What’s UX and why does it matter?

We have all heard the buzz about UX (the user experience) over the past few years but how many of us have really stopped to think – what is it and how is it relevant to me/ my company?

UX is relevant to all of us if we break it down and fully understand what it means.

UX had its origins in website design and e-commerce but the concept has grown to encompass much more than just how a website looks and works.  Today, UX is about the “total” experience of the user when they interact with your brand, digitally or otherwise.

UX is about their impressions and feelings every step of the way –  whether the product/service/website does what they want to it to do and if it does, did they enjoy the experience?  Was it easy and would they come back again?

Peter Morville, a designer and information architect,  developed the UX honeycomb model to help understand the full user experience, a model now used widely throughout the world.  It challenges organisations to ask critical questions from the customer’s perspective:

  • Can you use the product?
  • Can you find it?
  • Does it serve a need that you have?
  • Do you find it valuable?
  • Do you trust it?
  • Is it accessible to you?

These elements need to work in tandem and should guide the design of the user experience and should be how we test, research and measure how we are going.

It’s now universally recognised that a strong user experience is one of the best ways to build customer trust and loyalty.

As standards rise, users are less tolerant of experiences that don’t resonate and more likely to switch to other suppliers.

But wait I hear you say – there’s more – what about CX?  How does it fit in?

CX is short for customer experience and includes every interaction a person has with an organisation or brand.

It includes customer service, physical locations or environments, the products themselves, and the digital environment. In reality, if we use the new broader definition of UX, CX is only a small extension of the user experience paradigm but a valuable one if we are to grasp, measure and improve interactions and experiences in their entirety.

With broader definitions, many leading organisations are changing how they view UX and CX and starting to integrate practices, creating cross-functional teams that include professionals from marketing to sales and even the C-Suite.

You can find out more about creating, measuring and testing UX and CX online by getting in touch with us here at Research Solutions…

Adapted from a blog article by Jennifer Derome that first appeared on User testing blog- Ideas for a user-friendly world in August 2015