User Experience: UX, the first impression is the one that stays!

Do you know what is User Experience? This concept is fundamental for the company to achieve the results it wants, after all, those who think in profit before putting the customer at the centre of the decisions are losing space.

Users increasingly think of brands that solve their problems and dilemmas, making the services and products appear to have been custom developed. As a result, consumer satisfaction is greater, increasing the company's sales.

Want to know how it works in practice? In this text, we will explain what is the concept of User Experience, what are its benefits and how it contributes to the user experience. Read on and check it out!

What is the concept of User Experience?

User Experience (UX) stands for user experience. The term refers to the sensations and evaluations a person has when using any kind of product or service, whether it is a simple ice cream or a bank application.

We can say that it is possible to have experiences with all the services and products that someone uses during the day. Therefore, UX cannot be minimised to just the interactions that the user has with the screens or systems of a particular app or website.

In this way, the area is multidisciplinary and uses various knowledge to understand, test and improve the way customers experience the products and services developed by the company. In addition to programmers, engineers and psychologists can also be part of the team that analyses the entire consumer journey and how they react.

As an example, think of a patient triage process in outpatient clinics and hospitals, projects to improve the usability experience of news portals, or even the development of an app for people who want to start working with bitcoins.

In this multidisciplinary aspect, there are several techniques and methodologies that can be used, such as:

• information architecture;
• industrial design;
• interaction design;
• service design;
• visual design;
• ethnography (to conduct research and understand the behaviour of a particular group).

As the field is so dynamic and complex, it is possible to see various definitions for the same term. So after doing your research, you can come to your own conclusions.

Difference between UI and UX

It is common for people to get a little confused with the nomenclatures. Therefore, it is necessary to differentiate between UserExperience ( UX) and User Interface( UI).

The interface is an important element for the user to have a pleasant experience. You wouldn't want to have access to a confusing system, with strange colours and that is difficult to read, would you? That is why the organisation of the screens is important.

But it does not sum up the whole user experience. Think for a moment of someone who bought the wrong size trainer online. When trying to return it, she had several problems. Even though the experience with the system may have been pleasant, in the end, they will be dissatisfied due to the service received.

So while UI is thinking about designing screens of apps, websites and systems to improve usability and user experience, UX is concerned with various aspects that can make the customer disappointed with the company.

How does good experience contribute to user satisfaction?

Have you ever entered a website with confusing information, where you could only find what you wanted after searching a lot? Or even a hospital with great doctors, but with a long and disorganised waiting list?

In all these cases, even if you achieve your objectives, the final satisfaction will suffer, since there were problems in some of the phases of use of the service or product.

On the other hand, when the site is organised and information is easy to find, you are encouraged to make the desired purchase. A hospital with a short wait makes the patient feel better and welcomed on site. Therefore, the better the experience they have, the greater the user satisfaction. The opposite is also true.

In this sense, it is always worth doing research and using methodologies capable of understanding what problems consumers are having with the service, aiming to improve it and make customers more satisfied.

This is the basic element for the consumer to want to increase the volume of purchases, as well as the number of times he visits the company. Satisfied, the chances that he will indicate the institution to his friends and family also increase.

What are the main elements of user experience?

Aesthetics

You've probably heard that "beauty doesn't set the table", right? Although it is true that it is no use focusing only on aesthetics, it is an important factor for the user experience to be positive. Or is it possible, for example, to enter a site with discouraging colours and use it pleasantly?

This is one of the pillars of User Experience. As "the first impression is what stays" - as another saying says - it will guide the rest of the sensations that the consumer will have of your products and services. Thus, having an attractive interface makes the user feel more confident in the services offered by your company and creates an expectation that the rest will also be positive.

Usability

You already know that beauty is important, but that it is useless on its own. This is because any service or product, in practice, has a reason for existing. They were not designed to be a work of art.

An app, for example, as beautiful as it may be, will only please the user if it can deliver what they expect. Otherwise, even with all the beauty, the system will provoke a negative experience.

Thus, it is understood that aesthetics must go hand in hand with functionality. Usability, in this sense, guarantees that consumers will be able to find everything they want with speed and efficiency.

Typically, it can be said that the fewer clicks or taps required to find what is wanted, the better the usability as well as the possibility of the user feeling satisfied.

Information Architecture

Sister to usability is information architecture, which deals with the arrangement of data on a page or in a particular location. When the work is well done, what is most important to the company and the consumer will be placed in the foreground, so that users can direct their attention to the most prominent places.

When there are problems, even with an easy and beautiful interface to use, consumers will not convert. In other words, you will sell less.

Interaction Flows

Do you know exactly what is the predominant way your user interacts with your services and products? The interaction flow consists of maps showing the different possible paths the consumer can take while using your systems.

In this way, it is possible to guide customers on what the next steps should be, preventing the user from feeling lost or looking for services and products that do not even exist.

Content

Earlier, we looked at some important structural parts to give the user a pleasant experience. Now, you should also think about the content itself.

Think of the website, perfect according to the other points, but containing irrelevant or incorrect content. In that case, the user experience will be negative - and little can be done to get it back.

In the other pillars, for example, it is possible to recover or minimise damage. But when the information itself has problems, the situation becomes more complicated.

Again, remember the hospital: if employees indicate the wrong place for the service to be performed, the user may give up the procedure for not finding it. Besides, it may happen that the price informed is different from the one charged on the spot - how much wear and tear would not be necessary for the problem to be solved?

What are the benefits of User Experience (UX)?

Empathy

You may already know that empathy is the ability to put yourself in other people's shoes. With ethnographic techniques, for example, it is possible to understand what the objectives, feelings and motivations of the user are when doing a search or wanting a certain product or service.

You should use and consider this information whenever a decision is made. In this way, you will be able to put yourself in the shoes of your own consumer.

With this, the chances that the project will be successful are greater, since you will not consider the opinion or the feelings of the staff, but of those who actually use the company's services.

Increased user satisfaction

When the user's main demands are solved, he feels more satisfied. More than that, he will be impressed by how the brand knows him, seeming to have contacted him directly.

This only happens when the company has a solid basis for making decisions, going into the field and getting to know what the dilemmas and realities of the public are, as well as understanding in what ways it is possible to help them and solve their problems. As a result, satisfaction will increase, and the tendency is that they will recommend the services to all their contacts.

Reduction of expenses

Finally, there is the cost reduction. Several stages of the project can benefit from this action, such as prototyping and marketing. In the case of the prototype, many times the company has the idea of the product or service that will be made available. Thousands of dollars are invested, until the item is put to the test with consumers and simply does not work.

With this, there is no solution: either the project is abandoned, or a series of reformulations will have to be made. In any case, a lot of money has been lost.

With marketing, on the other hand, your company spends less and sees results more quickly. After all, not knowing your own users and the reality in which they live can make it difficult to communicate with customers.

In a wrong decision, besides not being able to reach the desired public, the institution may scratch its image before society, bringing even more losses.

What are the stages of a User Experience project?

Immersion

This stage aims to make the professionals involved go deeper, studying all points of view and putting themselves in the shoes of both the company and the end user.

Search

After understanding the project, it's time to do the research from an assessment that considers the various data about everyone involved, from the company to even the competitors.

At that point, it is possible to use:

• benchmarking - researching references and current market behaviour;
• the definition of profiles and personas - summarising, in a semi-fictitious way, consumer behaviour;
• the user journey - identifying which are the most important points of contact with customers, mapping out the path the consumer needs to travel for the action to be carried out.

Ideation

Here, one should consider the data and make a list of the points that most deserve attention, thinking about which solutions for innovation can be included. A multidisciplinary group is interesting at this point, so that all points of view are considered.

Prototyping

After pointing out the problems and insights, it is time to build a prototype that can be tested, so all hypotheses can be verified. With a multidisciplinary team, this phase can exist concurrently with the others, as ideas can be added to and tested on the project as they arise.

Validation

This is the time to check if the points really make sense and implement them from usability tests, focus group or eye tracking. New ideas for improvements are still welcome.

At that point, people in the field and users need to do the testing.

Implementation

The last phase is to deliver the solution after it has been refined, making the necessary changes according to the feedbacks and insights received. Even after implementation, it is important to think that processes can be modified according to consumer behaviours and tastes.

How to improve the user experience?

Some ways to improve the user experience are:

• by conducting interviews with users;
• creating ways to understand what customers' emotions are at each stage of the journey;
• studying the patterns (without being restricted to trends) of design;
• being clear on the value proposition;
• avoiding complex forms or forms with many fields;
• assessing whether the experience is suitable for mobile device users.

Now that you know what User Experience is and how to get the best results with it, it's time to get down to business and plan your first actions. In case of doubts or difficulties, it is interesting to contact a professional team to help your company in each step.