The Cost of Ignoring UX
I’m a relatively recent convert to the need for team members who understand UX. I often hear people confuse User Experience with building a graphical user interface. UX is much more than that. The UI could be a work of art, but if the user feels that the response time to get information is too long due to poorly engineered services, then that’s a UX issue. If it takes too many keypresses or mouse clicks to navigate, that’s a UX issue. If the behavior changes in confusing ways, bad UX. Not paying attention to UX details can easily contribute to lost sales and declining profits.
As a proud Texan, I’m a lifelong Dr. Pepper drinker. In an emergency, Coke. The piles of 20oz bottle that fuel me at work are a testament to my dedication. Recently, one of our soda fountain machines, the one vending Dr. Pepper, was replaced with a new touch screen version with exciting flavor choices. It’s modern, and fun, but there’s some UX flaws.
On the old machine, it required exactly one action to achieve my goal, a full cup of refreshing Dr Pepper. Place the glass under the nozzle and depress the trigger. If the foam began to exceed the capacity of the cup, stop dispensing, wait, and begin again. Easy. Intuitive.
With the new machine the steps have increased somewhat. Click to close the notice that there are new flavors, then select diet or regular, then select the Dr. Pepper, and then dispense. four steps. If the foam gets to high and you wait, the machine resets and you must navigate the four steps again to finish topping off the cup. Next to the machine is an older machine that vends Coke with a single user input. I now drink Coke in the cafeteria.
Making things harder, adding friction, inserting steps or slowing things down will change behavior even faster than doing the opposite. People will do the thing that causes less irritation. When designing any UI or service there should always be singular focus: how can I make this appear fast and engaging with minimal friction for the user? If a dependency fails, how do I degrade service in a way that’s least likely to result in lost sales? If I redesign a UI, am I paying attention to every keystroke and mouse click? Are important pieces of information obvious and easy to find? Is there too much information? Too little? Details matter.
Be the customer or they may not be yours.