1. Always put the user first

The end user should always be the primary focus when designing a product. Whether it’s a website visitor or an app user, the design should cater to their needs and preferences.

Prioritising the user experience is essential for attracting and retaining customers. Seek to understand user goals and pain points linked to using your product (or similar products). Solve these problems better than your competitors to create a competitive edge.

Before beginning the design process, it’s crucial to consider the needs and wants of your users:

• What draws them to your product?
• What do they hope to accomplish?
• How will they go about it?

You may already have data to support these insights or need to conduct user research through digital prototypes or focus groups. This information is vital in creating a design that effectively meets the needs of your users.

2. Minimise user effort

Simplicity is one of the essential principles in product design. With the fast-paced nature of the internet, users expect immediate results. This is evident in the fact that as page load time increases, the likelihood of a user leaving a website also increases.

Most websites and apps follow a similar layout and navigation structure to provide an intuitive experience. Use these patterns to create familiar products that people can easily use.

In today’s digital landscape, users have countless options for apps and websites. Keep customers on your product by enabling them to complete tasks quickly and effortlessly.

3. Add value above features

Another essential principle is to keep features logical and streamlined. Speak with customers or prospects to understand where your product provides genuine utility and value. Once identified, double down on these features confidently and improve the user experience.

A constant stream of new features could be interpreted as advertising to customers, often leading to a cluttered interface and complicated experience. Instead, review usage data to highlight favoured features and make these functions the best in class.

Here are a few ways you can add value:

• Reduce steps to complete a task
• Provide shortcuts for repetitive tasks
• Add delightful moments like celebrations
• Improve accessibility.

Generally speaking, people don’t like change. Provide clear communication to avoid alienating existing customers and work incrementally to improve their experience.

4. Use data to inform decisions

Gathering data when designing a digital product is essential to ensure its effectiveness. Instead of relying solely on intuition, use quantitative and qualitative data to guide your decisions. Quantitative data, such as visitor traffic, dwell, bounce and downloads, provides scale insights. In contrast, qualitative data, like reviews, ratings, comments and feedback, offers a more in-depth understanding of behavioural insights.

There are various ways to collect user data, including:

• Targeted feedback
• Surveys
• User testing
• A/B testing
• Focus groups
• Heat maps.

It’s crucial to observe users’ interactions with the product rather than just listening to their words to understand the context and draw accurate conclusions. Create hypotheses off the back of the analysis to test, evaluate and guide product development.

It is important to continually test your assumptions and be open to surprises from the results and your users.

5. Prioritise hierarchy and consistency

The best brand experiences make an effort to present offerings logically and provide hand-holding to get customers where they need to go. This hierarchy of information is vital to avoid clutter and confusion. You must deliver the right information at the right time and ensure no dead-ends exist in your product.

At a granular level, the consistency of interface elements will affect the users’ perceived quality of your product and brand.

Elements to consider:

• Layout
• Interactions
• Buttons
• Inputs
• Images
• Iconography
• Typography
• Colour.

Get these fundamentals right and bring harmony to your product.

Finally, remember to ensure your brand personality and values are reflected in your product, as this will deepen the brand connection with your customers.

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