Five reasons to outsource UX design

Zoom in on your UX design

As everyday business interactions are increasingly conducted digitally, the need for exceptional user experience design is crucial as it also has a clear impact on a company's bottom line. According to a study by Forrester Research, perfect UX design can result in conversion rates of up to 400%.

UX design is the process of creating products that provide meaningful and valuable experiences for users. More and more companies are realizing that providing an ideal user experience is essential to achieving success in the market.

Some companies already have a UX design team in place, but the workload exceeds what the team can handle or there is an internal skills gap. Therefore, many choose to outsource UX design to create the best possible user experience.

Hiring an external UX design company with the knowledge and experience to meet your needs is an excellent solution. Here are five reasons to consider outsourcing your UX design.

1. Stay up to date with industry trends

UX design is constantly changing as new trends emerge. Frameworks like Angular, Vue and React are constantly evolving. It takes a lot of effort and time to ensure an in-house team is trained and up to date on the latest UX trends.

Outsourcing allows companies to rely on an external team to keep up with crucial UX trends like voice interface, unique illustrations, and next-level animation. Unless a company specializes in these areas, there is no need to waste time worrying about them.

This way, companies that don't have a UX specialist can simply outsource the entire process. Companies that have a small (or one-person) UX team can add the necessary skills by augmenting the team to complete UX work.

2. Access to experience and creativity

Working with an outsourced team allows companies to consult with a large group of people who specialize in UX. These companies gain access to a multidisciplinary group that shares extensive knowledge and experience and has worked on a wide variety of projects.

An external team can also offer a more creative mindset. Designers hired in-house are often asked to create a great user experience without changing what the company has already built. From a designer's perspective, this can be extremely difficult.

An outsourced UX team can maintain the creative aspect of the project, but also add expertise. An external team can see what needs to change and why, because they are distant from the project and don't have very defined ideas.

There is also the opportunity to learn a lot by working with an external UX team. Companies can leverage their established processes and best practices and apply them to their own company, or they can refine and adapt them to better meet their needs.

3. Gain objective insights

Receiving an external, objective perspective when it comes to UX design is another reason to outsource. Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes helps when a team is too familiar with a project and can't find a solution. Projects face obstacles all the time, and in some cases, all it takes is a new point of view to get things moving forward again.

An experienced UX partner can uncover new ideas and insights that companies can leverage to help with their own processes.

They can also act as a buffer for internal teams filled with corporate dynamics. When the objective assessments of a third-party expert align with the perspectives of internal team members, it becomes easier to reach full agreement on what your next steps should be.

4. Focus on core competencies

When UX is not yet an integral part of the business, it is a difficult task to accomplish.

Hiring a UX designer is a challenge, as it is a broad area with countless specialties. Interaction design, visual design, user research, prototyping, and typography are different roles that companies may encounter when looking for UX talent. UX design also requires a high level of technical knowledge, coding, and other software-related skills.

Outsourcing can save companies a lot of time and headaches, allowing staff to focus on other key areas of their business. It can take years to develop a team with the necessary skills and processes, but outsourcing to an experienced UX team that can provide quick solutions is often a faster and more efficient approach.

5. Increase scalability

In UX, workloads tend to fluctuate. When a project starts, there is typically a lot of work, which then trickles down to a quality control function until the product launches. It's difficult to scale an in-house team when the workload isn't consistent.

Companies may hire few people initially or many people later. One of the main reasons to outsource UX is that external teams can quickly adapt to fluctuating workload and even change expertise when necessary. Companies won’t have to worry about making the mistake of hiring too little or too much UX design staff.

There are several reasons why companies outsource their UX design. While outsourcing saves on overall costs, it's important to consider the long-term value it can provide. Companies should look for an agency whose UX process focuses on thorough research, information architecture and wireframes, user testing, product visual appeal, front-end code development, and integration support for world-class UX design.