Strategies to promote a product are plenty in the current marketing arena. Nonetheless, not all product marketing tactics are compelling or proven to exceed expectations. Often the best marketing strategies for your business are those that strike a balance between style and substance.
People love products that are efficient yet simple. They don’t have the time and effort to navigate complex websites or apps to find information, make a purchase, or sign up for a course. For this reason, businesses should have their end user’s overall experience at the top of their mind when designing and marketing their products.
This involves their emotions, perceptions, and response to your products. Keeping these factors in mind, you should ensure your product is easy to use, convenient, and accessible.
If you are unsure how to combine user experience and innovative design, here are three ways to do so.
Mobile Experiences
An increasing number of people are using their mobile phones to get things done on a daily basis. This includes booking tickets, ordering meals, responding to emails, conducting meetings, etc.
In fact, a recent study found that mobile traffic makes up more than half of the digital traffic worldwide. Meaning, it is imperative that you embrace mobile-first experiences as a business owner looking to market their products.
To start with, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly websites. Therefore you have a higher chance of ranking on the first page of Google if you work with an iOS app design agency in NYC to create a mobile-friendly interface for your visitors.
Furthermore, a mobile-friendly website or app increases sales and conversion through accessibility. Knowing that your platform offers a mobile-first experience helps users interact with it seamlessly across devices. Alongside boosting sales, this also leads to long-term loyalty and customer retention.
Focus on the Customers
To design brilliant user experiences, you should first understand your audience/ customers. For instance, who is your target audience, what challenges do they face, and how do they expect you to solve them?
Begin by creating user personas–fictional representations of your ideal target audience. User personas include age, gender, occupation, location, etc., and will help you narrow down who you should target. Furthermore, having a good understanding of finer behavioral traits, such as beliefs, motivations, and goals, will help you figure out crucial design elements that will evoke positive emotions in your audience.
So the key is to first focus on user experience (substance-first approach), through audience research and then take it to the next level with design elements.
Create Simple Experiences
In the past few years, the idea of minimalism has seeped into every sphere, and user experience is no exception. Having too many elements on your website or app can make it appear cluttered and hide the vital elements with high informational value. Furthermore, having too many options can make it overwhelming for users to navigate through your site. And they would probably leave before taking the desired action.
Hence, the rule of thumb is to ensure clarity in your design. Reduce the number of elements on a webpage by determining the most essential functions. This will minimize distractions and can drive a user’s approach to decision-making.
Additionally, consider using the following principles to limit the amount of noise in your design.
- Use plain language that is easy to understand.
- Use high-resolution images that are in line with your brand.
- Use a standard font instead of something super fancy and hard to read.
- Avoid irrelevant information or technical terms with no explanation.
- Avoid using too many elements that are meant for decoration only.
- Avoid too much font or color variation to ensure clear communication of information.
- Avoid multipurpose visual cues, such as unclickable text and links.
Lastly, don’t be so focused on minimalism that you compromise aesthetics. The aesthetics of your product plays a crucial role in user experience. It can evoke positive emotions and impact the perception of your designs. So, ensure you put enough thought into aesthetics.
Additionally, remember that minimalism goes much beyond looks. It is about improving usability and utility by helping people easily find what they need when they need it. So, keep that at the top of your mind, and get started.
Style And Substance To Grow Better
Whether you are a small business or a large enterprise, investing your time and efforts in balancing substance and style or user experience and innovative design will eventually help you grow. Happy and satisfied end users are the key to success. But this is impossible to achieve without expertly-designed user experiences. Fortunately, the three tips mentioned above can help.
