In today’s experience economy, customers want the products and services that offer them a memorable experience. The product that caters to the functional needs of the users is – a good product. Though what sets one’s product apart from the competition is the functionality, aesthetics, and also the engagement the product offers to its customers.
It’s the Little things that make up the Big experience.
Design is in the details
A memorable experience is formed by every little interaction of the customer with the product. The layout, visuals, and the tone of voice, the 404 error messages, the information architecture, the usability of the interface – every aspect matters to the customers. Each detail adds on to the cumulative WOW experience of the product.
Why deliver World-class Experiences?
1. Scale the products
A product’s design and experience caters to a specific set of audiences. When it comes to expanding the business or scaling the product and targeting a larger group of customers, the adaptability of the product’s experience comes into play.
2. Deliver products that are Engaging
Successful businesses are delivering products that can be used by a wide range of customers across the world. To be able to cater to such a varied audience, the products need to deliver a differentiating experience that can give the business a competitive edge.
These differentiating experiences are nothing but universal yet inclusive of marginal customization for the end-users. Customers these days are exposed to newer technologies, they are more astute and informed, better educated than before. They have a clear understanding of what they want, in most cases. They can articulate their expectations from a product better than before.
3. Deliver experiences that can Alter the Users’ Behavior
There are products that are good, and then there are products that are so exceptional that the products influence or even alter the end-users’ behavior. Product experiences can be designed in a differentiating manner that can become a part of the customers’ life seamlessly.
What are world-class experiences?
YUJ has been a leading company in the area for a long time. So, we asked our design leader – Samir Chabukswar, CEO and Founder – YUJ Designs to define world-class experiences for us. In his opinion, these are the types of experiences that cater to the functions these are built for. As well as, these are highly engaging and attractive. These experiences have the potential to influence the behavior of the users. These are world-class experiences!
Let’s look at some of the examples of products that have truly delivered world-class experiences –
Google is a company that delivers true world-class experiences. When the company launched Google Search, they were not the only ones in the market. Some of the competitors had been around for almost 25 years.
Google Search changed the behavior of its users, it changed the way they interacted with the internet altogether. This led to an entirely new business model with Google Search tracking the users’ behavior, analyzing the data. And sharing it with relevant business advertisers, to benefit all.
The company name became synonymous with the function its product performed. People started using the brand name as a verb in everyday life!
Source: https://www.google.com/
Another example would be the company creating a niche for itself in the market and helping professionals from across the world connect with each other for free. LinkedIn continues to deliver world-class experiences. Every young professional getting out of college and looking for a bright opportunity to step into the real world, every professional looking for a job or a recruit looking for ideal candidates – land on LinkedIn for their quests.
It is the largest professional network that has already crossed 400 million people. The company has offered the core function of finding the right opportunity and the right candidate, even through the tough times worldwide. The platform helped people find jobs in unprecedented times like the pandemic.
Source: https://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-gives-group-admins-more-way-to-keep-members-informed-on-covid-19/
How to deliver world-class experiences
There is no specific formula that you can apply for every product or service that you launch, which can guarantee the world-class experience your customers are looking for. Though there are a set of particular aspects that if followed can nudge you in the right direction.
Let us take you through one of our projects, where YUJ Designs delivered true world-class experience, to help you understand how it is done.
In 2019, a leading automobile company in India invested millions in new-generation electric and connected vehicle solutions for the ASEAN market. As their design partners, we were entrusted to ensure that the connected app platform becomes successful through a seamless digital experience. This platform catered to individual car owners and fleet owners.
It’s all about Driving!
Early on in the project, our design team recognized that the success of the connected application lies in creating a ubiquitous experience — one that lets users focus on driving than using the platform. The design is not just easy to use, but requires no learning even for users with low literacy.
Customer Focus is Key
The Indian market is evolving rapidly. A car buyer’s decision-making parameters are changing rapidly, and go beyond luxury, taking into consideration things like green future, safety, security, usability and delight when making a purchasing decision. The design takes care of all these aspects, and is one its kind design for the car industry in India.
End-to-end User-Centered Design
How:
Through end-to-end orchestration of direct user research, we provided User-Centered Designs and Development services. User research was conducted in mature markets such as the US and Europe, and in India with EV and non-EV users.
Design concepts were evaluated through several rounds of user testing. After several iterations, it was an app that was going to enable users to control key car functions remotely, safely, securely in the most convenient way. These designs, not only looked sleek but delivered top-notch behavior.
What:
- The typical usage of a car in an Indian household is through sharing. In such a case safety and security of loved ones and the car becomes paramount. The design lets users control speed, distance of travel through geo-fence and valet mode. The app provides critical safety features such as immobilize, geofence breach, valet mode limiting speed and distance.
- Users care about their car health, and are concerned about mileage and maintainability. One of the major reasons for low mileage and condition of car was driver behavior. By providing users with driving behavior data (acceleration, braking, cornering), and gamifying the design persuaded users to critically look at their driving patterns and change behavior.
- The platform automatically detects threats, accidents and other incidents to alert owners to take action, also sends automatic messages to emergency contacts in case of crash, theft or SOS. We designed the app to behave in a manner that will address the concerns of the users first.
- Our design firm had a design + development squad who worked pixel to pixel — code to code to ensure the telemetric control unit, the servers and the vehicle control units gave the quickest response and seamless experience in the hands of the users.
As you can see, throughout the project the UCD methodology, and the rigor of the process have played crucial roles in delivering the world-class experience the users expected. To be able to build and execute such experiences the design team needs a steadfast vision that can lead the other departmental efforts in the right direction and to the fruition.
The Importance of World-class Experiences
Impact of Design
Businesses delivering world-class experiences to its customers see the value in the effectiveness of the product, and the commercial and social impact.
In our case, of the connected mobility app, it received a scoring of 4.5-Stars on the app store just after being released in the market. With the right design interventions and engineering, we brought the initial car-to-app response time from 40 seconds to a mere 6 seconds.
We designed a digitally and physically connected experience for buyers talking about a green future, safety, practicality, and delightful control in their hands. The app has been in the news within months after its release and has become one of the key contributors to help our client’s green initiative. These facts are proof enough that businesses need to deliver world-class experiences to their customers.
Here is an UX case study you might be interested in. Pioneering Connected Vehicle Experiences
Amplify your brand presence with the best UX design studio that truly aligns your needs with those of your consumers! Get in touch with us at YUJ Designs, today!
