The Secret to Great UX: Put the User Last

Where should the user’s experience fit in your UX strategy? In this article, Brandon Comstock, Boston Digital’s Director of User Experience, shares why putting user considerations ahead of brand, business and technology doesn’t deliver the outcomes businesses need.

If UX had a brand, it would be all wrong. The definition of “user experience” has become so closely intertwined with personas and wireframes that it’s starting to lose its true meaning.

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While audience insights and website blueprints are key ingredients to any UX strategy, they’re just two small facets of a much bigger picture. In fact, UX is one of the few practices that’s uniquely positioned to operate within multiple areas of a digital project.

Learn More: The Dos and Don’ts of UX Design for Small Business

The Three Quadrants of UX

UXers are traditionally taught to work within three quadrants—user, technology and business.

1. The user quadrant is all about catering to the needs, desires and goals of the audience. This means deep research, use cases, information architecture and—yes—personas.

2. The technology environment, on the other hand, is all about the technical capabilities of the CMS or platform that the client has chosen. In other words, what’s possible within the limitations of the tech sandbox?

3. Finally, the business quadrant is all about the holistic goals of the company. This means product offerings, revenue and vision. It  also considers the internal resources a company has to support the ongoing management of a robust digital asset.

A great UXer will look at a website redesign through all three of these lenses, never focusing on one to the exclusion of another. But even if this delicate balance is achieved, there’s still something that’s missing in most user experience strategies today.

The Forgotten Quadrant

The one thing that isn’t taught in lecture halls, boot camps, or online courses is the fourth quadrant of UX: the brand. In fact, it’s mentioned so infrequently that I call it the “Forgotten Quadrant.”

The brand quadrant is all about perception and positioning. What does the company stand for? And how do consumers perceive it?

While one could argue that the idea of “brand” is encompassed under the business quadrant, it’s important to remember that data and strategy dominate this space. This is where the income statement and balance sheet reside, leaving little room for the soul and substance that comprise the brand essence.

It’s critical that UXers are always looking through the brand lens in order to create cohesive experiences. Without this attention to brand, there’s a risk of user requirements steering the digital experience away from the brand.

For instance, should a premium thought leadership brand provide ungated access to their white papers just because the research shows that’s what users want? Doing so might directly meet user demands, but it may also denigrate the brand; especially since its value is predicated on the notion of exclusivity and elevated knowledge.

This push and pull between quadrants is a common occurrence—especially during website redesign projects—and it’s the job of a UXer to strike the right balance. But finding the optimal solution requires full and proper context—brand included.

Rather than searching for answers linearly or hierarchically, UX requires a more holistic approach.

UX Shouldn’t Always Start with the User

UXers are often taught to “start with the user,” leaving business and tech as secondary considerations—and not thinking about brand at all. This can lead to the output of deliverables, rather than strategic decisions with impactful outcomes.

For instance, if Apple were to create products based solely on user demands, they’d likely be selling lower-quality devices. Every user would want cheaper prices. But Apple doesn’t lead with user demands because they know that their audience’s priorities don’t necessarily align with their technological capabilities, business vision or (most importantly) their brand.

Apple is in the business of selling premium devices, not commodities. And at the end of the day, that’s why their users love them. So in a way, users don’t always know what they want—and that’s precisely why their needs should never guide business decisions.

By placing an inordinate amount of focus on the user, we lose the “X” in “UX.” Yes, user experience is about the user, but it’s important to remember that it’s equally about the experience. At the end of the day, our job is to serve up the best experiences possible, even if that means giving users something they had no idea they wanted—or, leaving them wanting a little more.

Learn More: Why UX Research Should Be a Priority for Mobile Marketers?

A Custom Approach

A great UX strategy starts at the intersection of all four quadrants and works its way out. This approach will allow for the proper synthesis of ideas from all areas of the business, resulting in a cohesive, custom strategy.

In this way, UX doesn’t start with the user. It starts with a deep understanding of brand, business, and technology—followed by the optimal delivery of content to the people who matter most.