How To Build A Design-Driven Organization

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a website is worth much more. User design is instrumental in grabbing the attention of potential customers. It can make or break a user’s experience based on how quickly they can find information and if they feel the website is tailored to their needs. But what does it mean to be a design-driven company? Why do organizations that are design-driven outperform others? And how can leaders incorporate this mindset into their overall CX strategy? Jason Foo, director of experience design of Hotjar, shares some actionable steps and how to navigate the changing user experience design industry. 

Contrary to popular belief, building a design-driven company should start with your internal team rather than the more technical aspects of coding features and utilizing behavioral analytics tools. Internal buy-in is crucial in securing a design-driven organization because earning customer brand loyalty begins with the people who build the product. Customer service and product teams indirectly contact customers and can identify and observe how the product resonates with their desired outcome. In fact, according to Contentsquare’s 2023 Digital Experience Benchmark ReportOpens a new window , frustration is far too common across the customer journey. More than one in three visits (36%) cause frustration. Slow page load is the most frequent and most impactful issue.

This feedback is crucial in incorporating design-driven websites because each interaction is treated like an open dialogue for improvements. These discussions can often lead to breakthrough updates for design. The Contentsquare report also found sites with higher activity (the share of time users spend interacting with content during a visit) enjoy 19% higher conversion rates and 20% lower bounce rates than sites with the lowest activity. Everyone in the company, whether in customer service, product or marketing, can make a difference in the design of a website and/or product and the customer experience when interacting with prospective customers. 

Organizations with mature customer experience models have a strong leadership presence instilling customer-centric design within the culture of the internal team. When transparency is a core part of the culture, sharing feedback is welcomed and encouraged on a fundamental level. Transparency is another key pillar of design-driven organizations. People should be able to share their opinions without repercussions, always in service of the ultimate goal: a stellar customer experience. A culture of transparency is a design culture because internal improvements are treated the same way as external customer feedback. 

The Future of CX Design 

To create a design-driven company, websites and every piece of content must hit the core of the customer’s emotions while catering to their preferences. This means channeling empathy through every design element and thoroughly understanding their wants, needs and expectations. It shouldn’t always be about the algorithms. The future of the customer experience will be about balancing tech with the human side of the user experience.  

Botco.ai’ State Of GenAI Chatbots in MarketingOpens a new window found that 73% of B2B and B2C marketing executives say their companies use AI to help create text, images, videos or other content. Two-thirds of those surveyed say they use it for brainstorming sessions, first drafts and outlines. Nearly half (49%) say they rely on AI to produce final content. More specifically:

• Image creation 69%
• Text creation 58%
• Audio/voice 50%
• Chatbots 37%
• Coding 36%

Artificial Intelligence is breaking through as a strategic advantage. As competitors race to develop the smartest model, product designers must maintain the human element within their user design to build customer trust and loyalty. These types of generative AI tools can help save time and are useful for ideation, but overall should be used in tandem with design rather than as a replacement. 

Improving Customer Service and Engagement 

Another aspect of a design-driven culture is improving customer service. The result is brand loyalty and life-long customer relationships that lead to referrals and future business prospects. Customers are more likely to return When they feel they are listened to, and action is taken to improve their requests. 

With behavior analytics tools, product and marketing teams can get an inside look into what the customer sees, such as what parts of the product they interact with, what they ignore, what causes ‘rage quits’ and use this feedback to make informed and targeted improvements. During design audits, teams can see what parts of the website receive the most traffic, and from there, they can decide what to put in front of their desired audience. For example, if a new product is launched and the customer can’t easily locate information on the features, benefits or price, they may get frustrated and leave. Empowered teams, aligned in a design-driven culture, autonomously discover and seek out these issues and solve them to create opportunities to delight customers continuously.

Increased customer engagement is also another major result of improving customer service. Sales teams benefit because they can directly track prospect activity and how it relates to the sales funnel and the number of returning customers. When customer service is prioritized, the website’s design elements reflect their personal preferences and ultimately increase the bottom line.

One easy way to do this is to offer a freemium model to long-standing customers and give them exclusive access to new product features of a website. This way, teams can get constructive feedback from customers, who can turn out to be some of your best evangelists, which will improve engagement and referrals. Each part of the product needs to be tailored to a customer’s needs. This type of relevancy is crucial in identifying what customers are looking for. If a customer doesn’t stay long or can’t locate something, it indicates the product isn’t aligned to their ‘jobs to be done’.. Creating a consistent feedback loop to learn more about their context and motivations can make or break acquisition and retention. 

What’s Next? 

Design is constantly evolving, and I’m excited to see where it will go this next year. With AI taking the main stage in 2023, there is plenty of room for other technologies to impact the product design industry. The customer experience will continue to be more personalized, and organizations must cater to their wants and needs – especially amid economic uncertainty. 

User experience extends beyond the screen. It’s the sum of all the minute touchpoints that someone has with the product and brand—the content on social media, their interaction with customer service, the emails you send them, the in-store experience or packaging, and the actual digital product experience. Too often, companies get attached to the product and lose sight of the people. Still, a design-driven organization prioritizes empathy above all else, and those organizations are well-positioned to win. 

What steps have you taken to ensure your organization is design-driven? Share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedIn Opens a new window . We’d love to hear from you! 

Image Source: Shutterstock

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