User experience (UX) in conjunction with related topics of design and design strategy, are extensive disciplines in their own right. Recently the benefits of effective user experience design are becoming apparent to multidisciplinary audiences in a Salesforce context. You may ask why is this important?
Here are five key reasons why we believe UX is important for Salesforce customers.
1. Your user’s are your biggest asset; you must consider their experience
Your system’s users are your biggest asset. Their experience matters. They are your internal customers. If you proactively engage with them, understand their needs, and co-design with them you will gain buy-in, motivation and trust. You can then work together to ensure that your system evolves as your organisation changes.
2. Your user’s experience needs to be relevant
In an age where users encounter multiple systems throughout their working day the question of relevance is key.
Is your user’s system experience tailored to their functional or persona driven needs?
Can your users execute tasks that they need to complete and engage with the system in a logical and effective way?
If not, you may find that users become disengaged and that adoption, trust, and data integrity all suffer from an experience that is not focused and designed around their needs.
It may feel efficient to operate a ‘one-size fits all’ approach but does this really reflect the depth and spectrum of your user’s needs? We would advise you to consider the different types of users working with your system, understand their needs, design for and with them. This will allow you to target improvements in a collaborative, relevant and structured way.
3. User adoption matters
A system with poor user adoption will cause you problems. They might take a while to surface, but they will catch up with you eventually. It could mean that you are wasting money or do not see a valid return on investment for the cost of running the system. It could also mean that you have poor data integrity, resulting from the difficulty of inputting, managing, and governing your data. This will in turn mean that you have limited trust in the data and analytics output of the system.
If you have any customer facing elements of your system with low adoption you could suffer reputational damage from a poor experience. These hypothetical scenarios could all result from poor user adoption. So if you ignore poor system adoption, the resulting investment required in change management to improve this will significantly increase. You could find yourself facing an uphill battle.
The more that you understand and consider the different experiences of users working with your system, the better you will be able to design functionality, experiences and interfaces that will drive adoption.
A system that is well adopted leads to user engagement, provoking suggestions for improvement and discussion. It allows you to discuss these requests and to form a roadmap for development. Systems builds trust with your users as you design and deliver improvements that benefit them as individuals, as well as the organisation as a whole. It is mutually beneficial and it means that your system evolves and doesn’t become static.
4. Salesforce could be an extension of your brand
Does your Salesforce system feel like a seamless extension of your brand or is it an example of a system with little consideration given to navigation, accessibility, branding and interface? You have an opportunity to make Salesforce a consistent and well thought out experience that shows users that you have carefully considered uniformity, professionalism and their experience.
What does the combination of your landing page, custom domain, themes, branding and in-app guidance say about you? Does it reflect the impression that you’re aiming for?
5. Focusing on User experience and Design Thinking enables you to innovate
In recognising the importance of your users and engaging in human-centred design you can create a platform to innovate and add value together. Though this requires not only thought and consideration, but action! Design Thinking provides a framework for this exploratory and iterative design process built on these core stages:
- Empathise: Research your users’ needs
- Define: State your user’s needs and problems
- Ideate: Challenge assumptions and create ideas
- Prototype: Start to create solutions
- Test: Try your solutions out
This framework is grounded in understanding your customer’s needs, rapid prototyping and generating creative ideas that can transform how you develop products, services, processes and your organisation. Adopting and investing in this process with your users can add value to your organisation. For further information on this topic click here.
Why UX is important: Conclusion
UX is a key consideration for those looking to get the best out of their Salesforce experience. Here’s a recap of five key reasons why for the next time that you engage in a conversation on the topic:
- Your users are your biggest asset; you must consider their experience
- Your user’s experience needs to be relevant
- User adoption matters
- Salesforce could be an extension of your brand
- Focusing on User Experience and Design Thinking enables you to innovate
About Cloud Galacticos
Cloud Galacticos is a Salesforce Consulting Partner with an all-star team. We are user and developer group leaders, bloggers, MVPs and all round Salesforce nerds. Our Salesforce consultancy has people all over the UK including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, and London.
So if you are looking for a Salesforce Gold partner with experience to help you make the most of your org, why not get in contact?
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