What is UX and why should your company pay more attention to it?

If your company has an in-house team of software engineers, they likely create software to sell, for the company's exclusive use, or both. Either way, this software is probably in a constant state of evolution. This is especially true given how quickly every company on the planet must remain agile and ready to pivot at a moment's notice.

Therefore, the software that powers your company must also be flexible, but that's not all. It should work too. It must also be easy to use.

Unfortunately, it's that last part that seems to escape some companies. Because of this, there is a lot of software out there that deeply frustrates end users.

It doesn't have to be like this. In fact, with one consideration you can greatly improve your software experience. Experience is the key term here. Why? Because we are talking about UX.

What is user experience?

In simplest terms, UX is the user experience. This is a concept that should be at the center of your software design chain. In fact, every software design meeting should start with a User Experience discussion.

Why? Because it is the key to successful software.

Basically, UX is actually a pretty simple concept to understand. By definition, UX is how a person feels when interacting with software. Software can be anything: a website, a web app, a mobile app, a desktop app, an operating system, or even a touch interface on a refrigerator.

These interfaces can be written in Java, JavaScript, Python, PHP, .NET or virtually any programming language. Regardless of the language, a lot of thought and planning must be put into the user experience of your software. If you fail at this task, users will find that your software doesn't meet their needs and will leave them with a negative opinion of your app, which can drive them away from the competition.

What is a good user experience?

A good UX consists of a few pieces. First, the user interface must be easy to use. This means that your developers and designers must create a logical and intuitive interface. Users shouldn't have to navigate a maze of complex menus to find the setting or control they need. But it goes far beyond a set of easy-to-navigate menus.

In fact, the Nielsen Norman Group (a reputable source for UX design) has developed 10 general principles called Usability Heuristics. These principles are often referenced for creating a solid UX. The principles are:

• System status visibility (users are always aware of what the software is doing).
• Correspondence between the system and the real world (the software interface must use common terms and not technical jargon).
• User control and freedom (when an error occurs, give users the control to undo it).
• Consistency and standards (following conventions that work and not always reinventing the wheel).
• Error prevention (prevent errors from occurring at all costs and provide feedback when they occur).
• Recognition rather than retrieval (make sure options are clearly visible and not hidden in a maze of menus).
• Flexibility and efficiency of use (designed for both novice and experienced users while providing ways to speed up workflows for those familiar with the system).
• Aesthetic and minimalist design (keep interface elements to a minimum so as not to overwhelm users).
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors (when an error occurs, enable users to better understand what happened).
• help and documentation (ensure help is easily accessible, well documented, and written in a way that any user can understand).

If you follow the above criteria, your user experience will improve a lot.

Why should you consider UX a priority?

Another UX-centric issue is knowing your audience (aka users). By understanding who your users are, you will be better able to design a personalized user experience to meet (and exceed) their needs. When you do this, user loyalty will increase. When user loyalty increases, your business is successful.

It is in this exchange, where you begin to better understand your user base, that your company can create software that offers the best UX possible. And by offering the best UX possible, consumers will trust your company more. This is a model that all companies should strive for, a model that is self-fulfilling.

But it takes time because you must know your users:

• What motivates them (ease of use, modernity of design, popularity).
• Your demographic data (age, location, education).
• Their personalities (the types of music they listen to, whether they play games, whether they are influencers in their community).
• The common characteristics they share (platforms used, how much they interact with other users, their dependence on things like the cloud).
• The economic situation (how much they are willing to spend on software).

Another reason to prioritize UX is that it simply makes your software better in every aspect. When you seriously consider user experience, the end result is an application that is easier to use, more reliable, and more easily consumable. That endpoint equals more people wanting to use your product.

Consider this. When Android was first released, it struggled mightily to gain traction. From the beginning, it had a difficult task as it was up against the iPhone (which gained instant, global popularity). Like much of what Apple produces, the iPhone interface had an incredible UX. Even the first iteration of the platform was easy to use. Android, on the other hand, suffered from a poor user experience and extremely weak hardware.

It didn't take long for Google to revisit Android's user experience and realize that it needed serious improvements. The next iterations of the platform improved exponentially (like Android 1.5 introducing its first on-screen keyboard, the necessary framework for third-party app widgets, and its first option for video recording).

Just like Google, your company must turn to users to find out what they need and want from your software. Why? Because unless you have a UX expert in-house, you should never trust developers to design and improve the user experience. UX is a specialized skill completely separate from programming, and software engineers often don't have time to talk to a user to figure out which elements of their software are confusing, overly complicated, or simply don't work as expected.

To do this, your company must hire a UX specialist. With someone in-house to take on this task, your software will greatly improve, leading to a much more positive user experience, which (in turn) will translate into more customers and better financial results.

Conclusion

If you need a single reason to refocus your efforts on user experience, it's because doing so will improve everything from user perception to profit. What more incentive do you need to hire a UX expert?