UX Design isn’t just an important characteristic of a website, it also plays a big role in consumer purchasing. Studies show that an enhanced customer experienced increases retention by 42% and businesses enjoyed a 33% boost in customer satisfaction and 32% increase in revenue.
Web designers are always looking for ways to solve and crack the UX code. Even though here are new tools, systems and tech to boost their efforts there are still difficulties and challenges in UX design that hinder the road to a better user experience for customers. Fortunately, we have some solutions to these problems.
UX Design Challenges & Their Solutions
UX desingers are faced with challenges. However, there are solutions for every problem. They just need to recognize these obstacles early on. Here are some of the most common UX design challenges and their solutions.
Reducing Gap Between Design and Development
Developers and designers both have different but important roles during the build process. Design is useless without development, while development is also useless without design. Therefore, there must be collaboration between them.
Designing to development exchange can be difficult. It is a UX designer’s way of solving an issue but not the developer’s. Designers think of the user’s journey while developers usually just try to find a technical way that’s convenient for them.
When there is no alignment between them, the product and process suffers.
In most cases, knowledge gaps and lack of communication are the main problems between designer and developer. This results in extra feedback loops, unpredictable quality assurance problems and different interpretations of the same targets.
Solution
The best way to solve this problem is to communicate constantly and avoiding discord between development and design. Engage developers ASAP to help them recognize problems early on.
Another solution is knowledge sharing. Take some time to understand how developers work and face challenges if you don’t want to learn to code.
Restrictions on Time and Budget
Budget and time are big elements that impact both design and cycle and these connected.
When a designer is underpaid or is given a little time, they will produce poor quality work. It’s sad to say that many clients don’t value their designer’s input because they think they are just creating buttons or changing the gradient which they think is very easy to do or can be done in just a few minutes.
Everything is connected when it comes to design. Even color layers cater to different purposes. Therefore, designers must be given time and budget even when doing just the simplest of changes. When designers are forced to do something quickly, they cannot focus on what their clients need and deliver poor quality work as a result.
Solution
This is where business analysts and project managers come in. They can negotiate terms and conditions for UX designers who in turn can give better performance under a better schedule.
Confusing and Complicated Chatbots
The use of chatbots has become more common recently. They are useful when it comes to improving conversions and for solving common customer problems. Although they are important virtual assistants, many of them are not user-friendly.
Studies show that 73% of clients who have experienced interacting with defective chatbots don’t like to use them and 61% reported that they are annoying to use and prefer to chat with a human customer service representative.
In these cases, chatbots are hard to use or are not smart enough to handle customer service issues. They cause customers to become annoyed, provide wrong answers or conflicting messages; all of which can harm customer user experience.
Solution
Chatbots should be used to provide conversational UX instead of trying to solve a problem quickly or providing a smart response. This can be done by using smarter AI systems that employ machine learning to get emotional intelligence and interaction cues.
This technology can help chatbots learn the right responses that are useful and relevant for different situations which help enhance customer interactions.
Lack of Understanding of the UX Designer Role
Many people underestimate the multi-disciplinary nature of UX. To them, UX is all about making things look great. The business value of UX is also neglected. So, if basic stakeholders are unaware of your role as a designer, it can become difficult.
UI/UX design is a collective role, which needs feedback form almost everybody in the business. Designers have to meet with company representatives in order to know their vision and you also need to contact the client service team to hear their insights. However, if your role and importance is not clear, engaging the right people can be hard to do.
Solution
UX designers need to establish expectations as soon as possible. Start projects with a stakeholder launch to describe your role and purpose. Give daily updates and scope to your co-workers and ask questions while moving through the project.
Most importantly, invite others to understand your role be it during a lunch time workshop or casual chat at your desk. This will help you clear misconceptions about what you do by encouraging an open-door culture.
Product Display
The problem with online product selling is that you don’t know actually know what you get until it appears. There are many online sales options available and brands should always try to build confidence and communicate why customers should use their products.
However, only depending on product image and ratings from previous buyers is not enough especially if retailers use the same strategies nowadays.
Solution
Technology and your creativity can help when it comes to this problem. Online sellers are now using VR and AR tools in making 3D product models to provide a virtual buying experience that was difficult to do before. Using this type of technology allows consumers to see how products look in real life just by using their mobile phones.
This kind of technology helps to bring the best elements of a physical shop to an online shop. Customers love this feature with reports saying that 40% of buyers would invest more in a product if they can examine it using VR first while 71% of buyers would buy more from a brand that uses the same feature.
Android Fragmentation
As of this writing, Android devices around the world are currently running on different versions and every smartphone maker want to make its Android version different.
Smartphones have different display resolutions and details vary from one manufacturer to another. Designing and developing an App for Android is tougher than it is for iOS devices.
Solution
To manage this, follow Google’s instructions and concentrate on the latest updates and the most popular Android mobile models.
Android app development, Android design generally takes slightly more time to be completed. However, in a few cases, it enables designers to make design preferences not possible to do on the iOS platform.
A/B Testing Errors
Although the A/B testing is a UX designer’s instant solution for comparing designs and thoughts, it is also incorrect and limited. According to reports, 80% A/B tests give the wrong results. Because systems compare just 2 versions at a time, there are inaccuracies to be found.
Most importantly, there is a possibility that neither of these choices are the best. It could take months and more A/B testing combinations before the right combination can be found.
Solution
AI and machine learning can make this procedure more accurate and simpler. Typical A/B testing compares only 2 variants at a time.
However, since AI systems can assess huge amounts of data immediately, these tools can compare many variants at the same time and report results more quickly.
Bottom Line
New sets of ideas and challenges are being faced by UI/US designers every year. Web designers need to consider these challenges and solve them in order to improve user experience. They need to keep in mind that every problem has a solution.
Considering the client’s requirements, needs and choices can help designers make important decisions for developing websites and accomplishing their goals which is to provide customers with a better user experience.
