Impact of UX/UI on product success

in Software development, IT strategyBy Filipa Nunes, Software Engineer

First off, what does UX/UI stand for?

In a web context, UX stands for "user experience" and refers to how a website works, while UI means "user interface" and is about how the website looks.

You may ask, why are they so important? Since a menu is just a menu and a form just a form. Well, that's not the case if you are looking to increase user engagement and reduce the drop-off rate to your website.

How many times have you ever encountered a website that was so confusing that you just closed it and looked instantaneously for another one that was cleaner and easier to understand, serving a similar purpose?

Have you ever been on a website that just looked shady and you couldn't get out of it fast enough? That's the power of UX/UI design. You end up using the apps or websites that look the coolest or are just easy to navigate and understand.

But what factors do have an impact on user engagement? Below you have summarized a few points that need consideration in the design and implementation of your website.

Choosing colours

The first websites were just a confusing mess and used all the text colours, fonts, background colours, and gradients existent on earth! They were just tough to read and navigate. Since then, we've learned to use colour properly to create a unified experience for the user. The colour choices you make can impact how potential customers view your business, so it should be very carefully considered.

Studies show that colour has a significant impact on the human mood.
Humans react to colour without noticing, and the right message and impact can be made using this subconscious property.

Designing layouts

Besides colour, the layout you use also has a significant impact on user engagement. As strange it may seem, trying to reinvent the wheel and come up with crazy layouts that are completely different from everyone else's is probably not the way to go. But why not differentiate the layout? Simple, humans are creatures of habits. We do not want to adapt to each website and try to figure out where everything is or how it works every single time. The website ought to be intuitive enough so that we, as users, are annoyed by aj unfamiliar layouts.

This way, you save energy and money, and you have a happy customer with recurrent visits, traffic increase to your website at the same time.

Some statistics

If we look into some hard UX/UI statistics, we can see that it's worth to invest in it.

A 2016 design study of 408 different companies found that the more a company invested in and focused on design, the sales increased. This factor is important since the correlation is undeniable.
70% of customers abandon purchases because of bad user experience. This factor is the worst nightmare an eCommerce business has, the loss of sales and potential recurrent clients due to poor UX.
94% of the factors that affect a user's first impression regarding your product and value proposition are design-related. These first impressions are crucial, and unimpressed users are often unforgiving.
Judgments on website credibility are 75% based on a website's overall aesthetics.
Almost 40% of users will stop engaging if they find the content or layout of a website shabby.
67% of users say that a poor website experience negatively affects their opinion of a brand.
75% of user judgment about a business's credibility is based on their website design.

Benefits of a great UX/UI design

As you probably have figured out by now, UX/UI plays a significant role in customer acquisition, retention, and satisfaction. The result is critical for any business, translating in more people using your product, increasing growth and sales. It also increases conversion rates, which means that it helps expand the percentage of visitors to your website that complete a desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of visitors.

Conclusion

An excellent first impression is always crucial, and it's a means to an end. If the users are captivated in the first few seconds, they will be interested in digging into the website. To be able to be ahead of the competition, you have to be more appealing to customers, and that starts with a great and trustworthy website! So don't think twice before investing in looks and usability.

Transform your website from appalling into appealing and see your business grow. In case you do not have the expertise in-house, you can always rely on Nearshore IT companies to help your business achieve a perfect UX/UI experience.