Reasons Why Businesses Should Care About User Experience Design for Software Products

Most software developers want to release superb products that are highly valued and result in greater return on investment. In fact, as a developer, you want your work not only to generate revenue, references, bonuses and continued employment, but also to make a difference for others and in turn make the world better. There is no better way to achieve this than taking into account user experience based design in your software development.

What is User Experience?

User experience (UX) refers to the overall experience of end users when they interact or use a software product. It is concerned with how effectively, efficiently and enjoyably a software application performs the functions it is expected to perform for the end users. User experience is an essential aspect of software development because it determines whether there is need for training on how to use the product and influences how much time the end users are willing to spend voluntarily on using an application. It also affects bottom line KPIs such as operating margins and resource productivity, as well as top line KPIs such as average spend per transaction, repeat purchases and sales revenue.

Why Should You Care About User Experience Design

The success of a software product depends heavily on user experiences. It is the overall user experience with your software that will determine whether someone will make another purchase or will look elsewhere next time. And since most software products are first put on trial before purchase, the overall user experience effectively determines whether users will buy the product or not. Besides, as a developer, you will only have one chance to get it right with a potential customer as most prospective clients will only have a short period to determine whether to buy your software product or not. Under those circumstances, it is really important that users have amazing experiences the first time they interact with or use your product so you do not lose them.

User experience design is also critical because of the huge amounts of planning and investment that goes into software development. Typically, software development requires massive investment in planning, design, production and testing in order to achieve the desired function. Such a large amount of investment is only justified if the product solves the problems of end users, follows their thought processes and helps them to get their jobs done efficiently and conveniently. In fact, it is only through good user experiences that sales of software products can cover the cost of production and generate desired profit.

Moreover, it does not matter whether the software is created for consumers or for internal business solutions. For instance, user experience design for an internal software product can ensure that your workers complete their tasks with less frustration, fewer errors and less fuss, making them happier and more effective, and ultimately improving the bottom line. Either way, you need to ensure that the software can attract and engage users quickly, is intuitively easy to navigate and is readily accessible. In fact, ignoring user experience based design is like foregoing the additional customers, improved sales revenue or increased productivity that result from good user experiences.