User Experience Research…What is it?
The entire world has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic befell us. We are socially distanced, interacting behind face coverings and plexiglass, and the need to have customers make purchases and obtain service from us through online and app presences has gone from a roadmap item to the top of mind for every CEO and programming team globally. In this post, we’ll define user experience, show a few examples of how important it is for business today, and provide 3 best practices for getting started with user experience research to ensure that your company’s brand is as polished for online users as it is for in person interactions.
What is User Experience Research?
Prior to pandemic having a succinct, operable, easy to use online and app presence was extremely important. The pandemic put a rocket launcher behind the need for businesses to make sure that when a customer interacts with their brand remotely, it provides the same experience as it did in person. When a customer can no longer, or opts not to do business with you in person, have you made it very complex for them to continue to do business with you? Is your User Experience as easy for customers as an in person experience with your brand. Quality user experience research tools will allow you to determine if there are gaps in your customer experience when the customer is interacting with you remotely rather than in person and how to solve for them.
Why is User Experience Research So Important? What is the point of spending a lot of money on updating software, website design and online store fronts if you have not asked your customers whether they enjoy the experience with what you have built so far? Millions of dollars and loads of time are wasted every year by senior level executives and company owners putting out websites and apps that are not intuitive or take too much time for their customers to find what they need.
# Real Examples of User Experience Research
Recently ath Power Consulting conducted a study to see which on line and app based credit card application, consumers liked the best. In our study, American Express’s credit card application on both their website and their app ranked far superior to others simply because of the low number of clicks it took to submit an application. It was one page on a website and two scrolls on the app and you were able to submit an application for three of their cards. There is a lot of learning to be had as the card issuer that was ranked as the worst one by the study participants capped out at over 40 clicks and fields in order to submit an application. And if you think you have managed to clear all of your user experience hurdles and give yourself an A on your apps and website, the other great reason to conduct some user experience research is to find out what your competitors are doing well! You just might be able to add some important new features to your site and app.
User experience research and making the necessary changes to your online and app offerings typically yield a great ROI. It is a fairly low dollar spend to gain useful information and insights as to how to get your consumers to spend more money with you. With the changes, we have experienced in our world likely to never include in person only interactions, this kind of research and investment is almost unquestionable. And fortunately, there are many forms this kind of research can take such as field studies, online focus groups, user diaries, user interviews, post transaction surveys and competitor analysis so we can be sure that we could find a way to gather actionable insights within your budget.
If you want to explore how me and my team might be able to enhance your online and app user experience, please request a call back using the form below. I enjoy hearing from clients and prospects what their challenges are and how ath Power might be able to offer a solution that fits within their budget.
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