Digital marketing and UX design
In 2022, digital marketing and UX design is the way to go for many businesses today, but many ignore UX design and its usefulness in digital marketing strategies.
Without a doubt, digital marketing is essential for the growth of many businesses, especially now that all the companies and organizations are making their way online. So the importance of digital marketing today cannot be over-emphasized; however, many digital marketers ignore the relevance of UX design in their marketing strategies.
Ignoring UX design could cause problems in their marketing as they may not see a good return on their investments (ROI). Their conversion rates would also be affected significantly.
UX design is the difference-maker in digital marketing because anyone can create and launch an advertising campaign but very few can incorporate UX design into their advertising campaigns. Generally, marketing aims to get your customer to engage with your brand and spend as much time as possible engaging with your products or services. That is the entire purpose of UX.
Studies show that simply including UX design in your marketing strategy could increase your conversion rate by four hundred percent when utilized correctly. That’s more than a hundred percent of your ROI (return on investment) just by adding UX designs to your marketing strategy and using them in your advertising campaigns.
So, where do the lines cross? Where does UX design meet Digital marketing, and what role does UX have in digital marketing? Before diving deeper, let’s look at what Digital marketing is and also find out what UX is.
What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing aims to target potential clients that make use of mobile devices. These users are reached through various social media and online communication platforms that offer advertising opportunities to businesses. These platforms provide an interface that marketers can use to create and design advertising campaigns which are then launched to create awareness for brands, messages (content), products, or services offered.
Digital or mobile marketing has many advantages invaluable to businesses that properly utilize digital marketing. One of these advantages is that it provides a significant reach advantage. An improved reach advantage means the company could reach as many customers as possible.
Another advantage is that your business also has the chance to be viewed by multiple investors looking to make investments. The company gains exposure more than it usually would and would even have the potential to go viral given favorable circumstances. These are just a few advantages digital marketing could provide to your small business, company, or organization.
What is UX design?
User experience is more active than passive. It is a business’s way of seeking to make a connection to the customer on a much deeper level than just standard customer service. Customer service is more about answering inquiries and complaints or solving customer problems, but with a user experience, it’s more than that.
To put this into perspective, Imagine a brand or a business that you always refer back to when you need something that has to do with a product or service they offer. If you observe this business, you will notice that it provides you with something much deeper than just a product or service, whether online or offline.
It may be the high-level convenience they offer, the quality of their service, how they send you complimentary gifts, or how the online platform they offer personalizes their web pages to match your preferences. All these extra features that make you feel special and appreciated are part of the UX design implemented by the business.
User experience or UX can be physical and could also be digital, but in most cases, it is often viewed as a digital concept. Generally, user experience is all about the customer and ensuring that their experience with your business, from inquiry to purchase and delivery, cannot be easily replicated by any brand or competitor. This is why when user experience is combined with digital marketing, the results are mind-blowing.
The difference between digital marketing and UX design
Digital marketing is more revenue-oriented than it is consumer-oriented. It involves the creation of strategies and campaigns that lead to customer acquisition and revenue generation from the customers that are acquired.
UX design is more concerned with the customer and their experience with the company. It is all about providing the customer the best possible experience that would almost certainly ensure they return repeatedly.
Reasons why UX design is vital for digital marketing
- It improves advertising conversion rates
- Improved search engine ranking
- Improved overall customer satisfaction
- Improved marketing ROI
- Improved mobile experience
Many digital marketers ignore the importance of UX design in their advertising campaigns because they are ignorant of its significance or do not know how to integrate UX design into their strategies. The problem is that more users are beginning to favor advertising campaigns offering the best user experiences because the more user-friendly it is, the more convenient the shopping experience is. The five reasons why UX design is essential for digital marketing are explained below.
It improves advertising conversion rates
This point applies to digital marketing campaigns that are sales oriented which means they are interested in conversions; they are not only interested in generating leads, but they are also interested in converting those leads into paying customers.
Creating advertising campaigns without integrating UX design would ultimately lead to low conversion rates. This is because, without UX design, the entire user experience would be subpar. The best advertising campaigns are those that put themselves in their customers’ shoes and optimize their campaigns based on that. The marketing campaigns should provide the customers with all the information necessary to make them comfortable purchasing the products or services.
The introduction of UX designs achieves that purpose entirely because it focuses on engaging the users and gives them all the information required to make a purchase. It also goes a step further by making the entire shopping process, from the discovery of the product to the purchase and delivery, as convenient as possible, ultimately improving the conversion rates of your advertising campaigns.
Improved search engine ranking
Many business websites fail to rank higher on search engines like google because there is no proper UX design used in their websites or advertising campaigns. Users spend less time on websites without an engaging user experience and quickly move on to other websites with more attractive options. Automatically, the search engine algorithms would promote the sites that are more engaging and can keep users online for as long as possible. They do this because they are looking to promote sites with immense marketing potential, which could be a significant revenue stream for them. In order to rank higher on these platforms, you need to adopt UX design in your business.
Including UX designs in your advertising campaigns also helps improve your search engine ranking overall because when the user experience is excellent in your adverts, it would be given top priority by all the search engines and social media platforms. Sometimes, it may even transcend the platforms where you originally intended to have these adverts. For example, if your marketing team initially designed your advert for Facebook, but the UX is engaging, the digital marketing platforms would take your adverts to other affiliated platforms. You are essentially free marketing because you get more value for your money.
Improved overall customer satisfaction
Studies show that around 70% of users leave websites that do not meet their expectations. These studies mean that a lot of companies are losing money on a daily basis simply because of poor user experiences or the lack of it. Therefore, customer satisfaction should be one of the top priorities for many businesses, and having an engaging user experience aids in ensuring that customers are satisfied.
Happy customers breed profitable businesses. When your customers are satisfied with your business, you are guaranteed loyalty. From a customer’s perspective, their happiness comes from a comfortable and engaging experience with your business. When you can offer an exciting user experience, the customers will be satisfied and They would also be willing to pay a premium for your products or services.
Including UX design also helps you build a deep connection with your customers. It aids in building better relationships with your customers, which leads to many benefits. For example, your business would be set apart from your competitors because you make the extra effort to keep your customers. This extra step that you take can not be easily replicated by your competitors, giving you that edge over them.
Proper utilization of UX design also improves the general reputation of your business. UX design is helpful because when your customers are happy with their experience doing business with your company, they would be inclined to; leave good reviews for your business and refer your company to their friends and family members. It is also free marketing, but in this case, you are leveraging simply your UX designs to initiate the process.
Improved Marketing ROI
Many businesses struggle to Improve their ROI when they use digital marketing. They pay attention to other aspects of their marketing, like copywriting and target market descriptions. All these factors are essential; however, the inclusion of UX design is the glue that bonds all other aspects of marketing together because UX is more customer-oriented.
The Inclusion of UX designs in your marketing would help you improve your return on investment with regard to your marketing budgets. It works because customers are more likely to purchase your products or services when they can engage with your brand as soon as they see your adverts. For example, movie producers such as Netflix always strive to make the trailers of their movies as engaging as possible to their viewers. These trailers serve as adverts for the films they are about to release. It builds a sense of anticipation and excitement in the eyes of the viewers. They are always eager to see the movies when they are released. This process is all part of UX design.
It would be best if you also created your advertising strategies and campaigns with this intent. They should be able to create the same sense of anticipation and excitement in the eyes of your target audience. This process can be achieved by simply incorporating UX designs into your advertising to make them as engaging as possible. Your designs should also include some information about your business and the problem your product or service solves for your target audience. However, you should convey this information in a format that suits your customers perfectly.
Improved mobile experience
Digital marketing involves targeting customers that use mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and more. These users all possess devices that all have unique screen sizes and resolutions. All these factors need to be taken into account when you are creating your digital marketing strategies.
You would need to combine digital marketing and UX design. It would be best if you connected them because UX focuses on customer experience and optimizing designs specifically for the users. Your user experience design takes into account all the different screen dimensions and optimizes designs to provide the best user experiences for each of their devices.
Also, with an increase in media consumption of about 500% since the early 2000s, more users are now preferring to use mobile devices over desktops. Mobile devices are now a part of our everyday lives. Some major day-to-day activities are now done using the mobile phone, like shopping, booking appointments, and more.
Over 60% of searches on the internet are made using mobile phones. Users are more likely to log off from apps or websites not optimized for their phones. If your business does not offer a mobile-optimized website or mobile application, you would be losing money in terms of your advert conversion rates. Your brand reputation would also be at stake. This is why UX can not be overlooked in your marketing strategies and online presence.
How to apply UX design In your digital marketing strategy
- Design a clear path for your users to follow
- Provide useful information
- Make your brand attractive
- Include personalization features
- Test your UX designs
- Ask questions and review your work
Design a clear path for your users to follow
This step is all about convenience. Customers appreciate a business that makes it easy to find a product or service they need, pay for it and have it delivered to them quickly. This convenience can only be provided when the business creates a clear path for them to follow. Many businesses overcomplicate their transaction process. They make it tasking to find the products or services they offer and even harder to pay for them. The stress causes users to abandon their shopping carts and move to other websites or platforms that offer a more effortless shopping experience.
It would help if you designed your marketing strategy and your E-commerce websites so that the users can access, pay and receive your products or services as efficiently as possible. For example, you could use Payment and delivery APIs that are fast and easy to operate both for you as the business owner and the customer. Using these faster APIs would speed up your transaction process, making it easier for the customers to pay for their products and receive them quickly.
Another way that you could optimize your transaction process is by including search bars or product sorting tools on your online or mobile platforms. Adding these tools would help your customers find the products easily. This way, they would not have to go through your entire platform looking for just a single product. They could easily use the search bar to find any products they are looking for.
Pro-tip; Ensure all the links on your advertising campaigns and online and mobile platforms are working perfectly before launching your adverts. You should do this extra check because whenever a customer clicks on a link, they expect it to be linked to the page they clicked on. When your links do not work, they could quickly leave your website and move to another out of frustration. Always remember to double-check your links and ensure that they work.
Provide useful information
Many companies fill their adverts with information their clients do not need. They overwhelm their customers with useless information that would only confuse them. When these customers find that they are not getting any helpful information from your marketing campaign or website, they leave.
You must ensure that any information you include in your advertising campaign is valuable and easy to understand. It should also clearly describe how your product or service solves your customer’s problem. It would help if you also used simple, short paragraphs in your product descriptions. For example, if your company deals with used laptops, your product description should include the name, model, and all the specifications for that particular laptop. Your description should also be as detailed as possible. Conveying your information in this manner promotes engagement and makes it easier for the customer to decide to make a purchase.
Make your brand attractive.
You may have the best products in the world, but if they do not look attractive in terms of their design (branding), you may not sell any. This is why many companies spend thousands of dollars on branding alone. When creating an advertising campaign, it is best to brand your products in such a way that it is both aesthetically appealing and engaging to the customer.
It is also good to use designs that your customers would appreciate. You need to test and see what designs fit your business because they vary depending on the type of business you run. Note that the branding colors you choose to use need to be consistent with all the other products and advertising campaigns you are creating. Keeping that color consistency would create a sense of familiarity with your customers. They would always associate the colors with your brand and your brand would usually not be confused with that of your competitors.
Great branding also promotes trust. When your branding looks attractive and professional, it gives your customers confidence in your business and helps them engage with your services. It is easier to sell your products or services to customers who trust your brand rather than those who do not. This trust also allows you to create lasting relationships with your customers that could transcend generations.
For example, some families have used one brand of milk their entire lives. The children from these families will most likely choose the same brand of milk when they leave their parents to start their lives. This circle could go on for generations, but it all starts from the trust that a great brand promotes.
Include personalization features
Don’t you love when Facebook greets you “good morning” when you log in for the first time in the morning? Of course, you do. They also include your name in their greeting. It is all about providing you with a personalized experience whenever you use their platform. When creating your advertising strategies, it is essential to make them as personal as possible for the user. They should feel like you are speaking directly to them. You would gain and retain their attention more efficiently and increase your engagement rates in your advertising campaigns.
To accomplish this, put yourself in the customer’s position and ask yourself what you would like to see in your adverts. Try to make your answer as specific as possible. When you have an answer, you can build the rest of your advertising campaign using it as a blueprint.
Test your UX designs
Testing your designs is also an integral part of developing your user experience designs for marketing. When you have implemented UX designs in your advertising campaigns, it is best not to use all of your advertising budgets on a single campaign. Test each advertising campaign you create over a short time to see the ones that provide the best results and also, analyze why the others didn’t perform so well. When you find the campaigns with the best results, you can increase the amount of money you spend to ensure you get a reward for your investments.
Ask questions and review your work
It would be best if you also made it a priority to ask for reviews from your customers as often as possible. These reviews would give you information that would help improve your entire digital marketing strategy and UX designs. Asking questions and making reviews also help sustain the integrity of the business because your customers would appreciate that you care. These customers are more than likely to share their experiences with friends and family.
