Despite the fact that companies outwardly value a great user experience, many sites and apps are frustratingly difficult to use. According to Forrester Research, 70% of software projects fail due to lack of user acceptance.
Great user interfaces reduce the time it takes for novices to perform like experts. But their ability to do so depends on the quality of the experience, which is gated, to a large degree, by the quality of the user interface. The goal is an interface that one doesn’t consciously notice because it so completely supports the tasks at hand.
To create a great user experience, get users involved and choose staff designers that demonstrate empathy for users. Creating a great experience is everyone’s job. The quality of the user experience is not merely determined by screen designs. The quality and relevance of the copy matters. The speed with which pages load and the responsiveness of the interface matter. The reliability and stability of the server matters.
For best results, user experience needs should drive technology decisions — which we call ‘experience-led engineering’ — instead of the traditional approach where technology decisions are made in advance and often constrain the experience.
Creating a great experience is not an option anymore. McKinsey has shown that companies that value good design outperform those that don’t, often by significant margins.