How do you measure the impact and value of design thinking for your business solutions?

1 Benefits of design thinking

Design thinking can help you create solutions that are more user-centric, feasible, and desirable. By empathizing with your users, you can understand their needs, pain points, and motivations better. By defining the problem, you can focus on the most important and relevant issues. By ideating, you can generate a variety of options and perspectives. By prototyping and testing, you can validate your assumptions and learn from feedback. By implementing, you can deliver value and improve your solution over time.

2 Methods of evaluation

To measure the impact and value of design thinking for your business solutions, you can use different methods of evaluation. User feedback, such as surveys, interviews, reviews, ratings, and testimonials, can help you measure user satisfaction, loyalty, engagement, and retention. Additionally, tracking and measuring business metrics, such as revenue, profit, market share, growth, conversion, and retention, can help you measure the financial and strategic performance of your solution. Lastly, assessing and reporting the social impact of your solution, such as how it improves the lives of your users, the environment, or the society, can help you measure the ethical and environmental value of your solution.

3 Challenges of evaluation

Evaluating the impact and value of design thinking is not always easy or straightforward. You may face challenges such as attribution, as it can be hard to attribute the outcomes of your solution to design thinking alone. Additionally, it can take time to see the results of your solution, especially if it involves long-term or systemic changes. Furthermore, it can be difficult to measure the impact and value of your solution in a complex and dynamic context, where there are multiple stakeholders, variables, and uncertainties.

4 Tips for evaluation

To overcome some of the challenges of evaluation, you should define your goals and criteria for success before you start your design thinking process. Involve your users and stakeholders throughout the process by asking for feedback, input, and suggestions. Additionally, you should treat your solution as an experiment and a learning opportunity. Experiment and iterate to test your solution, learn from the results, and improve it.

5 Examples of evaluation

To inspire you, here are some examples of how some organizations have evaluated the impact and value of design thinking for their business solutions. Airbnb used design thinking to transform their startup into a global platform, increasing their revenue, bookings, and user satisfaction, as well as creating a positive social and cultural impact. IBM used design thinking to reinvent their culture and processes, improving their customer experience, employee engagement, and innovation, as well as contributing to social good. IDEO, a leading design and innovation consultancy, uses design thinking to create solutions that are human-centered, feasible, and desirable, as well as making a difference in the world.