Digital transformation is a company or organization’s effort to transform or improve its current services, products, processes, and other applicable aspects of its business through digital means. A good example is creating a delivery app for a restaurant that only accepts orders through a counter, drive-through, and phone calls.
Unfortunately, not all digital transformation efforts can be successful. Suppose a restaurant does create a delivery app for its customers to use. That will fail if the app is poorly designed and annoying to use to the point that customers would instead visit the place and order from the counter.
To turn it into a success, you must factor in user experience (UX) in your digital transformation. If you want to know how to do that, here are some tips you can follow.
- Understand The Needs And Goals Of Your Users
It’s essential to understand the needs and goals of your users to provide them with relevant and valuable digital experiences in your digital transformation effort. These needs stem from your users’ desires, pain points, and expectations. Meanwhile, their goals root in the specific outcomes they want to achieve when using your digital product or service.
Say that you’re designing a mobile app for a food delivery service. Its users’ needs and goals may be fast delivery, healthy options, and various cuisines. Suppose you understand and consider those as you design and develop. In that case, it can result in digital products and services that are highly convenient for users, which is often beneficial to your business.
- Prioritize Having An Accessible Experience
Designing for an accessible experience ensures that digital products and services can be accessed by everyone, regardless of their abilities. This benefits everyone, including users with disabilities, who may face barriers when accessing digital products and services.
One good example of a standard mobile app feature with designing for accessibility is the functionality to allow color blind mode. In the real world, this is similar to installing ramps in a restaurant or providing a high chair for kids in the dining area.
- Perform Continuous Testing And Iteration Based On User Feedback
Continuous testing and iteration based on user feedback allow you to refine your digital products and services better to meet the needs and expectations of your users. Imagine you have launched a new mobile app and start receiving user feedback about the features they like and dislike. You can use this feedback to improve and update the app for a better user experience.
Following this UX tip pushes your digital products and services to improve constantly, providing better value and experiences to your users. This is similar to the process wherein a chef tastes the dish they are cooking and adjusts the seasoning and ingredients based on the feedback they receive from their diners.
- Have Consistency And Standards In Design
Consistency and standards in the design can result in a much more cohesive and familiar look and feel in your apps and services—and it’s greatly essential when creating a business website. After all, familiarity makes it easier for their users to use, navigate, and understand an app, website, or service.
Aside from that, consistency and following standards eliminate the need to supply users with manuals and training. In the kitchen, this can be found in a recipe book. Each recipe listed will follow the same format, reducing confusion and allowing people who use it to understand what they need to do instantly.
- Use User Personas
User personas are like character profiles that represent the key characteristics and behaviors of the target users. They help create a clear understanding of the target users, their needs and expectations, and how to provide them with a great user experience.
For example, a user persona for a food delivery app may include a teen who loves sweet food. When this persona is considered, the app may showcase desserts on the front page, which is highly convenient and attractive for the users that match the persona.
- Recognize The Importance Of Collaboration
Collaboration is crucial in digital transformation as it allows different teams to work together toward a common goal, leading to better outcomes. In a digital transformation project, the collaboration between the IT department and marketing team is essential to ensure that the company’s website, app, or service is technically sound and user-friendly.
By working collaboratively, you can better understand the needs of the various individuals or groups interested in the project’s outcome, resulting in better, more effective, and more efficient solutions.
In a restaurant setting, collaboration can be seen as the team effort between the cooks, servers, and managers to guarantee their customers will have the best dining experience.
Conclusion
As businesses shift toward digital products and services through digital transformation, it’s crucial to consider and prioritize UX. Designing digital products and services with a user-centric approach is essential to meet user needs and expectations. However, it’s not enough to focus solely on user needs; designers must also consider accessibility, consistency, and collaboration to succeed in digital transformation.
