User Experience (UX) in Marketing

User Experience (UX) plays a critical role in marketing. A positive UX can help users identify with a product or brand and remain loyal. On the other hand, a negative UX can lead to frustration and dislike, thus affecting the brand image. To ensure optimal UX, the needs and expectations of the target group must be understood and integrated into the strategy.

What is User Experience?

User experience refers to the totality of experiences that a user has when interacting with a product, website, app or service. It refers to the perception, emotions, thoughts and behaviours that arise during use.

A pop-up on a web page that just doesn’t want to disappear? You click on a button and nothing happens? Pictures that just don’t want to load? A URL that takes you to an error page? Oh, some websites can be frustrating. These were all examples of a bad user experience (UX). And although the user experience has once again become a buzzword of today’s digital age, we should look at the topic a little more intensively.

The focus of UX is always on the target group. It is therefore important to consider how to maximise the user’s experience rather than the specific personal preferences.

A lot of people think of UX as an area that’s all about designers. But let’s get rid of that thinking quickly. Because creating a stunning UX should also be a core area of any marketing strategy. In this article, you will find out what importance the user experience has in marketing and what points to consider.

Examples of User Experience

• sef.growth

• Merck

Elements of the User Experience

UX is made up of different elements aimed at giving users a positive experience with a product or service. The main elements include:

Usability

High usability means that a product or service is easy to use and that users can reach their destination quickly and without any problems.

Design

The design of a website, app or product is an important factor in UX. An appealing design can help people identify with the product and enjoy using it.

Content

The content of a website or app is crucial for UX. The content should be informative, easy to understand and relevant to users.

Speed

The speed of a website or app has a big impact on UX. Fast loading times and response times provide a better user experience.

Interactivity

Interactive elements such as buttons, forms or animations can improve UX and help users engage more with a product or service.

Accessibility

A good UX should be accessible to all users, regardless of their physical or cognitive ability.

By optimising all of these elements, an optimal user experience can be achieved, which contributes to a product or service being used and recommended.

What makes a good user experience?

A good user experience means that users have a positive experience with a product or service. In addition to the elements that are part of a good UX, here are some factors that make UX a positive experience for users:

• User-Centered Design (UCD): An approach that focuses on the needs and expectations of users. The aim of the UCD is to develop products that are tailored to the needs and abilities of users and provide an optimal user experience.

• Human-Computer Interaction: The aim here is to make human-computer interaction as simple, effective and efficient as possible. This includes optimising user-friendliness and user experience.

• User-friendliness: A product or service that is user-friendly enables users to achieve their goals quickly and easily without feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. User-friendliness encompasses several aspects, such as the design of the user interface, the use of intuitive icons and icons, the structuring of content, the speed and response time of the system, and the way it navigates and exchanges information.

• User experience: The totality of the user experience, i.e. the totality of impressions, feelings and ratings that users experience when interacting with a product or service.

What are the benefits of a good user experience design?

A good user experience design has many benefits for companies and users.

• Increase customer satisfaction: A good user experience increases user satisfaction by allowing them to navigate the website or app and reach their goals quickly.

• Improved brand perception: A positive user experience contributes to users having a positive opinion of a brand, product or company. This in turn can lead to greater trust in the brand and increase the likelihood that users will re-engage with the company.

• Increase the conversion rate: A better user experience can help users reach their goals faster and more effectively, whether it be a purchase, a registration or another desired action. This can increase the conversion rate.

• Increase user engagement: A good user experience can help people stay longer on a website or app and return more often. This in turn can help increase user engagement and reduce the cost of acquiring new customers.

• SEO: Improved loading times, longer user dwell time and higher traffic are the favourite traits of Google. These elements, also known as “user signals”, give a better SEO ranking. If the user has a good experience with a site, the chance of getting backlinks is much higher.

Overall, a good user experience can contribute to companies being more successful and users being more satisfied.

What is the aim of the User Experience?

How does effective marketing work nowadays? It’s actually not easy to address the user with ads. Users’ attention span and length of time they spend are decreasing all the time, we ignore banners, and we all want to burn these pop-ups. And so it happens that even an exciting Product Video (with really good Storytelling) is never seen in the first place. The user leaves the webpage frustrated and annoyed without even clicking on the play button. Many marketing managers and business owners stand in their way. Keyword is “bad user experience”.

User experience also plays a decisive role in the offline world.

Do you know any of those products where you just can’t get the hang of it, even though you have detailed instructions? That can be quite a nerve-raiser. Would you recommend a product like that to others?

Here are some statistics that prove the impact UX can have on the target group:

• 88 % of Online-Shoppers say they would not return to a website after a bad user experience.

• 70% of Online-Stores fail due to poor usability.

• 53 % of mobile website visitors leave a page that loads longer than three seconds.

The better our experiences with a web page, a product or a service, the longer they stay in our memory. For this reason, the user experience is directly related to branding.

What is the difference between UI (User Interface) and UX (User Experience)?

User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) are two terms often used in the design of websites or apps, but they refer to different aspects of design – UI for the user interface, UX for the overall experience.

User Interface includes the visual design, interaction capabilities and functionality of the website or app. A User Interface Designer is responsible for creating visual elements such as buttons, menus, input boxes and other design elements that are available to the user to interact with the application.

UX, on the other hand, refers to the entire experience a user has while interacting with a website or app. It includes aspects such as user journey, information architecture, usability, functionality and interaction. A user experience designer focuses on enabling the user to use the digital product effectively and satisfactorily.

In summary, UI design determines the look and functionality of a website or app, while UX design ensures that the overall user experience of the digital product is positive. Both aspects are important for a successful digital application.

What is the difference between usability and user experience?

Usability and User Experience (UX) are two concepts that are often confused with each other, but they refer to different aspects of design and interaction with a digital product.

Usability refers to the ease of use, or the ability of a digital product to meet users’ needs effectively and efficiently. It is about how easy it is for the user to perform certain tasks on the website or app, how quickly they can achieve their goals, and how few errors there are. Usability can also be seen as an aspect of user experience that focuses on the usability of the application.

User experience, on the other hand, refers to the overall experience of a user while interacting with a digital product, including the emotional and psychological effects. UX encompasses aspects such as user journey, design, functionality and interaction with the application. Positive UX is important to achieve long-term user loyalty and customer satisfaction.

How to measure user experience?

Measuring User Experience (UX) is an important step in improving the user experience and ensuring that a website or app meets the needs and expectations of users. Here are some of the most common ways to measure UX:

KPI Tracking

Tracking identifies the individual user and tracks their usage behaviour. Web analytics tools can help track and analyse user behaviour on the website or app. For example, metrics such as stay time, dropout rates, click paths or the number of returning visitors can be used to do this. Return-to-search rate is a metric used in web analytics to measure how often users return to the search results page after a search on a website or in a search engine.

Surveys, Interviews and Usability Tests

User surveys and interviews can also provide insight into users’ opinions and behaviour. There are also usability tests, which require users to perform certain tasks on the website or app, verbalising their thoughts and actions. These tests can help identify problems in using the application and find solutions.

It is important to combine several of these methods to get a complete picture of the UX and ensure that the website or app meets the needs and expectations of users.

How to improve the user experience?

There are many ways to improve the User Experience (UX). Here are some things you should keep in mind:

A simple user interface with intuitive and easy navigation helps users navigate the website or app and provides a pleasant and efficient user experience. Images, legible typography, headings and paragraphs can increase reading time. Links can help readers deal with related topics and increase interest in reading.

A consistent, compelling design with consistent colours, fonts and layouts helps create a brand identity and intuitive navigation. A design that aims to positively influence the emotions and feelings of users can create a true experience.

Understanding user needs is important: Design Thinking is based on a deep understanding of user needs. By observing, interviewing and understanding users, users’ needs and pain points can be better identified and incorporated into user experience design. It may be helpful to involve a professional UX researcher in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the needs and behaviours of the target group.

Ready for the optimal UX in marketing?

As you can see, UX has long been more than just an area for designers. By considering an excellent UX, you guarantee maximum usability, an engaging online experience, and ultimately satisfied customers that enable you to reach your marketing goals.