What is UX design?

Published July 12, 2020 · Updated July 23, 2022

Many new terms and abbreviations have recently appeared in digital marketing. Most of them sound as complicated as they are incomprehensible.

This is usually due to the simple egocentrism of some “digital marketers” who are simply trying to shine with complex, incomprehensible, and often meaningless terms.

However, this is not the case with the term ‘UX design’ because it encompasses the overall effect that your product (or service) has on your customers, which goes far beyond just how your website works. UX design has a direct impact on the ultimate success or failure of your business as a whole.

What does ‘UX’ design mean and what is its role?

The term ‘UX’ design comes from the abbreviation of ‘User eXperience Design’.

In other words,

‘UX’ design encompasses the planning and management of ALL aspects of your user’s interaction with your product or service.

NOTE: we’re talking about your user’s interaction with your product or service, not just your website!

It is no accident that in the previous sentence we wrote the word “ALL” in capital letters! Yes, managing your user’s interaction with your product includes such “minor” things as how your company answers phone calls, how long it takes to respond to email inquiries, and even the condition of the packaging in which your product arrives at the user.

Your customer is not buying a product, but an emotion

I know that this will sound far-fetched to some, but it is the very truth. Your customer does not buy a product or service from you! He/She is buying an emotion.

Your customer buys from you the experience of their problem solved. Whether that amotion will be a feeling of joy and satisfaction or a feeling of disappointment is entirely your responsibility.

Don’t think, for example, that even if your product is in good condition, your customer will be satisfied if it arrives two days late and the packaging is torn.

Well, you will say, but this is a problem of the courier, for which I am not to blame! Yes, it is, but in the end, this is what will hurt your customer’s “user experience”, which will ultimately affect you and your business.

Things to watch out for

Quick response to everything

Yes, I put this element first, although in most “textbooks” on ‘UX’ design it is not brought to the fore!

However, I am convinced that it is a critical element of the overall interaction between your company and your customers.

Always try to make your company’s response as fast as possible. I know you’re busy and your tasks are pressing, but rest assured that if a customer doesn’t get a response to their inquiry or complaint within a few hours, and after a day or two, regardless of your response, they’ll likely no longer be your customer.

If you don’t have time to respond comprehensively right now, simply return a response like “Thanks for your inquiry. We’ll get back to you within 24 (or 48) hours.” For your customer, this is incomparably better than waiting for days in the dark.

Website loading speed

The relative ease of building any kind of site on off-the-shelf platforms like WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, and the like has meant that even tiny sites are powered by complex and heavy, and therefore slow, software systems.

At the same time, the use of the Internet via mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) has become widespread, the speed of which (both in terms of processing power and connectivity) is questionable. And already over 70% of Internet users use precisely such devices.

As a result, very often sites built on such platforms take 10 or more seconds to load on such devices, which is detrimental to the owners of these sites. Nowadays, simply no one has time to wait for a long time for a site to load, and therefore slow-loading sites are doomed to one thing: close the screen and move to another site.

There’s a lot more to comment on here, but to keep it short, we’ll say: If your site doesn’t load on a mobile phone by the third second, you’ve got a problem!

Predictability, good organization, and neatness of the site

We are talking here about the overall design and organization of the website!

This topic can be explained for months and it will still not be fully clarified, so we will advise you to read our articles “The worst mistakes in websites” and “How to make a successful website?“.

In the articles cited above, you will find out in detail what you should and should not do on your site, and here we will just allow ourselves a few very short tips:

Don’t let your web designers get into “original”, “unique”, “innovative” and so on design solutions. The design of your site should make your users feel “at home”, and that means being conservative.
Remember: if visitors to your site say “Wow, what a great design!”, this is a sign that your web designer has not done a good job. Because his job is to draw visitors’ attention to your company and your product, not to his own design! A good designer is one who remains invisible.
Don’t allow yourself the “luxury” of something on your site not working, or not working properly. Even a broken or dead link can turn your potential client away from you.
Carefully inspect that all links on your site are working correctly and leading exactly where they should. There are special tools that facilitate this process. Use them. To your visitors, the fact that you yourself are careless about your site is a signal that you are also careless about your business. No customer would put up with that.
Be especially careful with spelling and punctuation. One typo, even an inadvertent one, can set you back. Again – this is a signal of either carelessness or (worse) illiteracy. And who would want to do business with such people?
Pay special attention to the navigation (menu) on the website. Well-organized and clearly structured sites are always more successful than those with cluttered and poorly organized menus. When it comes to the navigation of your site, do not allow any arbitrariness and “originality”. You would be wrong!
Give your visitors all the information they need to make a purchase decision from you. Don’t expect them to pick up the phone and ask you. That’s just not going to happen. Don’t ask your visitors to take the step you’ve spared yourself.

External suppliers

No business is self-sufficient! Every company is forced to use goods and services from external suppliers for some of its activities. Therefore, when you use external services, make sure they are at the level of your claims.

It will be difficult to convince your customers that your goods are “exclusive” and “high quality” if you use the services of the cheapest courier service that delays deliveries and the delivered packages are crushed or torn.

It will be difficult for you to convince your clients that you are competent professionals if, for example, you use free email services such as those at gmail.com. If you can’t afford your own domain and a paid email service, who would be willing to do business with you?

Your customers will also have a hard time believing you’re a “rich and prosperous company” if your website is loading like a snail because it’s installed on the cheapest possible shared hosting package.

Or in short: