Despite evidence that employing a human-centered design (HCD) approach to product design yields a strong competitive edge, many companies neglect HCD or don't even consider it in the first place. One reason for that is probably that many who think they're working user-centered are practicing something entirely different: KPI-Centered Design. This article inquires into different forms of design processes, into the differences between proper HCD and KPI-Centered Design, and how a resonable compromise can look like: Formulating hypotheses based on evidence rather than just KPIs or gut feeling, and complementing quantitative experimentation with more qualitative insights.
Category: Usability / User Experience
5 Foolproof Conversion Rate Optimizations for Your E-commerce Business
When hearing conversion rate optimization, many think of the application of psychological principles such as social proof or scarcity. But before employing those, e-commerce businesses first have to get their fundamentals down—which many don't. In this article, I present five foolproof (and proven) ways to optimize your conversion rate: optimizing your checkout, getting rid of shipping costs (as much as possible), focusing on usability, getting rid of dark patterns, and gaining a deep understanding of your customers.
How to Build and Lead User Experience (UX) Teams
This article presents 9 guidelines for building and leading UX teams. They are based on what I learned from the people who led me as well as my own experience: recruit diverse talent; set up a process (and iterate); involve other teams from the start; be fair; have regular ceremonies; pass on knowledge; have a vision; ask questions (a lot); and make UX visible.
Jobs To Be Done in a Nutshell
The theory of Jobs To Be Done explains that too much focus on socio-demographic data and correlations hurts companies. Rather, you have to gain a deeper understanding of your customers, who "hire" your product to help them do certain jobs under certain circumstances. For instance, you don't buy a video game console because you're male and over 30. You hire it to, e.g., do the job "connect with friends".
2 Research Papers Accepted at International Conferences, + 1 Best Paper Award
Two research papers I co-authored have been recently accepted to prestigious international conferences: ACM CHI and ICWE. The first one even won a Best Paper Award. 🎉
The Conversion/Usability Framework: How Usability Impacts Profit
Usability is related to customer satisfaction and loyalty and therefore has a direct impact on profit. The Conversion/Usability Framework introduces usability as an additional lever on top of "traditional" means to increase profits, which can and should also be applied beyond E-commerce.
User Experience Rule #6
VI. A good product doesn't need dark patterns.
How to Data Analytics (in a Start-up)
1) Data analytics is a lot like UX design. 2) Define the questions to be answered beforehand. 3) Data is meaningless without interpretation. Extensively collaborate with other departments.
Schrödinger’s Website
Before you receive feedback from users, the user experience and usability of your website are both 'good' and 'bad' at the same time.* Through a good design process you can only raise the chances of user experience and usability manifesting as 'good'** once the feedback arrives. * That is, the factors $latex x$ and $latex… Continue reading Schrödinger’s Website
The U Score: Redesigning Usability Testing
Usability testing is often perceived as cumbersome and time-consuming and therefore not thoroughly applied. This was one of the key observations leading to the topic of my PhD thesis. Particularly conducting tests with actual users is often omitted, which results in the release of suboptimal products and websites. In my thesis, I tackle this problem through more… Continue reading The U Score: Redesigning Usability Testing
2008 – Tales of Design & User Experience 