Your digital business could use a UX web of influence

UX designers are a lot like spiders.

Have you ever tried to force an analogy? It’s easy to do because analogies are hard. I wanted to talk today about how UX designers are like spiders, and how they make these amazing webs that help gather insights that make your business more informed and effective. But every attempt to fit this insight into jokes about “web presence” has fallen flat. Plus people don’t even like spiders. And I don’t want that to be the same for UX designers. I want you to like them, and understand them, and at the risk of sounding like a pusher, I want you to use them!

I should probably mention that I’m actually a big fan of spiders. So this was meant more like a compliment, and not meant to get you to say, “ew” or “come kill it”. So let’s just agree that UX designers are like spiders and talk about what we really came here to talk about.

When you focus on what’s ahead you miss out on what’s around you

So here’s the situation. Businesses are comprised not only of the product that they sell, but rather they rely on the entire ecosystem that surrounds them. You may not have suppliers, but do you rely on data service providers?

Interoperability.

It’s the key to success for any digital product and it goes beyond the areas that you have direct control over. It’s okay if you’re not sure how much this might be impacting your business right now, it’s just important that you know what to do next.

Think about it this way. Say you wake up one day, after a slew of blockbuster films about the grace and beauty of spiders, and you find that not only do people love spiders but they want them on their clothes, in the games they play, you name it. They are the shit right now. And what a coincidence, you happen to own a spider trading card business. You can make a digital trading card site that is all about spiders, using your amazing designs. You’re going to ca-ching, cash in on this new wave. You care about your customers and you want them to have the best of the best so you make sure there are plenty of options for them to choose from, and you’re going to make everything on your website easy to find. It’s going to be amazing. You’re a great business owner.

But then after one more sleep, you wake up to find… shit. All of your users are accessing your site from their phone. They can only see half of a card at a time. And most of them are outside looking for spiders, so the glare on their phone is not working with the color selections you made.

And they give up. And go back to collecting Pokemon. It’s a tragedy.

What happened?

It’s a common scenario. We’re human. We see the world through our own eyes, and we interpret it as best we can based on our own experiences. In your world you probably had people that loved your spider trading cards, and you’re passionate and savvy so you made a digital offering a possibility. But when it came time to grow and reach that next level you missed an opportunity.

You don’t need spidey senses

If you’re not familiar, spidey sense refers to Peter Parker’s ability to sense eminent danger. If you’re not familiar with Peter Parker, we’re not friends any more.

Oh man, sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I guess I really like Spider-Man. But in all seriousness you don’t need any sort of psychic ability to make an improved user experience. But it does help to have an expert in user experience to help you along the way.

A user experience designer is not all knowing. They can’t give you the answers. They can provide recommendations based on experience and best practices. But the magic comes when they sit down with your users, or a sampling of users that represent your expected users, and talk to them. They don’t just ask questions, they ask the right questions. And they ask them in the right way. Like a spider with their expertly crafted web, they are able to catch all of those delicious morsels… I can’t, sorry, I really wanted to continue this, talking about how spiders digest their food and you can slurp it up, but it sounds gross even in my head. Basically user experience designers have the tools to synthesize the data they gather and provide you with actionable insights that you can use immediately to improve your user experience.

Yes, just like spiders do.

This article is day 2 of a 31 day series. A mash-up of the Inktober 2023 prompt list and UX insights for business owners. Read more about the challenge here.