Written by: Larry Goodfellow
The Future is User Friendly
Market research online communities are used by companies to track and gauge customer experience and gather feedback to help drive design. In an article by Raffaela Rein, entitled 5 Reasons Why UX-Led Companies Are The Future the author looks at the benefits of user experience and the reason why companies are investing in it and why other companies need to take it more seriously. The author starts out by saying that user experience (UX) is more than good web design. Companies like Coca-Cola, Apple, IMB, Starbucks and Nike are all heavily investing in UX. Rein states that a “study by the Design Management Institute shows that user experience (UX) design-driven companies outperformed the S&P 500 by 228% over the last ten years.” MROC software can be used to help gauge the important aspects of UX which include intuitive design, and customer experiences so companies can better understand their customers.
Design is more than a pretty package. When companies look at creating a good user experience or being “UX design-led” they care about the overall design of the product, but they also care about the interaction and experience each interaction holds between the customer and the business. The product has to be user-friendly, when a product is not user-friendly the ill feelings created are connected to the product. The combination has to be good design plus being user-friendly.
Selling Experiences
User experience goes beyond the product and looks at the experience created. Rein writes how buying a BMW is more than just a car purchase. With the purchase comes an identity of belonging to an exclusive group. The second example he gives is Airbnb and how an online company has sought to create an environment with its service providers that focuses on the experience. Hosts that do a wonderful job and get great reviews are promoted to Superhosts which means they will get more business, and be ranked higher than hosts who only provide an average service.
User Friendly a Company Concern
The article explains how companies like Apple, Nike, and IBM create a design culture within their office. Rein uses the example of Apple, “every employee in the organization is responsible for thinking about user friendliness. The organization is structured in a way that encourages and supports great UX design.” This focus goes beyond just one team in the company that is hired to look at UX. When there is only one team looking at UX then there becomes a struggle to implement the changes needed. Resistance forms as individuals within the company feel that customer experience is not the number one priority.
Market research online communities can be used to understand the customer experience by utilizing quantitative research to gather quick insights about usability. Then combine those with qualitative online research such as discussions to gather deeper insights about the interactions and feelings the customers have towards the product.
If you would like to find out more about how market research online communities can help you, please feel free to contact us.
Follow us on Twitter! Check us out on LinkedIn! Or like us on Facebook!
Comments