5 Reasons to Invest in UX
June 23, 2022
User experience (UX) has a huge impact on performance when it comes to your website.
Consider, for instance, that it takes only 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds!) for a site visitor to decide whether or not to engage with your site. If they don’t like what they see and experience, they’re likely to click away and never return. That’s why investing in UX is critical to the success of your website—and of your organization.
Yet if you’re like many marketers, you know this already but may need to do more to convince stakeholders. Here, in an effort to help, we share five reasons you should invest in UX.
1. People are more likely to trust websites that have a positive user experience.
As much as you may not like it, users judge websites based on their looks. If your website looks dated or unprofessional, visitors will be less likely to trust it—and, more importantly, less likely to engage with your site messaging and conversion points.
Even a well-designed website may not be enough to instill confidence in your organization if there are functionality or technology issues.
These can include:
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slow loading times
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broken images or links
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inaccurate information
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unclickable elements
Key Takeaway: A well-designed website instills confidence in your brand and makes users more likely to trust your messaging.
2. Good UX is good for business.
Studies have shown that investing in UX can lead to a significant increase in engagement and conversion rates—sometimes as much as 300%, as happened in a study by Hubspot when video was added as a core source of content. That means more leads for your business, more members for your organizations, or more sales for your e-commerce shop.
Not only that, but customers who experience a positive user experience are also:
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more likely to return to the site, thereby increasing your return visitor rate
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more likely to re-convert on your site, thereby increasing the lifetime value of your audience
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more likely to recommend your site to others, thereby increasing the volume of referral traffic
In fact, a recent study has found that for every $1 invested in UX, $100 is generated in value.
Key takeaway: A positive UX directly impacts your website’s conversion rate and, by extension, your profitability.
3. UX can help you stand out from the competition.
In today’s competitive marketplace, it’s more important than ever to make sure your website is designed with the user in mind. If your site is challenging to use or navigate, potential customers will go to a competitor’s site that’s easier to use. Trust us. They have plenty to choose from.
By investing in UX, you can set your site apart from the competition and make it more likely that users will stay on your site and do business with you. But how, exactly, can you make that happen?
Here are three steps you can take to beat your competition on UX:
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Start by objectively auditing your competition’s user experience, asking yourself: What are the pros/cons of each experience?
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Compare your website to each competitor. Where are you excelling? Where can you find improvement?
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Use what you learn from these findings to improve your site’s user experience , starting with the UX update that will have the most significant impact on your site. Alternatively, opt for an update that you can get to market quicker.
Key takeaway: In an ever-crowded marketplace, stand out by providing a best-in-class user experience for your audience.
4. A strong UX leads to higher search engine rankings.
Search engines like Google are constantly updating their algorithms to ensure they’re delivering the best possible results to users. Part of that involves taking into account the user experience of websites.
Google uses several different signals to determine the user experience of your website, including:
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bounce rate
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time on site
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mobile experience
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site layout
Pay particular attention to your site’s mobile user experience, making sure it aligns with Google’s mobile-first indexing preference.
Key takeaway: If your site has a positive user experience, it’s more likely to rank highly in search results. That means more traffic and more potential customers for your business.
5. Investing in UX can save you money in the long run.
It may seem like investing in UX is an added expense, but in reality, it can save you money in the long-run—money that can be reinvested in your marketing, your technology, and your employees.
A strong UX can produce tangible reductions in costs across a myriad of metrics, including:
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reducing support costs by making your website more intuitive and user-friendly
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reducing paid advertising and media costs by improving your organic and referral traffic
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reducing email marketing and other re-engagement costs as your conversion rates improve
Key takeaway: Increase your impact and your profitability by improving your user experience to increase revenue AND decrease costs.
Investing in UX is a wise decision that can make a noticeable impact on any organization. By focusing on providing a positive experience for your website users, you’ll attract more visitors, grow your impact, and improve the conversion rates on the specific actions that matter most to your brand.
So, if you’re not already investing in UX, now is the time to start. Your website—and your business—will thank you.
Not sure how you compare to your competitors in terms of your UX maturity? Our fast and efficient UX maturity assessment can help organizations like yours assess your current UX capabilities. Take the UX assessment.