How User Experience Drives Digital Marketing Success
It’s all about the user. When organizations began to realize that the user drove the process that led to the success or failure of their products, services and overall brand, the concept of UX or User Experience was born. Along with this realization came training like UX design courses to get those user experiences right.
UX comes from the fact that a user must want to and be able to complete an organization’s desired actions for something to be successful. Whether that is the steps to using a hot air fryer or the process of making a purchase on a website, the same concepts hold true. If it’s too hard to make french fries or complete a purchase, all the engineering and marketing in the world won’t matter in the least.
People will stop buying the air fryer and shoppers will abandon items in their online cart – or may never find the cart at all – if it’s too difficult to understand and complete the necessary actions.
Why Digital Marketing Needs to Focus on UX
Digital marketing is fraught with potential UX challenges. There are too many potholes, uncertainties and challenges from the user’s perspective. Unfamiliar websites, different social media platforms, pop-up windows, strange apps… the digital experience is rife with complexity. What may seem simple to the digital creator may be overwhelming to the intended user.
Not every user has the same familiarity and comfort with the digital world, which means elements must be designed around the lowest knowledge base of the standard user. Those in UX who learn about it through UX design courses online and in-person quickly learn that applying new tools and gadgets to a digital experience are not the right course of action if the user doesn’t want or appreciate them. It just bogs the process down.
Many consumers want simplicity over flashy in order to fulfill actions. There are other users, however, that want new and interesting elements in their user experience. For example, they may want a gamification opportunity around their purchases. Consider the Starbucks for Life contest that builds multiple elements into an online app where users can play and win. The program is so popular the company runs it multiple times a year.
Digital Marketing Meshes with UX for the Best Outcomes
Those who take a digital marketing certificate program are most likely to understand the endless tools and plugins to create fun and flexibility for a user. They will need to work closely with a UX designer to ensure their vision is appropriate for their level of user audience.
For example, in the Starbucks case, the game is cloud based, but is accessed easily through the Starbucks app. A user familiar with using the app to make drink purchases, customize their order and load their card online is likely comfortable navigating a new game online. Plus, because there are prizes available, the user is more interested in participating.
On the flip side, the Starbucks customer that comes through the drive through and pays with cash or card is unlikely to be interested in engaging with the app on their phone.
Digital Marketing is About Successful Use
The only way to create use of digital assets is to make them fit the user. In the past (and with some organizations like banks or government) when there was no choice, users would flounder through, trying to understand the steps of a process. This is no longer the case when there are other options.
Consumers have far too much ability to find a new internet carrier, pet product delivery company or entertainment experience. If an organization’s user experience is designed to be engaging, easy and successful, those consumers will stay. If not, they will move on to another organization.
For an organization to be successful in its digital marketing efforts, it must make use of new and engaging elements, but these must be considered from the aspect of user experience. Get to know the customer and their willingness to take on new things or keep the process as simple as possible.
