Steve Jobs said it best, “Some people think design means how it looks. But, if you dig deeper, it is really how it works.” The User Experience (UX) says everything about how your technology offering defines, connects, and cares for end users, the folks who actually use the product or application. The UX is subjective in nature, because it is centered around an individual’s experience, performance, feelings, and thoughts. It is dynamic, because it changes over time as individual circumstances change. The first requirement for an exemplary UX is to meet the needs of the person involved. To do this, you need to close the gap between expectation and experience. What are some additional points that factor into a great User Experience?
Clear and Concise Communication
Clear and concise communication is imperative to creating a great UX. Create a clear vision, by stating your truths and being transparent about how the product will align with existing systems, applications, and additional users. An ambiguous situation can occur when you see more than one solution to a problem, but you aren’t sure which one to use. Make sure that the people sitting on the receiving end have a clear understanding of the product or application, and that there is no margin for ambiguity. To avoid issues with retention, share memorable information at the beginning and the end of a presentation. And to create a strong, mutually beneficial bond with users, be honest with them at each step of the UX journey.
Identify Pain Points
An inconsistent UX occurs when the support team is unavailable or the queues are too long. When there is a quality issue with products and services, or a lack of adequate knowledge and experience from the leadership team. If the buying process is a complicated one, it’s a big red warning sign to watch out for additional delays in support and training. A good UX is the net result of the good experiences minus the bad ones. It occurs when the gap between expectation and experience is closed. Our customers say it best; “Know what you need to accomplish, and know the workflow to get there.” Workflow is a crucial element of UX design. Whether you are working on a new project or attempting to optimize an existing one, knowing and understanding the workflow process is imperative to creating a good UX.
Improve Product Usability
Usability is the extent to which a user can actually use a product for its intended purpose. It can be measured through time, effort, errors, and user satisfaction. A great example is Electronic Health Records (EHR). Initially, they were sold to physicians by inflating the features and functionality without addressing individual user pain points. To adequately use the application, it was almost always necessary to create custom templates, shortlists, formulary shortcuts, and much more. Yet most salespeople never mentioned this at the beginning of the user journey. As a result, users were misled, misinformed, and mistaken about the effort required to use EHR systems. Customer touch-points are the point of interaction with the brand across three main phases of the customer lifecycle, awareness, evaluation, and post-purchase experience. It’s important to thoroughly understand each step of the customer journey and to anticipate needs and remove friction throughout the entire process. This is how you improve usability.
Request User Feedback
Whether via email, a pop-up survey, support feedback, or third-party reviews, it is imperative to monitor the user experience and gain knowledge from their feedback. By asking for user feedback, users feel their opinions are truly valued. Their feedback will enable you to avoid these same, duplicative issues with future users. It is the task of customer support to identify the right solution and explain it using the right words so that the user doesn’t need to ask again. The adage “Teach a man to fish,” comes to mind. A consistent support experience is a crucial part of the UX journey. When questions come up (and they will), be sure to teach users why the incident occurred, and how to prevent it in the future. Ensure that everyone on the support team consistently follows the same protocols. Efficient problem-solving builds future trust.
Why Boston Software Systems?
A good product may get a customer engaged, but after-sales support keeps them loyal. Boston WorkStation surpassed competitor rankings in the “Best in KLAS 2022” report, with a final total score of 93.8. 100% of customers interviewed gave Boston WorkStation a solid 100% rating in product value, delivering a money’s worth return on investment, and driving tangible outcomes. Boston WorkStation outperformed industry giant, UiPath, and hundreds of other vendors in most categories. We are experts on streamlining workflows, reducing costs, and improving the user experience. We’d love to share our successes with you and add you to our growing list of loyal customers. With 95% of our projects completed in < 45 days, savings in time and money are right around the corner.