S
Saurabh Srivastava
Guest
In what ways does design contribute to both user satisfaction and business outcomes?
As Product Designers, we grapple with a challenge: our inherent creativity.
The creative nature inherent in Product Designers places us in a delicate position. Businesses, often prioritize practicality over creativity and we all have experienced that sometime in our career. Despite this contrast, we find ourselves, as Product Designers, contributing within a business framework. Questions arise about our purpose: What is our role here? How do we validate our presence? And, most importantly, how do we derive significance from our work? These questions revolve not around existential pondering but around understanding how we can quantify the beneficial impact of our creative efforts on the business.
This stands in contrast to product key performance indicators (KPIs) like return on investment, revenue growth, revenue per client, and profit margin, which are vital for assessing product performance and overall business impact.
So, is everything about how we can bring/show business impact / about success numbers?
Yes, precisely. It’s not solely about creativity; it’s about delivering tangible value when working for a business.
Using the right set of UX metrics serves to clarify the distinct advantages that Product Designers contribute to a business in term of metrics. It enables businesses to attain an unbiased, objective viewpoint on their products from the perspective of their customers, emphasizing the concrete value derived from impactful design.
What are UX design metrics?
(although sometimes it’s really hard to distinguish UX metrics from marketing/product metrics).
User perception and interaction can be influenced by context and surroundings. Consequently, analyzing behavioral or attitudinal metrics in isolation may not offer an accurate representation of information. As a designer, it is vital to acknowledge that a thorough analysis necessitates the simultaneous consideration of both behavioral and attitudinal metrics. If attitudinal and behavioral metrics align, they become noteworthy metrics for consideration. However, in the presence of discrepancies, qualitative research becomes essential to uncover the actual reasons behind the disparity.
Let’s delve into a comprehensive discussion about behavioral and attitudinal metrics.
How many users complete a task and how long it took them? Behavioral metrics tell you how users interact with your product and what problems they face along the way. Most behavioral metrics mentioned below are relevant to the usability (ease of use)
A. Task completion time
The time that a user spends doing a particular task. Works perfectly where the user’s goal is to get something done as efficiently as possible.
It’s an absolute number (seconds, minutes, hours)
Time on Task = Time Task Completed — Time Task Started
B. Average session length
The average time users spend on your product. Depending on your product goal, these metrics can be considered positive or negative depending on the use case
C. Dropout rate
The dropout rate is the ratio between the number of users who left the task incomplete vs the total number of users who attempted the task.
Dropout rate = ( user left the task / total number of users) X100%
D. Error rate
The error rate (UER) is the number of times a user makes a mistake while completing a task.
Eg: Users making mistakes while filling out the online registration form
Error Rate = Number of Errors / Total Number of Actions
E. Task success rate
The percentage of users who can complete a task
Task Success Rate = Number of Successful Completions / Total Number of Attempts
F. Conversion Rate
This metric measures the percentage of users who take a desired action.
It can indicate how well the design supports the user’s goals.
Conversion Rate = (Number of Conversions / Total Number of Users) x 100%
This is a perspective metric, which needs to be backed by qualitative research.
How do they find the task overly complex to complete? Did they feel confident using the system?
A. Daily/Monthly Active Users (DAU/MAU)
Measuring: Loyalty
How many people use a product on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? This number also tells you about retention.
The DAU/MAU ratio, also known as stickiness, is the proportion of monthly active users that engage with your product every day
B. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Measuring: Loyalty
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple survey with only one question. You ask your users, “How likely is it that you would recommend our product to a friend or colleague on a scale from 1 to 10?”. Net Promoter Score scale with 3 user groups: detractors (who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth), passives(who are vulnerable to competitive offerings), and promoters(who will keep buying and fuel growth by referring others.).
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) offers a swift means of gathering user feedback with its single-question format. However, its simplicity comes with limitations — lack of customization and the challenge of comprehending the rationale behind specific scores, especially without follow-up questions. NPS requires a large sample size. There are other cons that users could perceive the question differently based on their language and cultural background. Survey timing is critical; for example, soliciting feedback immediately after a user opens an app for the first time or during the completion of a significant task may increase the likelihood of negative responses or biased response
C. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
Measuring: Satisfaction, Loyalty
CSAT score is the percentage of satisfied and very satisfied users in all the respondents.
The problem with this type of method is that not all users are willing to spend their time filling out the survey nor do they feel what they are inputting. What is the user’s mood at the time of the survey, and what time survey is asked during the experience eg if the survey has been asked just after opening the app for the first time, the possibility of getting negative feedback is very high
D. User Retention Rate
Measuring: Loyalty
User retention rate is the percentage of users who have stayed with you over a given period. To calculate the user retention rate, you need to subtract the number of acquired users throughout a period from the number of users at the end of the period and then divide it by the number of users at the beginning of the period.
To conclude, it’s important to highlight that revenue-generating products, despite meeting business criteria, may encounter an unexpected decline in their customer base if they lack crucial UX insights
As Product Designers, we grapple with a challenge: our inherent creativity.
The creative nature inherent in Product Designers places us in a delicate position. Businesses, often prioritize practicality over creativity and we all have experienced that sometime in our career. Despite this contrast, we find ourselves, as Product Designers, contributing within a business framework. Questions arise about our purpose: What is our role here? How do we validate our presence? And, most importantly, how do we derive significance from our work? These questions revolve not around existential pondering but around understanding how we can quantify the beneficial impact of our creative efforts on the business.
This stands in contrast to product key performance indicators (KPIs) like return on investment, revenue growth, revenue per client, and profit margin, which are vital for assessing product performance and overall business impact.
So, is everything about how we can bring/show business impact / about success numbers?
Yes, precisely. It’s not solely about creativity; it’s about delivering tangible value when working for a business.
Using the right set of UX metrics serves to clarify the distinct advantages that Product Designers contribute to a business in term of metrics. It enables businesses to attain an unbiased, objective viewpoint on their products from the perspective of their customers, emphasizing the concrete value derived from impactful design.
What are UX design metrics?
(although sometimes it’s really hard to distinguish UX metrics from marketing/product metrics).
- Behavioral metrics — How users interact with the product
- Attitudinal metrics — How users perceive the product
User perception and interaction can be influenced by context and surroundings. Consequently, analyzing behavioral or attitudinal metrics in isolation may not offer an accurate representation of information. As a designer, it is vital to acknowledge that a thorough analysis necessitates the simultaneous consideration of both behavioral and attitudinal metrics. If attitudinal and behavioral metrics align, they become noteworthy metrics for consideration. However, in the presence of discrepancies, qualitative research becomes essential to uncover the actual reasons behind the disparity.
Let’s delve into a comprehensive discussion about behavioral and attitudinal metrics.
Behavioral metrics — How users interact with the product
How many users complete a task and how long it took them? Behavioral metrics tell you how users interact with your product and what problems they face along the way. Most behavioral metrics mentioned below are relevant to the usability (ease of use)
A. Task completion time
The time that a user spends doing a particular task. Works perfectly where the user’s goal is to get something done as efficiently as possible.
It’s an absolute number (seconds, minutes, hours)
Time on Task = Time Task Completed — Time Task Started
B. Average session length
The average time users spend on your product. Depending on your product goal, these metrics can be considered positive or negative depending on the use case
C. Dropout rate
The dropout rate is the ratio between the number of users who left the task incomplete vs the total number of users who attempted the task.
Dropout rate = ( user left the task / total number of users) X100%
D. Error rate
The error rate (UER) is the number of times a user makes a mistake while completing a task.
Eg: Users making mistakes while filling out the online registration form
Error Rate = Number of Errors / Total Number of Actions
E. Task success rate
The percentage of users who can complete a task
Task Success Rate = Number of Successful Completions / Total Number of Attempts
F. Conversion Rate
This metric measures the percentage of users who take a desired action.
It can indicate how well the design supports the user’s goals.
Conversion Rate = (Number of Conversions / Total Number of Users) x 100%
Attitudinal metrics — How users perceive the product
This is a perspective metric, which needs to be backed by qualitative research.
How do they find the task overly complex to complete? Did they feel confident using the system?
- S_atisfaction_ (Do your users enjoy your product?),
- Credibility (Do your users trust your service?), and
- Loyalty(Do your users plan to use your service again?)
A. Daily/Monthly Active Users (DAU/MAU)
Measuring: Loyalty
How many people use a product on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? This number also tells you about retention.
The DAU/MAU ratio, also known as stickiness, is the proportion of monthly active users that engage with your product every day
B. Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Measuring: Loyalty
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple survey with only one question. You ask your users, “How likely is it that you would recommend our product to a friend or colleague on a scale from 1 to 10?”. Net Promoter Score scale with 3 user groups: detractors (who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth), passives(who are vulnerable to competitive offerings), and promoters(who will keep buying and fuel growth by referring others.).
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) offers a swift means of gathering user feedback with its single-question format. However, its simplicity comes with limitations — lack of customization and the challenge of comprehending the rationale behind specific scores, especially without follow-up questions. NPS requires a large sample size. There are other cons that users could perceive the question differently based on their language and cultural background. Survey timing is critical; for example, soliciting feedback immediately after a user opens an app for the first time or during the completion of a significant task may increase the likelihood of negative responses or biased response
C. Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
Measuring: Satisfaction, Loyalty
CSAT score is the percentage of satisfied and very satisfied users in all the respondents.
The problem with this type of method is that not all users are willing to spend their time filling out the survey nor do they feel what they are inputting. What is the user’s mood at the time of the survey, and what time survey is asked during the experience eg if the survey has been asked just after opening the app for the first time, the possibility of getting negative feedback is very high
D. User Retention Rate
Measuring: Loyalty
User retention rate is the percentage of users who have stayed with you over a given period. To calculate the user retention rate, you need to subtract the number of acquired users throughout a period from the number of users at the end of the period and then divide it by the number of users at the beginning of the period.
To conclude, it’s important to highlight that revenue-generating products, despite meeting business criteria, may encounter an unexpected decline in their customer base if they lack crucial UX insights