Avoiding major UX/UI design mistakes is definitely great, but why do you actually need a seamless, intuitive product? Let's go through the facts and find out the actual reasons.

There could be many reasons for a user not to use an app, but we’re certain a bad UI/UX design is a possible one for a mobile app to fail. Achieving great mobile UX design is not an easy task, and not all apps achieve it. Some designers turn everything in user interfaces into visual graphics, but there is much more to creating a great UX design. And if you manage to do so, you can guarantee your users a better user experience, and yourself - a better success rate. 

What is UI/UX design, anyway?

The UI (user interface) design process is based on improving and enhancing the interactivity and presentation of a mobile application or website. It focuses on the overall look and feel of the digital product. It is applied to every screen, button, page or any other visual component that a user sees in the user interface. The UX (user experience) focuses on enhancing the comprehensive experience of the user when they use a website or an application.

People might get a little bit lost between web development, web design, user interface, and user experience. So we decided to have a quick look at the definitions to get a better idea of the difference between them before we dive deep into UI/UX.

Web development

Web development refers to all the work done behind the scenes to make a website work effectively, load fast, and perform well overall.  

Web design

Both UI and UX design are included under web design as this is a wide category for all different steps within the creation and maintenance of websites and mobile apps.  

User interface (UI)

The process of improving a user’s interaction with an app or website, making it as effective as possible. 

User experience (UX) 

This is the process of developing and improving the quality of experience of users when they visit an app or website. 

Based on our experience we can say with 100% certainty a well-thought UX/UI design process is of crucial importance as it facilitates the workflows of different users, maximizes customer lifecycle value, creates meaningful user experience, adds up to the brand’s image and stays relevant to real users over time. Need proof? To back up what we just said, here are some insightful statistics:

• The ROI on UX investments is 9,900%. (UXCam)
• Improving customer experience can raise KPIs by over 80%. (Intechnic)
• A good user interface can increase websites’ conversion rates by up to 200%. (Intechnic)
• Just one percent of people say that e-commerce sites meet their expectations. (Forbes)
• 90% of users won’t return to a site solely due to bad UX. (Toptal)
• Mobile users are 5 times more likely to abandon their tasks if they’re not optimized for mobile. (Toptal)
• Just a one-second page response delay can cause a 7% reduction in conversions. (Kissmetrics)
• 70% of online businesses fall through because of bad UX. (Uxeria)

In case you, your management, stakeholders or investors need more convincing, let’s look at some examples of how UI/UX design is important for the retention journey and why it matters for the success of your business.

UI/UX design helps to build a recognizable brand

Did you know that 3,739 apps are added daily to the Google Play Store? So how does your app stand out? The answer is UX and UI design, of course. An intuitive UI design and great UX will differentiate you from the crowd. That helps you attract more users and retain them and it will also give you a unique visual edge that will then make you more memorable to users. And an app that focuses on UI/UX importance is likely to have happy and satisfied customers who are always more gravitated towards such brands.

It helps increase user engagement

UI and UX both contribute to the integration of graphic elements on your app, which allows your users to navigate through the app. If your users don’t find it interesting and engaging, they’re most likely to abandon it, and switch to one of your competitors. Apps that are visually attractive and easy to navigate help convince the user to use them for longer and check out the goods/services that brands are offering. It's straight-forward - great UI/UX design means more user engagement. Higher user engagement translates into potential leads which will ultimately increase the revenue, as well as the brand awareness of your business. ‍

If you allow your customers to have a say, and leave feedback on how you can improve your mobile app or other software product, you can pinpoint all the minor problems that your customers might be facing when they visit your website, allowing you to improve your service. 

It saves valuable resources 

Investing in good web design and user experience will only affect the chances of your customer complaints to be reduced, but your website won’t need (too) frequent changes and updates in the long run. As we know, making regular changes and updates to your mobile app requires a lot of time and money. Part of these efforts can be saved and used somewhere else if you focus on effective mobile app development from the get-go. 

“For every dollar spent to resolve a problem during product design, $10 would be spent on the same problem during development, and multiply to $100 or more if the problem had to be solved after the product’s release.”

- Robert Pressman’s book “Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach” quoted in Forbes.

‍This goes to say that every dollar invested in UX returns $10 to $100, and correcting the problem from the start is the most cost-effective approach one can have.

It increases conversions  

Most probably, there are other ventures that offer a service similar to your own, and for every business, there is at least one competitor. Users will mostly choose mobile applications that offer an attractive and seamless user experience. As indicated by a Forrester research, a well-designed user experience can boost conversion rates by up to 400%. And well-optimized accessibility and usability can have great impact on customer satisfaction.

Moreover, an app or a website that pays attention to the importance of UI/UX design is likely to increase its user’s willingness to check out the products being offered. You should make sure you don’t underestimate the benefits of user experience design, and always hire experienced UI/UX designers to expand your business and increase the rate of conversions. Need some help with conducting a UX review? We've got you covered - don't hesitate and leave us a message.