In this episode, User Experience designer and researcher Neil Turner will share his thoughts on how and when to interact with UX professionals in your company as well as give you some practical tips and tools you can use to create a better experience for your customers.

Neil Turner is a User experience designer and researcher with over 10 years of commercial UX experience. Neil also runs a blog called UX for the Masses where he shares tips, techniques, and tools everyone can use to design a better user experience.

After listening to this episode, you will understand:

  • What User Experience Design is and how it differs from Customer Experience Design (CX)
  • Tools you can use to begin building a better experience for your customers
  • How you can better understand your customers and build a solution for their needs

Show Notes

What is UX?
User experience design (UX) is more than the buttons and interface of an application. It encompasses the entire experience of a user to make sure their journey through system interaction is a positive one. A large part of UX is user-centric design, essentially giving the user a seat at the table when designing an application.

UX helps to mitigate risk by getting frequent customer feedback when it’s easier and cheaper to make changes. UX differs from CX (customer experience) in that CX may cover customer interactions through multiple channels and multiple touch points.

Both User Experience Design professionals and Business Analysts often ask questions to understand the goals so that then can ensure the resulting solution meets the needs of the user and the organization. They may work together to get design feedback and iterate on the design.

“Design isn’t the sole responsibility of the designer, it’s the entire team’s responsibility”

Any opportunity to work directly with users allows UX professionals (and business Analysts) to develop empathy and build a solution the better fits the user needs. Getting a lot of ideas on the table and exploring alternatives is helpful in developing a great solution through iterating and getting feedback.

 

UX Tools
You may already be using some User Experience Design tools. Some common tools include personas, story maps, and process maps. A UX professional may also use prototypes and wireframes to solicit feedback on their design.

Another tools Neil recommends using Customer Experience Maps. This maps out a customer’s journey end to end (the different touchpoints and experiences) to better understand the customer, identify key parts of their journey and creating a seamless experience. There are generally two types of User Experience maps:

  1. Existing experience based on qualitative and quantitative research
  2. Future experience when designing a new product or changing an existing project

More important than tools, however, is the mindset. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and design something that meets their needs (and is a pleasure to use).

 

Neil’s Tip
As much as possible, get out and interact with users. It’s easier than you think and understanding the user’s needs and pain points is critical to developing a solution that will solve their problems.

 

What’s Your Take?
Have you worked with UX Designers or used some UX tools?  Please leave a response below and share your experience.

 

Links mentioned in this episode

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