“User Experience” is something that all entrepreneurs should be considering building into their companies or products. In order to attract new customers, a young entrepreneur must make it easy for the new customers to be exposed to their product or service. In order to make it easy for them, they have to “remove the pain” the customer faces, whether that is considering the software, app, storefront, website, or any other touch point the customer has with the start up.
User experience is a line of thinking that places the user first to build an environment conducive to their engagement. The “old way” of thinking about user experience is providing excellent customer service. While providing excellent customer service is important, it certainly loses a portion of its value when every single company strives to provide excellent customer service. Startups now have to take user experience a step forward by thinking of ways to differentiate themselves from the competition to attract traffic to their company’s website, app, storefront, etc.
When consulting user experience, young entrepreneurs have to think about how easy to use their products and services are. Everyone has navigated to a website, looked at the front page, deemed it was “too confusing”, and immediately exited the page. This process all happens within maybe five seconds. So, while building platforms for your startup, think about how a user with no knowledge of your company would be able to learn about what you have to offer and stay on your website, app, etc.
With this, User Interface (UI) also must be considered. Both user experience and user interface are hand in hand, as a process that is easy to use must also look good. Cleanly organized pages, logos, and images are essential to making this a reality.
It’s important to consider how users will engage with your platforms. What better way to know than to ask them? Take your platforms to friends and family, and ask them to test it out. Don’t discount the fact that they “don’t know what they are doing”, as this is a potential demographic of a user. Earnestly listen to feedback from users and incorporate these changes and features into your startup.
User experience is very important when it comes to websites. I’ve gone to multiple websites that have been rough and I’ve left right away. I believe AB testing is a great way to help find a great homepage for customers. It is also crucial to have a website that is mobile friendly.
User Experience is key to user conversion and engagement. Like you said, even if you have a revolutionary idea, you probably won’t do as well as you hope if you have a bad UI. And listening to customer feedback is definitely a good idea when it comes to improving UI.
Awesome content, Garrett! Something that is all too easy to forget in the field of entrepreneurship as a Christian entrepreneur is that God is using us to provide a solution to the inconvenient and mundane problems of society. Imagine how much of an impact we can make on others if we simply treat consumers with the best customer service possible (even if it is on an online platform)! If user experience is truly valued from a Christian perspective, not only will we be able to serve others by putting their needs before our own, but we will be able to use entrepreneurship as a form of worship to glorify the Lord. User experience isn’t just the heart of a start-up! It’s at the heart of entrepreneurship.