What Is UX Strategy?

What Is UX Strategy

To put it simply, Huddle Creative describes UX strategy as the planning and strategic side of UX (user experience). UX design is the creation of a digital product, while the UX strategy is an effective plan to make sure the company’s brand identity runs parallel with the desired user experience for customers.

In essence, a UX strategy focuses on the customer, aiming to streamline their user experience. While UX design needs to be creative and free-flowing, at the same time, they have to be sure it is aligned with the company’s needs, which is where the UX strategy comes in.

Why Is UX Strategy Important?

User experience is a key consideration in business success. It helps companies to stand out from the competition and connect with their audience on a deeper level.

Having a good UX strategy means the difference between customers sticking around for years, or leaving shortly after signing up.

While some companies may not have any customers in their target audience, they still need to make sure that the digital product is designed with them in mind when they do finally go live.

A good example of this would be when Facebook launched their “Beacon” initiative back in 2007. At first, it seemed like a great idea that was innovative at the time, allowing marketers to send out targeted ads based on what users were buying from other websites. However, because Facebook wasn’t able to properly involve its users through an effective UX strategy process before releasing the feature – one that let people opt-in – they immediately drew criticism and protests from people who felt like their privacy was being invaded. While the company may have had good intentions, they failed to consider user experience – and ultimately lost a lot of customers as a result.

Where Does UX Strategy Come Into Play?

UX strategy is something that every business should be thinking about no matter what sector it’s in. It doesn’t matter whether you run an online store, a blog with millions of readers, or if you provide some kind of professional service; having one means that you can ensure that your users are enjoying themselves.

While it goes without saying that UX blogs will need to take place before the actual product development begins, there will also need to be decisions made about the UX strategy. These will include things like:

– Who your target audience is and how to reach them

– The type of content that they want to see (blogs, videos, etc.)

– What kinds of marketing channels you could use (email newsletters vs Facebook ads)

– How much money to spend on advertising and other marketing ventures.

UX strategy helps companies figure out what kind of product they need to make, and who they’re targeting, before development begins. This means there needs to be a lot of collaboration between teams and departments – something which can be both challenging but also necessary for success.

Because UX design needs creativity from its team members, it’s important that the UX strategy team has an in-depth understanding of the business’ requirements to make sure that they keep on track.

What Else Can UX Strategy Do?

UX strategy goes beyond digital products – it can also be used to evaluate existing services and plan major changes. For example, if a company has an inefficient customer service system, they could use their UX strategy team to help come up with new ways that users can get in touch, or where they need to improve communication within their company so that customers aren’t kept waiting for days on end before receiving help.

The same principle applies the other way around – if there is something about your product or service that people love but you don’t expect them too (things like having a loyalty program), then you need to make sure that your UX strategy is ready to capitalise on that.

What Does a Successful UX Strategy Look Like?

A successful user experience strategy is one that addresses all of the needs and wants of a business’ target audience.

Whether it’s through creating new digital products or providing better access to existing services, the team should be able to fully understand what they are tasked with creating so they can design something not only for their users but from them too.

UX strategy helps companies identify who their customers are, what kind of personas they fall into, and how best to reach them across different channels. This information will help companies create a product that really speaks to its intended audience.

Putting together a successful UX strategy is no easy task, but when done correctly it can really help your business to stand out from the crowd.

How To Create A UX Strategy:

A UX strategy needs to be well-thought out and reflective of the business’ needs. It should also consider both digital products and services where possible, because it’s not uncommon for these two aspects of a company to overlap.

Here are some steps that can help you get started:

1. Conduct user research

User research allows companies to understand the problems that their customers face on a daily basis, discover what kind of content they want, and figure out how active they are online.

Knowing your audience is especially important for businesses who rely heavily on social media marketing or want people to interact with their product frequently. If your company falls into either of these categories, then conducting user research before developing any UX strategy will be incredibly important.

It’s a good idea to create user personas.

Personas are fictional characters who represent the demographics of your audience. They should be complete with goals, behaviors, likes and dislikes, so that your UX strategist has a greater understanding of the people involved in the design process.

By creating these personas at the beginning of any UX strategy, you can really understand what they want to see when it comes to product or service updates – whether that’s new content or more efficient ways of getting in touch with customer service.

2. Develop User Cases

User cases allow companies to figure out which features need redesigning or repurposing for different devices (so that users on their mobile app aren’t presented with desktop features).

User cases also help businesses pinpoint what content is most important to their audience, which can really help with optimising your UX strategy.

3. Conduct competitor analysis

Competitor analysis allows companies to understand how they are performing against other similar brands online. By looking at the digital marketing efforts of competing companies, UX strategists can learn what kind of services and products work well for their audience and use this information to improve on their own design choices.

4. Set goals and benchmarks

UX strategies should always set out clear goals in order to ensure that everyone involved knows what they are working towards. When you’re meeting with clients, speaking with investors, or writing reports, being able to reference these goals is really important because it shows that you have a plan in place and can deliver on your promises – which is exactly how users want things to be done online too.

Goals also need to lay out different stages of development so businesses can measure their progress against reports from previous months or quarters. This will help employees stay accountable when they might otherwise assume certain tasks are completed in their absence.

5. Monitor and measure success

UX strategies should always be measurable – whether that means looking at website traffic reports, social media engagement levels, or the number of phone calls received from live chat features.

It’s important to monitor trends in user behaviour because they show which changes are positively impacting your strategy and which elements aren’t actually adding any value.

Author bio:

Danny Somekh – founder of Huddle Creative

Danny Somekh is the founder of Huddle Creative, a branding and digital agency that produces creative work for clients of all sizes and sectors.