ROI on User Experience (UX) Design

Posted by Dean Whitney on 25 March 2009 | 0 Comments

Tags: User Experience

I was on a start-up panel and the question asked “how do determine if the user experience design is successful? Many of the answers suggested; does the design elevate the brand? does it improve the user experience? easier for users to complete tasks? etc. These are great things that in the past certainly made the client stakeholders and agency or designers feel good; but does it really tell you if it was a good investment? User experience design is part of the overall solution - like a wheel on a car cannot be successful on its own; what purpose could it have?

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Measurement

Qualitative measurement is fine but hard to know for sure if it was worth the time, money and distraction of the initiative. How do you measure. I suppose you can conduct before and after surveys; ask people what they think, feel, how likely they’d recommend, buy etc. But I recommend Quantitative measurement. Clients like charts and dollar signs; that’s the fast track to the next deal (if in fact it was successful).

ROI on UX Design

Start with a goal - measure - did your site meet the goal? - yes/no - tells you if your design investment was successful.

Determining ROI

You can get all mathematical to get a specific ROI or performance metrics. ex: Goal = increase lead gen/conversion from x to y over z # of months; Result => Goal; Design investment is successful. Assuming your goal makes sense; ie if a lead value = x; design cost = y; amortized over z months you can determine the cost per lead; lead value should be significantly greater than the cost per lead.

Based on increased performance (you should take past performance trend and estimate what results should have been without the change) that margin will tell you your ROI. Lead value should consider word of mouth/alpha-beta etc., brand reach, % of conversion that equates to revenue, historical cost per lead.

What About Great Design?

This approach doesn’t mean design can’t be great. The wow factor, innovation, creative brilliance can drive performance. It depends on the target audience. If you are a design firm, or an event that is attended by creative people, a media site with content targeted toward innovative thinkers then extra investment in design can pay off big. But there is a need to set limitations and assess the how much the investment in rich experience design will pay off. Of course this is mostly referring to digital marketing and media sites. If you are designing a product or application then heuristics and usability investment can have a big payoff.