How do you establish the best UX strategy?
How do you establish the best UX strategy?
User Experience (UX) is currently a trending concept in the world of IT and marketing. But what exactly is User Experience and why is the need for UX specialists increasing? We explain it in this article and give you 5 useful tips on how to determine the best UX strategy.
UX is about interaction
UX is about the experience (emotion, attitude) that a user has in his interaction with systems, products or services. The fact that we have heard this term more often lately is mainly due to the growth of interfaces in our daily lives. Almost every service has a website, a portal, a physical display or interface on location (think of the sometimes rather clumsy public transport card).
Growing need for UX specialists
In the past 4 years, we have seen a growth in the number of vacancies for UX designers, researchers or consultants. Companies believe there is value in optimizing services and interfaces and making them user-friendly. Schools also understand the need and adapt their courses accordingly. The demand for internships and graduation positions is growing every year. UX is becoming more and more focused on the development of good and useful interfaces.
Looking at some of the vacancies that are currently online and the skills that are required of UX employees, we see big differences. While some companies expect you to give workshops and analyze data, others want you to develop complex wireframes and describe interaction models. That's why we distinguish more and more between the aforementioned UX-designers, researchers and/or consultants.
5 tips to help you find the best UX strategy
On the 20th November 2019, 30 UX professionals gathered at the TRIMM building to share knowledge during a UX meetup. Under the guidance of Nikki, UX-specialist at TRIMM, among others, they worked out a real customer case. Followed by a group discussion about approach, tooling and process. The conclusions of all discussions can be summarized in five useful tips for UX:
1. Identify all stakeholders
Identify all stakeholders for your project by using stakeholder mapping. This will give you insight into which stakeholders are important for the project and why. By involving everyone in a timely manner, you will go through the processes faster and work towards a common goal.
2. Interview the users
By interviewing the users, you will gain new insights. Interview the end user and the employees who deal with the end users on the customer side. Where the customer has his own goals, these do not always correspond to what the end user wants.
3. Map the Customer Journey
The Customer Journey can be mapped to determine at what moment you can most effectively achieve your goal (or reach your end user). Take a look at what is going well and what is not: which phase can be unpleasant for the user? Combine this information with the input you got from the interviews, so you can identify the pain points.
4. Use the Core Content Model
If your solution is a digital interface, you can incorporate the goals you have in a Core Content Model (see image below). This model will give you more guidance while designing the interface and determining the best content.
5. Perform user tests
Unfortunately, in practice, the execution of a user test does not take place often enough. This is a pity, because it can lead to so much more and better insights. During development, when you have just completed the first wireframes or designs, you can already test whether your concept fits the end user. Do you have the product? Then these tests will help you optimize a service.
The future of UX
The future of UX as a profession is not yet clear. The focus on a user-friendly interface is growing, so how do we ensure that the experience around it is just as good? There is now a clear trend in data-based UX design. And who knows, a new field of expertise may arise around face-to-face interactions. No matter how UX develops: as UX professionals, let's ensure that we continue to share knowledge so that we can help each other and make our field of expertise grow.