User experience (UX) refers to a customer’s interaction with a company’s digital presence. It refers to the way a company’s website and digital products or services make its customers think, feel, and act. In other words, UX refers to a customer’s experience with a company’s entire online identity. It’s also meant to evaluate whether or not those interactions accomplish the user’s goals and if they’re easy and enjoyable to use.

A UX designer is a professional who utilizes various tools, research, and expertise to design the best possible digital experience for customers. You can think of UX designers as user advocates — their goal is to develop a deep understanding of the customer and then use this understanding to guide the design of a product, service, or digital application. Ultimately, a UX designer seeks to make a business’s offerings more accessible, easier to use, and more enjoyable for the customer. They do this by leveraging in-depth customer research and design thinking.

While UX describes the overall experience someone has with a company or product, UI (user interface) represents the visual aspects of that company or product. UX designers deal with research and user-centric design thinking. UI designers take these same principles and apply them to the user interface. UX and UI are inseparable -- UI design typically takes place within a UX design process. Understanding the UX of a product or service is an essential first step before designing the visual UI interaction. The UX process guides the direction of UI design through research and analysis. Once the user requirements are established, the role of UI is to bring them to life.

UX testing is part of the larger UX design process. It’s a way for designers to measure the effectiveness of their design in real-world environments. The testing involves a sample group of users interacting with the product or service and providing feedback. The intention here is to see how the product performs with a small group of users that represent the business’s target audience. Multiple test formats, including usability testing, A/B testing, and focus groups, are utilized to determine how the product stands up in real-world situations. Armed with the feedback provided from the testing, product teams can either validate their initial design intentions or modify their approach to deliver a great user experience.

A great UX design process relies on “design thinking” and several other techniques that enable a team to build and test a product that meets the users’ needs. Typically, these processes follow five phases, but this can change depending on the needs of the product or business. Definition Development teams need to define precisely what a product will be before building. They also need to grasp the real-world context of this new digital product. A UX team and stakeholders conduct a high-level conceptual brainstorm around the product during the definition stage. This initial definition will guide the path of the UX design services provided. It also serves as a reference point for the final product. Research Design teams begin an extensive research phase once an idea is defined and refined. The team uses this time to conduct comprehensive user, market, and competitor research. A good product designer views this phase of UX design as an integral part of the larger process. Thorough research makes for better design decisions moving forward. Analysis After the team gathers enough data through research, the analysis phase can begin. Developers review the data to gain insights into why users request certain features. During analysis, UX designers confirm that the most critical assumptions outlined in the definition phase are accurate. Design Once the user requirements, desires, and expectations are clear, the project moves to the actual design phase. Here, the team works on everything from information architecture to interface design. The most effective design phases are extremely collaborative both across the design team itself and with the principal stakeholders in the project. Validation The final and most crucial step in the UX design process is validation. This phase determines whether everything done up to this point meets the needs and expectations of the users and stakeholders. The UX team validates everything across the previous phases and Iteration This validation phase is constantly revisited in what’s known as the “iteration” approach to software development. Each iteration of a digital product or service allows the development team to test minor changes as they occur. Testing UX in this “phase-by-phase” manner will enable teams to stay on track toward the overall goal outlined in the definition stage. It also allows developers to pivot on the fly to meet change requests from users or stakeholders quickly.

Businesses thrive on excellent customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers help build a strong company rooted in brand loyalty. When a product and the overall user experience are enjoyable, the customer is less likely to look elsewhere for alternatives. UX design helps businesses build products that are a joy to use and solve the customers’ problems. UX agency services powered by “design thinking” will continue to influence the modern business marketplace. A study from Adobe found that design-led businesses increased their market share by more than 40% and had customers who were 50% more loyal than their competitors’ customers. The future of your company is clearly in UX.