with creating user profiles, and adding the right touch points for user purchases, this sends so much user data onto your dashboard to extract valuable insights for SMEs to benefit from.?

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You need a wise UX design strategy, and UX design partners?

UX design does not happen by accident or by instinct. It is a practice that needs thoughtfulness, a smart strategy, and trusted design partners. If you are trying to figure out how you can make your digital business experience memorable for your customers, do talk to us.?