More and more businesses and their services are migrating online during a pandemic to survive. But since the move is probably rushed, UX (user experience) is not in the foreground.
They just need to show customers their products, and customers should already be buying, right? Not really.
Alvin Chai, UX consultant at a consulting firm Netizen eXperience (NX) told the Vulcan Post that some of the biggest UX problems companies (old and new) still face today are:
- Too much focus on appearance and impression, but not the usability of the interface, ie. How easy it is for the user to complete the task on their website / application;
- Developing their website / application / software based on their business requirements without validating their design with actual users through usability tests;
- Not surveying users to understand what their unmet needs are that could reveal new business opportunities.
But what is the price of a bad UX?
Painful price to pay
When a bad UX is not fixed, Alvin said it leads to higher support and training costs so that targeted users know how to use your digital service and you will lose or reduce ROI in marketing.
Even if you drive a lot of traffic to your site, you’ll see a reduced sales conversion rate because people just don’t know how to navigate it.
This then increases the need for redevelopment or reworking. Alvin shared, “Developers typically spend 50% of their time on avoidable fixes, and the cost of debugging after development can be a hundred times higher than before development.”
Ultimately, your poor UX will mean reduced customer satisfaction and retention, and customers are less likely to recommend your product / service by word of mouth.
An example Alvin noticed was an American e-commerce website that forced new customers to register before they could make a payment, causing friction.
Once they took away that function, the number of customer purchases climbed by 45%, and the site recorded an additional $ 300 million in sales that year.
Cashless payment can be much better
At this point, Alvin and his team have identified an area they think needs a lot of help around UX: cashless payments.
Cashless and contactless payments are on the rise, but concerns about privacy and security that surround them are also growing.
A local example shared by Alvin was how Malaysians often receive calls and text messages from scams disguised in the official accounts of brands like BigPay, for example.
“This would affect confidence in the security of e-wallets. Another fear is unauthorized transactions or misuse of their accounts. Users may also be tired of how their transaction history, location data and spending habits will be used to profile them, ”he said.
And while a better user interface can improve some of these issues, others will need more oversight and real change in the UX process.
“For fraud cases, it will be difficult to implement a change in the user interface, because unfair activities are carried out by unknown parties.”
“One of the best ways to support your customers when a scam occurs is to provide easily accessible guides and helpline numbers that they can call for help,” Alvin explained.
The experience of how your company helps a customer in need will greatly contribute to building customer trust and loyalty.
Alvin Chai, Customer Experience Advisor at Netizen eXperience
Another way a good UX can be implemented is by giving users the ability to hide or touch so that their private data is displayed on their screens so that their data is protected from prying eyes.
Some e-wallet vendors have also begun providing money back guarantees to alleviate fears of unauthorized transactions.
Seeing what is in sight
When it comes to digital innovation, NX advisors like Alvin team up with clients to help them understand their target users through UX methodologies that include user research, user testing, tracking user behavior, and more.
“We also conduct strategic workshops for clients to find a balance between business needs and customer needs when developing digital products / services,” he said.
“In the midst of the pandemic, for 2021, we still expect healthy double-digit revenue growth from last year’s work for our work in the financial sector.”
Several challenges he will soon be happy to face are in digital banking and in healthcare.
For digital banking, Alvin said, “Ultimately, anything that can happen at the physical level of a branch can also happen in digital form, e.g. Loan application, account registration, remittance, insurance, investment and more. All of this needs to be well researched and designed to support online self-service. “
“In addition, we see that the health sectors benefit from providing better digital experiences, from digital vaccination passports and telehealth to remote monitoring of older people’s health.”
NX will continue to expand the range of its remote UX services to serve different markets in the region, especially for its customers expanding beyond Malaysia.
- You can learn more about Netizen eXperience here.
- You can read about other Malaysian startups we have covered here.
Credits for featured images: Alvin Chai, UX Advisor at Netizen eXperience
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