The Business of UX
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User Experience professionals have a plethora of knowledge from a variety of disciplines: psychology, human-computer interaction, graphic design and cognitive science. However, one essential area is often overlooked business. In this presentation, Ashley will outline how to integrate business thinking into your UX work in order to influence decision makers and be seen as a thought leader at your company.
The Business of UX
- 1. The Business of UX Ashley Wrobel MBA Senior UX Manager @ Manifest Digital
- 2. Business of UX - Why This Matters Regardless of company type, digital projects always have a business team and a UX representative(s) (whether they know it or not) A few companies value their UX-ers and treat their decisions as key, but most UX practitioners dont work in such an environment As projects progress past inception, rifts can happen between main teams: - New Discoveries - Technology Improvements - Constraints - Alternative Solutions Without people/teams to guide away from problems, projects get off track as rifts spread leading to: - Budget Problems - Scope Creep - Key Business Stakeholders and UX Practitioners on Different Pages Cancelled Projects, Frustrated Team Members, Wasted Resources, Little Overall or No Improvement to Experience, Loss of Future UX Work Result
- 3. Overlap: Business & UX
- 4. Goals of Business & UX Key Business Goals: - Increased revenue - Decreased costs - Increased New Business - Increased Shareholder Value - Brand recognition - Growth User Experience (UX) Goals: Create strong or improved digital interactions and product perceptions based on an understanding of: - User Values, Needs - User Abilities - User Limitations
- 5. Goals of Business & UX Unchecked Prioritization of User Needs Leads to an Increased Drift Between User Needs and Business Goals
- 7. Becoming The Missing Component Start Small Show teams how to connect the dots Create and Share Measureable Wireframe Goals When presenting, incorporate flows and diagrams often By updating the shopping cart page layout with clearer messaging and a cleaner interface to alleviate common errors, we estimate a decrease in shopping cart abandonment by 30%. This leads directly to the project goal of improved retention rates and customer satisfaction in the checkout process
- 8. Help Identify Problems Before They Occur Explore external areas that can improve experience and meet business goals Identify gaps in business decisions Although the product page is the key focus of this project, making a few minor updates to the home page can increase discoverability of the new features by 50% Becoming The Missing Component Start Small
- 9. Develop Your Soft Skills - Communication: Become one of the main communication points on your team and, eventually, on the entire project. Alleviate any confusion points. - Teamwork: Regularly work directly with business analysts, business integration teams, marketing managers, designers, etc. to create stronger interactions - Adaptability: As projects change, avoid taking things personally and instead, lead the effort to suggest new ideas - Conflict Resolution: As team members disagree or a solution cannot be reached, be the champion to create pro and con lists and become a neutral party Becoming The Missing Component Start Small
- 10. Turn Business Stakeholders into Advocates Discover what leading business stakeholders need to be successful in their job and provide it to them Schedule touch-bases and check-ins to stay on top of changes Become a Leader Create and maintain project details documents that drive efforts Focus on the tie-in of business and UX results in presentations and team discussions Create guiding documents to illustrate UX value and visualize objectives Becoming The Missing Component Start Small
- 11. Tools Ecommerce Project Project Summary: Adding New Shipping Methods Across an Ecomm Website Page Template # Page Title Customer/ Business Impact Value Development Impact Customer + Development Impact Order of Pages 1 Home 15% 2% 17.0% 3 2 Product Matrix Page 3% 0% 3.0% 9 3 Product Description Page 10% 5% 15.0% 4 4 Shopping Cart 25% 30% 55.0% 2 5 Checkout - Shipping/Delivery Info 25% 54% 79.0% 1 6 Checkout - Billing Info 2% 0% 2.0% 10 7 Checkout - Order Review 5% 5% 10.0% 5 8 Checkout - Order Confirmation 8% 0% 8.0% 6 9 Email Communication 2% 2% 4.0% 8 10 Customer Service Page 5% 2% 7.0% 7 Pro/Con Lists Targeted Flow Diagrams Spreadsheets
- 12. Tools Project Ecosystem Maps Baseline Value Mapping Sitemapping
- 13. Tools
- 14. Becoming The Missing Component Get Big: Update the siloed working structure and have UX lead efforts to meet business goals Start to Lead projects and re-create the traditional project flow to focus on UX Help create successful projects that allow UX to lead and even create future projects
- 15. Business & UX - Why This Topic Should Matter To You Avoid: Problems, Frustration, Wasted Resources, Negative Project Aftermath & Loss of Future Work Be More Effective: Add value, gain credibility, increase stakeholder satisfaction, lead projects, and ultimately get more work
- 16. Other Helpful Resources Presentation Resources http://www.smashingmagazine.com/201 1/09/13/the-s-m-a-r-t-user-experience- strategy/ http://disciullodesign.wordpress.com/20 11/12/08/6-steps-for-measuring- success-on-ux-projects/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljac obs/2011/11/22/how-to-boost-your- credibility-at-work/ http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/ establishing-credibility.html http://uxmag.com/articles/communicatin g-the-ux-value-proposition Communicating the UX Value Proposition http://uxmag.com/articles/communicating-the-ux- value-proposition Design is a Job (Book) http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job Mapping Business Value to UX http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2013/11/mappi n g-business-value-to-ux-part-2.php How Design & UX Translate to the Bottom Line http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/11/2 3/how-design-and-user-experience-translates-to-the- bottom-line/
Editor's Notes
- #3: Something is wrong we are missing a bridge or intermediary to alleviate the rifts but this is hard to do and not usually part of the UX skill set. Before getting into detail about results and how to fix the problem, lets take a step back to understand the overlap of business and UX
- #4: Taking a broader look at where UX is supposed to fit into the spectrum between technology and business essentially the intersection it seems that all of these areas should tie in and complement each other. But is that always the case? Definitely not.
- #5: As business and UX have their own goals and areas of concentration, practitioners are focused on different objectives from the start of a project (as illustrated in the comparison here). This happens despite the fact that UX goals can work to meet business goals.
- #6: Adding to the problem of different focuses from the onset of a project, UX goals can become misaligned from their ideal state (illustrated in the diagram here) and drift away from the guiding business goals that fund and drive the project. Over focus on user needs, silo effect and increased misalignment over time.
- #7: Enter the Missing Component of the equation: a business-savvy UX Professional with a new skill set. But the question is - how do you get these skills ?
- #8: How does someone with little to no knowledge of the business end of a project become the missing component? To get started Uxers need to clearly illustrate/ connect the dots for business teams how every UX suggestion ties back to the organizations core mission and project goals. During this phase, Uxers should be developing soft skills and create trust and relationships among business teams.
- #10: How does someone with little to no knowledge of the business end of a project become the missing component? To get started Uxers need to clearly illustrate/ connect the dots for business teams how every UX suggestion ties back to the organizations core mission and project goals. During this phase, Uxers should be developing soft skills and create trust and relationships among business teams. Ask for meetings and working sessions with other teams early on and regularly (establish & build rapport; make your presence known) Request feedback on ideas and mock-ups early on (create trust)