It used to be said that "the customer is always right" or "the customer is king". But for many digital agencies, including our own, the reality is somewhat different. Our customers usually come to us with the desire to implement their marketing and sales goals in a digital product. The users of the product, on the other hand, may have very different expectations and needs that are critical to success.
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Felix Schittig
UX
Arbeiten
Digitalisierung
3.8.2023
User centricity - The key to a successful customer experience
Power to the users!
That's why we put end users at the center of our development process. This approach is referred to as user-centricity.
The interactive product should be as usable as possible and thus meet the needs of the users. It is as simple as it is effective: through high usability we achieve satisfied users. Of course, the goals of our customers should still be met, and these will result from the success of the project.
Have users become more demanding?
However, the development of a user-centric product is much more time-consuming and tedious than the simple implementation of ideas. So why should we go down this road at all?
Today, users of online services have extremely high expectations - not least because of the big Internet giants: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta. These companies are constantly setting new standards in their respective industries.
Today, an online search must only take a few milliseconds, software and hardware must integrate perfectly and offer a seamless experience. Information must be up-to-date and personalized, and orders in online stores should be delivered the next day.
Now, these high standards apply not only to consumers, but also to businesses. The strict division between B2B and B2C in the consideration of user experience is becoming increasingly blurred. After all, behind every desk in a company sits a person with emotions and needs. This is referred to as consumerization.
Another reason why we have to align our digital project so strongly with the user:inside is that they usually always have a choice and are not dependent on our product.
Nobody wants new problems or additional tasks. Successful products, on the other hand, solve real problems. That's why it's essential to always focus on user behavior instead of trying to impose a new behavior pattern on the user.
The road to user-centered development
But how do we get to a user-centric product?
I'll tell you in the following parts of this series of articles. I will go into the most important points that we have to pay special attention to in order to make our users into true queens and kings.