3 Reasons Why You Need Design for Growth

Contributor - Vinay Rao
May 29, 2023
7 min read

While growth and change are necessary, the customer’s experience should be your number one priority. The brand must meet the customers' increasing needs while delivering a human-centered experience that is consistent with its image.

As markets grow fiercely competitive, organizations need to evolve their strategies and responses faster to sustain and grow their share. What we have observed and many have recorded is that this growth often comes at the cost of what led to it in the first place: great customer experience. And the cost is reflected in both declining sales and increasing negative reviews that ultimately impact the brand.

This blog explores the critical role that user experience (UX) plays in driving sustainable growth, maintaining customer loyalty and boosting the brand.

3 ways User Experience can Drive Sustainable Growth

1. Gain Customer Insights

Any UX exercise has to be preceded by qualitative customer research. This helps unearth their unmet needs and map the overall journey from discovery to fulfillment. Customers whose unmet needs have been met by the product/services UX are more likely to act as evangelists and recommend to others. They’re also likely to point out deficiencies in competing products that the brand can exploit.

2. Personalization

A tailored experience helps connect the customer with the brand as it shortens their journey, yet engages them in a way that shows the brand understands their needs. Faster checkouts or recommendations that go with their buying experiences are some of the ways that UX can be tailored to individual needs. Customers that feel valued are likely to stay with the brand and even spread awareness through word of mouth or social media.

3. Consistency

It’s essential for brands to maintain consistent user experience across all touch points of the customer’s journey. Customers are likely to discuss their experiences offline as well as on social media. And it’s exactly here that no one customer feels left out as the experience remains constant, albeit with some personalization.

Here’s a graphical representation of how different departments in a company like Bang Design come together to create a singular user experience process.

Prioritizing Consistency and User-Friendly Experience

Importance of Consistency in Brand Experience

Consistency is key when it comes to user experience (UX). Customers expect a consistent experience across all touchpoints with a brand, whether it’s their website, mobile app, or physical store. Maintaining a structured brand experience helps build trust and credibility with customers.

Strategies to Ensure a User-Friendly Experience:

Conduct User Research: User Research unearths the unmet needs of your target audience. Quantitative Studies help in understanding the overall user base, whereas qualitative ones help unearth their unmet needs, habits and their motivation for sticking with a particular brand.
Simplify Navigation: Map your user journey from discovery to fulfillment and design a UX that covers it in the least steps possible. This shows that you value their time and understand what they want.
Optimize Website Speed and Performance: Slow-loading websites can frustrate users and lead to high bounce rates. Optimize your website’s speed and performance to provide a smooth browsing experience.
Personalize the Experience: Tailor the user experience (UX) based on individual preferences and behavior. Repurpose your data and analytics of your customers to deliver personalized recommendations, content, and offers that echo with your user.
Provide Clear and Concise Communication: Communicate information effectively by using clear and concise language. Avoid jargon or complicated terminology that may confuse or alienate users.

The Relationship Between Growth and Product Experience

Positive product experiences play a significant role in driving growth. When customers have a great experience with a product or service, they are more likely to stay loyal and make repeat purchases. Moreover, positive experiences generate favorable reviews and referrals, attracting new customers, which in turn increases customer lifetime value (CLV) driving revenue growth.

The Power of Product Experience

Designing products with aesthetics and usability in mind creates a positive emotional response in users. By focusing on aesthetics, businesses can create visually appealing products that capture the attention and delight of customers. Usability ensures that the product is intuitive and easy to use, leading to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Together, these two factors help drive revenues and grow the brand.

An intuitive and engaging product experience also sets your brand apart from the competition. Studies have shown that people are likely to use the app that delivers this without checking for perceived economic benefits the competition may offer.

The Role of Design in Business Growth

Design is a powerful tool that can drive business growth in various ways. By creating a positive emotional response in users, design can facilitate loyalty and generate positive word-of-mouth referrals, ultimately leading to growth.

Design improves the product functionality, making it more efficient and easier to use, which increases customer satisfaction and drives growth. A well-designed product also helps businesses stand out in a crowded marketplace by creating a distinctive brand identity and visual appeal. Furthermore, design thinking allows businesses to anticipate and meet the changing needs and expectations of customers, ensuring continued relevance and desirability.

Examples of Design-Driven Growth

A great example of design-driven growth can be found in Duolingo, the popular language-learning app. Duolingo’s interface is clean, intuitive, and visually appealing. Users can easily navigate lessons, track their progress, and access new features. This user-friendly design minimizes frustration and keeps users focused on learning.

Similarly, Airbnb’s emphasis on design has helped the company differentiate itself in the crowded hospitality industry. Airbnb’s website and app were designed with a focus on visual storytelling, allowing hosts to showcase their properties and guests to imagine their stay. This design strategy has created a sense of trust and connection between hosts and guests, setting Airbnb apart from traditional hotel chains and driving its growth.

Is the strategy producing results?

To know whether your UX strategy is delivering the results, you have to analyze it with the same rigor as revenue streams and cost centers. Behavioral and Attitudinal Metrics are two broad categories of Key Performance Indicators for your UX strategy.

Behavioral Metrics track what users actually do with your product or service. For example if your business has an app, you would measure:

The number of times your app was launched
The number of successful versus aborted transactions
Time it took to complete a task
Time users spent exploring the app
Times users made a mistake while using the app.

Attitudinal metrics can be measured through third party surveys or in-built feedback mechanisms. They help measure how the users feel about your product or service. Some of the techniques used to measure attitudinal metrics are:

The competitors are sweating about the next move.

Yelp, Mouthshut and Reddit are some of the platforms where customers review and compare products. If your product is recommended here, you can be sure that you’re on the right track.

Organizations that realize the importance of design prime themselves for growth. They extend their maturity and even transform their S curve to emerge as category leaders. To achieve this requires commitment and time from the C-Suite.

Using Design- Design Thinking as innovation tools, organizations can navigate the future with confidence and deliver newer and better experiences to their customers. This aspect helps them reinvent themselves, pose challenges to their competitors and ward off threats from newer entrants.

About us

Ready to see how design thinking can transform your business?

With over 25 years of experience, Bang Design is your one-stop shop for bringing your consumer product ideas to life. We cater to startups, inventors, and small manufacturers, guiding your product journey from initial concept all the way to store shelves. We prioritize high-quality, cost-effective, and timely execution, and our proven track record boasts over 800+ projects completed, even for some of the top 100 companies.

Services

Product Design

Product Engineering

Services & Digital Design

Advanced 3D Surfacing

Creative Visualization

2D Configurator

3D Configurator

Immersive CX

Product Documentation

Brand Assets

Intelligent Sales

Micro Offshore Design

Managed Production

Agency Partner

Programs

Partner

Corporate Innovation

Launchpad

Small Business

21 day marketing

Design Exchange

Industries

Automobile Vehicle and mobility

Aviation

Agriculture and Construction

Consumer

Food and Beverage

Health And Life Sciences

Industrial and Capital Goods

Manufacturing

Technology

Marine

Space Exploration

Telecommunication