Good UX benefits every function of a business.
Simply, when customers enjoy using your product this has a knock-on positive effect on your brand. People feel good about your product so they feel good about you.
When your customers have a poor experience using your product, however, they leave with a negative image of your brand which can have damaging repercussions for every team in the company.
This is particularly true of digital marketers who rely on good UX to help them engage, guide and nurture audiences through each stage of the marketing funnel.
Here are 5 ways that prioritising UX design can improve your digital marketing strategy:
1. More impactful messaging
Successful digital marketing educates the target audience on the value of a product and persuades them to take some action. This could be signing up for a free trial, subscribing to a newsletter or downloading a brochure. Whatever the outcome, the start point is the same: your messaging. How are you speaking to your audience and how are you anticipating their needs?
To create clearer marketing messages, focus on the problem you’re trying to solve. Use search query reports and hold focus groups to figure out what your audience is looking for. Then, you can write copy that aligns with their needs. Avoid overly elaborate language or technical jargon.
Your website or landing pages need concise copy that’s clearly laid out. The information should follow a logical hierarchy and speak specifically to the stage of the journey your customer is at. To take a mobile network operator as an example, marketers will need to provide customers with enough information on contract length, broadband speeds and pricing before asking them for their payment details.
Consistency between your paid digital channels and your landing pages is another important factor, so be mindful of the referral path.
Think about why someone clicked through from an ad and ensure you’re delivering on what you promised them. The journey needs to make sense or you’ll lose potential leads.
2. Improved team work
Being able to communicate well with other teams is an asset to any professional. But for digital marketers, who rely on product and design resources to bring campaigns to life, it’s especially pertinent.
If you can frame requests to other teams in terms of UX, you have a much greater chance of them being prioritised.
Focusing on users first and team objectives second also helps to align each of your internal stakeholders. Adopting the vocabulary and mindset of a UX designer will result in better communication, better campaigns and ultimately better results for everyone.
3. Reduced costs
Poor user experience can be caused by many factors like a page being slow to load, difficult to navigate or just confusing. If it’s a struggle to complete basic tasks like request a callback, you’re failing your customers.
And if you’re failing your customers, they will simply leave your site for one of your competitors. In this way, improving the customer journey is not just about improving customer satisfaction, it has an instant effect on your budget too.
Digital marketers spend a lot of time compiling PPC and AdWords options to drive traffic and increase conversion rates. But if you’re bringing people on to your site and they can’t find what they’re looking for, this poor experience has cost you money.
And the expense doesn’t stop there, a poor user journey also affects your visibility on search engines. If Google sees lots of clicks back from a page, it will assume your site is not relevant and you’ll stop ranking for certain keywords. Over time this will negatively impact your site’s domain authority and your organic search performance. If this happens, your chance of appearing on the first search page is slim to none, which is arguably the most detrimental cost to any digital business.
4. Better conversions
User testing is a critical part of delivering a positive user experience. Digital marketers who embrace regular and rigorous testing are likely to see improved conversion rates and lead numbers.
For one, testing allows you to identify the best performing copy and creative in your campaigns from social to search to email. It also means you can uncover any issues which may be stopping a potential lead from converting. Are there technical barriers you missed when creating a campaign or a landing page? Are you failing to meet the expectations of your users?
For example, if a user clicks on a button to ‘register interest’, it should be obvious what’s going to happen next. Will they be directed to more online content? Will they receive a sales call? The path to conversion needs to be logical; if a user clicks a link to ‘learn more’ and they are taken to a payment page, they may question the legitimacy of the page (and the company associated with it).
Remember, not everyone is your customer. While a really direct call-to-action may mean some people leave your site, it also means that those who click through will have a genuine interest in your product and are more likely to convert.
5. Improved customer satisfaction
UX design isn’t just about easy navigation and optimised copy; it’s also about creating memorable, positive experiences for your customers. These experiences are what drive recurring visits and increase brand loyalty.
Good experience design leads to customer satisfaction which is the cornerstone of a reputable, successful and enduring brand.
Digital marketers need to look at the whole customer journey holistically, not just the channels they’re managing. Upskilling in UX can help develop that holistic mindset and leads to a more cohesive output across marketing, product, design and sales teams.
