Digital Marketing - Study Notes:
What is UX?
In digital marketing, User Experience (UX) is the overall experience of a person using a website or mobile app and how it delivers on their expectations and needs. A good UX can enhance a company’s online presence and digital marketing efforts. So, UX design and optimization should form an integral part of an overarching digital marketing strategy. Bear in mind that UX optimization is very much concerned with the functionality and workings of the website and mobile systems that consumers use to engage with your brand online; not just the look-and-feel of your site and app, but how it works and allows them to complete valuable actions or engage with your business in a meaningful way.
In other words, UX is the holistic experience of the end user, based on their interactions with an online experience. Users use digital products as tools to achieve goals, via a series of tasks. From a digital strategy perspective, it's important to understand that when someone is on a website or using a mobile app, usually their goals are the same as the business’s goals. For example, if a person is on an airline's website, both the person and the airline want them to book a flight ticket - the goals of the user and the business are the same.
When developing a digital strategy, it's essential to look critically at the UX of all customer-facing platforms like websites and mobile apps and ensure you've made it as easy as possible for your customers to take the actions you want them to take, so you both can achieve your common goals.
The difference between UX and UI
Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen summed it up when they said, “It’s important to distinguish the total user experience from the user interface (UI), even though the UI is obviously an extremely important part of the design."
As an example, consider a website with movie reviews. Even if the user interface and website functionality for finding a film is perfect, the UX will be poor for a user who wants information about a small independent release, particularly if the underlying database only contains movies from the major studios. In this case, the user could navigate the website interface easily, but couldn’t find what they were looking for. Therefore, their experience was bad.
Users use digital products to achieve goals, via a series of tasks think of them as tools. Usability is “The effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users achieve specified goals in particular environments.” So, we need to design and provide the functionality that gives them the experience they desire.
The role of the user
Nowadays, because consumers have less time and diminishing attention spans, there’s an emphasis on immediacy when it comes to delivery of service. On a website, you only have seconds to make an initial impression before visitors leave. In the context of UX and overall CX, therefore, you need to focus on demonstrating value for the user very early in their journey.
In digital strategy terms, any investment by the user, in relation to their time, or the input of personal information, must be quickly reciprocated by the site with something which represents value to the user – this is known as a value exchange.
For example, a consumer is usually willing to provide something of value, like their contact details through a website form, in return for something of value to them, such as an ebook, or a discount code on a product they are considering buying. For value exchange to work, however, the return must be something of equal or higher value than the original trade.
Consider a time when you received a good product at a low cost. In this case, the exchange favors you. You paid less than what you believe the product is worth and therefore had a good experience and got a good deal. Consumers want and expect the same type of experience with digital interfaces such as websites and apps. It must be easy to complete actions, otherwise, it will negatively impact the user experience during a transaction or interaction.
Arguably, a customer that buys something that doesn’t function as hoped, or doesn’t fulfill their expectations has a negative experience. This is because money was spent on a product in good faith. The value it provides, either broken or as a poorly functioning product is much lower than the value of the money handed over for it. The value exchange in this case, is misaligned and the experience is diminished and bad.
Advantages for business
There are specific business goals and outcomes that can be achieved by putting users at the center of the UX to create a positive customer experience. Better CX via UX optimization can lead to:
- Increased conversions and sales
- Less development time and costs
- Higher user satisfaction results
- Improved customer experience
Clark Boyd
Clark Boyd is CEO and founder of marketing simulations company Novela. He is also a digital strategy consultant, author, and trainer. Over the last 12 years, he has devised and implemented international marketing strategies for brands including American Express, Adidas, and General Motors.
Today, Clark works with business schools at the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and Columbia University to design and deliver their executive-education courses on data analytics and digital marketing.
Clark is a certified Google trainer and runs Google workshops across Europe and the Middle East. This year, he has delivered keynote speeches at leadership events in Latin America, Europe, and the US. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, and Slideshare. He writes regularly on Medium and you can subscribe to his email newsletter, hi, tech.
Bill Phillips
Bill is an international facilitator, trainer, and team coach. He has successfully coached CEOs, board members, directors, executive teams, and team leaders in public and private companies, NGOs, and UN organizations in 15 countries across four continents. He is also the creator of Future-basing®, a highly potent process for building strategy, vision, and cooperation.
Will Francis
Will Francis is a recognized authority in digital and social media, who has worked with some of the world’s most loved brands. He is the host and technical producer of the DMI podcast, Ahead of the Game and a lecturer and subject matter expert with the DMI. He appears in the media and at conferences whilst offering his own expert-led digital marketing courses where he shares his experience gained working within a social network, a global ad agency, and more recently his own digital agency.
Cathal Melinn
Cathal Melinn is a well-known Digital Marketing Director, commercial analyst, and eommerce specialist with over 15 years’ experience.
Cathal is a respected international conference speaker, course lecturer, and digital trainer. He specializes in driving complete understanding from students across a number of digital marketing disciplines including: paid and organic search (PPC and SEO), analytics, strategy and planning, social media, reporting, and optimization. Cathal works with digital professionals in over 80 countries and teaches at all levels of experience from beginner to advanced.
Alongside his training and course work, Cathal runs his own digital marketing agency and is considered an analytics and revenue-generating guru - at enterprise level. He has extensive local and international experience working with top B2B and B2C brands across multiple industries.
Over his career, Cathal has worked client-side too, with digital marketing agencies and media owners, for brands including HSBC, Amazon, Apple, Red Bull, Dell, Vodafone, Compare the Market, Aer Lingus, and Expedia.
He can be reached on LinkedIn here.
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- Discuss the impact of customer journey stages in a marketing strategy
- Identify the key touchpoints, channels, and tactics in an omnichannel strategy
- Assess the impact of customer experience (CX) on business performance
