Why UX design is important for your business surviving 2020

What on earth is UX? And why is UX design so darn important? If you have a business that relies on customers or users using your products or services, then you may already know that the customer experience is an important part of the business and its ability to be perform well. As a matter of fact, it might even be the single most important part. 

If customers are having just a slightly unsatisfying experience, then there’s a chance they will never ever return to your company again. But how does your company live up to customer expectations today? Are you keeping track of the trends? Are you afraid that your business is no longer modern enough for today’s ever-changing society? Keep reading and I will tell you how your business will survive, and perhaps even thrive, this year and this new decade with the help of UX design.

So why is UX important?

I think most of us already know why UX design is important; a positive user experience is vital for a service or a company to be successful. But if for some reason you forgot or tried to repress the importance of UX design, this infographic can refresh your memory.

So, we have finally reached the magical year 2020 and UX design just keeps growing in importance. Experts says that by 2020, the user experience will take over price and product as the most important brand differentiator. This means that if you haven’t already, now is the time to invest in UX design to make sure you don’t fall behind on your rivals. It’s a new decade and your business can’t afford cheap website design.

How your business will survive 2020 using UX design

Companies no longer compete for the best price and product alone, but also for the best user experience. UX design is therefore, by no doubt, a crucial factor in whether your company will survive until the end of this year. Trending experts emphasize the importance that every company, in one way or another, must act with greater care when it comes to regaining users trust. Especially when it comes to means of preventing the spread of toxic misinformation.

This year marks a new US presidential election, and given the last election and how big the impact of social media and the spread of fake news had (looking at you Trump), this year will be marked by discussions about how today’s technology is affecting politics and our lives.

Therefore your company will need to make sure that your products and services cannot help the spreading of fake news, unhealthy technology habits or unrealistic goals in the form of retouched images. All this while still wanting people to turn to your business and use your services. How do you balance that?! Sounds pretty complicated, doesn’t it?
But don’t you worry. One of the antidotes to this is UX designers! By solving these kinds of problems, better and healthier user experiences emerges. And as already mentioned at the beginning of this article, a positive user experience is the golden key to sweet success. In addition to improving the user experience, a good UX design can also increase your brand loyalty and improve your SEO.

 ”A positive user experience creates long-lasting relationships with users who not only want to buy your service but promote it.”

via RUBYGARAGE

Then why is 2020 different from previous years? Well, the trends have changed and not just in style or function. The idea of technology has changed: people are far more critical now. People no longer want to be glued to a screen (even though most people still are) or addicted to perfect feeds that will make them feel bad about their own lives. They are woke now.

Designing for transparency and encouraging critical thinking from your users.

It’s the beginning of a new decade, and we truly have a chance to reflect, rethink and ultimately design new ways. The past decade showed what consequences a design can actually have; from influencing politics and spreading fake news, to affecting users’ mental health and self-esteem. One trend that will probably last for a good while is to design ethically. 

Designing for transparency and encouraging critical thinking from your users will therefore be highly important if you really want your company to survive 2020. This year is not just about improving your products and services, but also the company as a whole in order to infuse ethical thinking into the entire industry itself. This decade will very much revolve around creating a better world, and it’s usually wise to keep up with the trends right from the start. 

One example of a company that has already embraced these trends is of course Facebook  (But let’s now forget Cambridge Analytica..), who also happen to be the owner of Instagram. Images and posts that are considered unreliable and not credible, will now receive an Alert Warning over their image or post. In this way, users know that it may contain fake news. However, it is still possible for the user to see the post so that he or she can deem it credible or not. This feature allows the user to become aware of what is real and what is fake (But still we cannot really be 100% sure whether it’s actually fake or not, of course).

“No more fake news”

You could say that the proverb “honesty is the best policy” fits perfectly into the world of UX design right now. It’s time to put all the cards on the table, kick the door of transparency right open and pull down the curtain of deception. 

This UX-year and probably this entire decade will be all about designing for honesty and the well-being of the users. That means, if you want your business to survive, you’ll need to adapt fast to these new “woke” trends.  If this sounds complicated or even a little bit scary, hit us up and we will make sure to help your business survive this year. Welcome to the new age.