" When Amazon speaks, you ought to listen. Not just Amazon, these days, it has become common knowledge to invest heavily in UI/UX if you want your products to succeed when the quarter end comes around. UI/UX or user interface – user experience is the basic element of any app/product/website design as it defines the profit numbers directly. How? A positive user experience leads to more sales, more references, more word-of-mouth leads, customer retention, to name a few.Since UI/UX is directly connected to the ROI wheel, here’s a few considerations to make before you give out the green signal for your product. "
Architecture Comes Before Design
It might be easy to overestimate the value of architecture over design; however, the importance of a seamless architecture is undeniable. Of course, it feels good to hear that your app is the most beautiful app in the world; but then, you can’t just focus and rely on that first impression. Once the looks are sidelined, your architecture enters the fray and it has to be spot on if you want it to work. So don’t be eager to employ a visual designer ahead of an information architect or a UX designer. Work on your functionality first and foremost and then turn to how snazzy you want it to appear. Follow this as a strict thumb rule and you and your app will be good to go.
Avoid a Poorly Designed Search Function
This is where most apps falter, and boy, do they pay for this later on! It is common knowledge that most of the users out there are search dominant. What does this mean? This means that the users navigate on your website or app via search function. Agreed, it is an obsolete strategy in the face of fancy drop down menus or call-to-action buttons, but it is what it is; the numbers don’t lie. Even more important is how you design your landing page or search engine results page (SERP). For this, make sure that there is a search box on every single page in a location that is easily visible to all. Also, it is important that the search executes across your website and not just subsections. Give users the ability to filter their results and fix any spelling errors, which are far common than you’d think.
Prioritize Usage Over ‘Want’
This means that you ought to not necessarily listen to what the users want; but go with what they end up using. And when you enter this domain, you will see that there’s a gigantic difference between the two. The question is right there in front of you – do you want a product that is ideal or a product that sells? Hence, whenever you test out some new features or designs, don’t go on the streets asking for feedback; instead sit with multiple users across different age groups and watch what they do on your website/app. Once you do this with a substantial number of users, you’ll see patterns start to develop. This way you can not only eradicate the things that aren’t working but introduce new ones, in turn optimizing the entire sales process as a whole.
Mobile Optimization Is A Must
This is one mistake which occurs more often than you think. More than 90% of users go online through their smart phones or tablets. You might be constructing your website on a laptop or a desktop, but before deployment, mobile optimization is a basic necessity. Why? Because that’s where your users are at the end of the day.
Other Important Factors:
1. Remove un-validated features right from the get go.
2. Build an emotional connection with your users.
3. Have a simple checkout process.
4. Don’t force users to sign up without any value offering.
5. Give users the option to checkout as ‘guest’.
6. Integrate FAQs or some other forms of assistance on your website/app.
