If you asked the average joe working on software development what the most important factor is in developing great software, chances are they’ll say ‘the user’s wants and needs’. This might sound extremely obvious, yet there are countless developers out there who do not understand how to optimally involve users in the software development process.
This is where UX design comes into the picture. As most of you might be aware, UX design refers to the process of creating products that are easy, enjoyable, and meaningful to use for the end-users. It involves researching, understanding, and empathizing with the users' needs, goals, preferences, and behaviors, as well as testing and iterating on the solutions.
UX design also works hand in hand with UI design, which is the process of creating the visual elements and interactions of the products. So, why is UX design crucial for software development?
In this article, we will explore five key reasons why good UX design can make a difference in the software development process and outcome.
Good UX Design is Vital to Increase User Engagement
One of the most important considerations developers must make during the software development process is how to maximize user engagement through UX design.
Whether a company is developing a software for call centre or food delivery, the principle remains the same - the software must capitalize on the fact that users want to feel interested, involved, and comfortable enough with how the software looks to want to keep using it.
Paying attention to user needs when designing UX is essential to maximize user engagement, which subsequently drives retention and revenue from software sales.
Think about it - as a user, would you prefer buying software that is easy, enjoyable, and meaningful to use or functional but lacking aesthetic consideration? Many would choose the former for one simple reason - good design captures the attention of people no matter the nature of the product.
This involves taking time to research, understand, and empathize with user needs, goals, preferences, and behaviors, as well as testing and iterating solutions based on user feedback.
Key factors to maximize engagement
Here's a summary of what to keep in mind when refining software UX design to maximize user engagement:
Intuitiveness: Good UX design ensures software is developed in a way that makes it as responsive, accessible, and intuitive as possible. If users feel using the software feels natural and they can make their way around the UI with minimal guidance, you're on the right track.
Aesthetics: Good UX design is ideal to make software as attractive as possible to the chosen target audience. It involves discerning what design cues specifically appeal to the audience, noting what enhances visual appeal and builds an emotional connection with one set of users may not for others.
Functionality: Good UX design must make the software product reliable, fast, and secure enough for users to want to engage with it - and more importantly, who want to keep using it in the future. For instance, if you’re designing an interactive voice response system, the intended user (in this case, customer service agents) must find it reliable enough to want to keep using it in the long-run.
Good UX Design Minimizes Software Maintenance Costs
Imagine developing software that delivers a good enough UX to not warrant substantial maintenance. Sounds ideal, doesn't it?
Software maintenance is the process of modifying and updating a software product after its delivery to correct errors, improve performance, or adapt to changes. If enough care is put into the software development process then maintenance is minimized, leading to substantially lower costs, as maintenance accounts for a significant portion of the budget and the time taken to develop software.
This is one of the first concepts taught in UX/UI design courses and for good reason. Good UX design minimizes software maintenance costs because it helps prevent or reduce errors and bugs while reducing the need for numerous iterations. The key is to test and validate the software product with real users or stakeholders before and after its launch, collecting feedback and data for improvements.
Designing UX carefully ensures that the software meets the quality standards and specifications of the intended users. This minimizes the risk of defects and failures in the software product.
Good UX design also enables user feedback loops and channels in the software product, allowing them to report issues, suggest improvements, and express satisfaction (or lack thereof) with the software product.
Implementing pre-built solutions
Utilizing off the shelf solutions is another strategy to minimize software maintenance costs. These pre-built, reliable components often come with their own user-friendly interfaces and design considerations, reducing the need for extensive modifications and ongoing maintenance. By integrating such solutions, developers can streamline the software development process and allocate more resources to improving the core user experience.
Good UX design is a Source of Competitive Advantage
Have you ever heard of the term 'competitive advantage'? It refers to the ability to outperform competitors by offering superior software that creates value for users while being difficult to imitate or replicate.
One of the main roles of a UX designer is to create designs that yield a competitive advantage and differentiate the software being developed from software developed by competitors in terms of user experience.
This is contingent on the software UX delivering a unique and memorable user experience so that a clear and compelling value proposition is communicated to intended users.
If this is achieved, the software exceeds customer expectations by providing a meaningful experience by solving the users problems and fulfilling their core needs.
Good UX Design Increases Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty is the degree of attachment customers have with a business. It increases when customers feel involved, with the idea being to create positive relationships between all parties.
This applies to all digital industries; whether you’re making money blogging, offering virtual assistance, or designing software UX, it is vital to ensure all stakeholders (especially customers) feel involved.
The importance of user collaboration
There are three key reasons why involving intended users in the software development process to create a good UX design breeds customer loyalty.
Firstly, getting users to collaborate on UX design makes the final software consistent with the brand’s objectives and identity while also creating a coherent and reliable customer experience. The user co-creates value with the developer and receives a software product that features a UX design that feels personalized to their needs.
Secondly, collaboration between users and developers when designing software UX makes the final product more engaging, because users feel like the product is as much a creation of their efforts as it is of the developers.
This helps create a positive and lasting customer experience for the user, which in turn increases user loyalty to the brand and the software being developed.
Good UX Design is Conducive to Quicker Software Improvement
The final reason why good UX design is vital to the software development process which we want to touch on in this article pertains to the speed of software improvement.
Creating a good UX design inherently increases collaboration between users and developers. Users feedback on every software iteration to developers, and developers take feedback on board to send back improved UX design iterations in tandem.
As this process is repeated, the software development grows increasingly efficient because users and developers begin to understand one another better. As a result, numerous steps in the software design process such as researching, ideating, prototyping, testing, implementing, and iterating on the software product take less time to achieve.
The establishment of quick feedback loops and channels in the software development process allows developers to take on user input and suggestions immediately. This leads to faster decision-making on software UX and removes friction such as misunderstandings on what developers are capable of delivering through software and what users can expect from the final software.
Ultimately, this helps create a user-centered and user-driven software development process that leads to a better final product in less time and through the use of fewer resources.
Looking to the Future
Good UX design is not an optional or secondary aspect of software development, but an essential one. If good UX design is achieved through effective collaboration between users and developers during the software development process, the quality of the software being produced is maximized and user satisfaction increases.
It is important to remember that good UX design is not a static concept, but a dynamic one that is always evolving. Some of the best UX design bootcamps teach this concept by relaying to their students that as technology advances, as user’s needs change, and as market trends shift, good UX design must adapt accordingly..
Good UX design must also consider the ethical implications of software products by ensuring accessibility and inclusivity to users from all walks of life. This requires constant learning, experimentation, and improvement from culturally diverse software developers who can empathize with equally diverse users..
Software developers must remember that good UX design is an ongoing two-way process that involves co-creation and co-delivery of value between developers and users. There is no such thing as perfect UX design; Continuous iterations are required to keep improving the overall software experience.
If companies heed this advice, software UX can continue to provide the kind of competitive advantage, customer loyalty, and software improvement discussed in this article.
