Top UI/UX Trends for 2020

Website design trends come and go, but when creating a website, UI and UX (via a UX design course) are both integral to the success of a product or experience. Here are some of the top UI/UX trends for 2020.

Meaningful Content

Website design is increasingly focused on narrative and meaning as opposed to emotion and sensation because it helps to convey the essence of an organisation and its brand values. Unique visual design is essential, but content via digital storytelling is what truly engages viewers. A true connection means they are not just browsing — they want to be part of a brand’s story as well.

User Customisation

Providing a tailored and customised experience to users means you have a strong understanding of their needs. With UX and UI, customisation can be integrated on a range of website assets, including via navigation. When navigation is woven logically into an organisation’s ‘story’ and flow of information, engagement will be even more optimised.

Uninterrupted UX

If you are designing an E-commerce website, it’s important to consider a customer’s purchase journey. For example, how many pages do they have to scroll through in order to finalise their purchase? Too many pages can cause friction in their user experience, negatively divert their attention and even lose you the sale. Uninterrupted UX will ensure every piece of information the user needs about the product or service and how to acquire it, is easily accessible.

Data Visualisation

More and more businesses are focusing their website branding strategies on the use of visual data that is not only aesthetically pleasing but interactive as well. Data visualisation is not just about including charts and graphs to make data more digestible, it can also provide a ‘wow’ factor that will increase engagement with your target market.

Artificial Intelligence

The importance of AI continues to grow and AI assistants are becoming increasingly common …  hello, Smart devices! Just as DIY services like Squarespace and Wix have done, AI will increasingly become part of the web designer’s toolbox. An example – a designer creates a storyboard and feeds it to an algorithm. The algorithm then applies constraints to the storyboard and comes up with several template options. The result? The UX/UI designer is able to make more creative decisions and incorporate the technology across a variety of applications.

Augmented Reality

As new technologies arise, UI/UX trends are going above and beyond what is expected. Virtual reality (VR) is a complete immersion experience that shuts out the physical world and is already being used in entertainment systems like video games. Augmented reality (AR), however, adds a virtual layer onto the world we live in — something Microsoft refers to as ‘mixed reality’.

 

What is Customer Journey Mapping?

Customer journey mapping visually illustrates customers’ needs, perceptions and processes throughout their interaction and relationship with a brand. Often studied as part of a UX design course, it is all about leveraging the customer experience (CX). This will provide insights via core metrics, identify opportunities to optimize your CX, and diagnose CX issues. It can also help you identify where new products or services can improve existing customer journeys, or create completely new ones.

Most customer journeys fall into one of four categories:

• Onboarding ‑ for example, opening an account or taking out insurance.
• Maintaining ‑ for example, changing your address or calling for technical help.
• Using or owning – for example, using a smartphone or making an insurance claim.
• Renewal – for example, renewing services or subscriptions.

How To Identify Customer Touch Points

Analysing all of the touchpoints a potential customer has before, during and after an interaction with your brand plays a big part in customer journey mapping. It includes things that you directly influence, but also those controlled or influenced by third parties. This is because regardless of whether you are responsible for it, it still affects the customer experience.

Key questions to ask include:

• How did they access you? For example, your customer may find you through social media, advertising, online reviews or even by old-fashioned word of mouth.
• What did they do with you? For example, it could be navigating your website, visiting a store or interacting with your call centre or sales assistants.
• What did they afterwards? This might include querying product details, requesting a return or product support, subscribing to EDM’s, or filling out a customer feedback survey.

 

Once you map every touchpoint in a customer’s journey and collect feedback from each of them, it will be easier to spot pain points along the way and then work towards improving their experience.

How To Create A Customer Journey Map

Let’s look at an example of a customer wanting to take out a mortgage for a property. Customer touchpoints (in bold) could include:

1. A customer sees an ad from their bank detailing an attractive interest rate. Further research on the bank’s website prompts them to further investigate a mortgage.
2. An online mortgage calculator confirms the repayments are affordable, so they go to their local branch for a meeting with their bank manager.
3. Their queries are answered, so they return home and fill out an online application form.
4. They receive an email from the bank saying their application has been accepted, and they are invited to complete a full application
5. The customer fills out a full application form online and submits it, and an email is sent to them saying their application has been received.
6. However, some of the required information is missing, so a contact centre agent calls them to explain what information they still need to provide.
7. Eventually, the mortgage application is approved and the customer receives a letter with a mortgage offer.
8. Once the property purchase process has been completed, the customer then receives a final confirmation of the mortgage via email including details of the direct debit process and conditions etc. The process is now complete.

So that’s a total of 11 touchpoints. For many homebuyers, there will more depending on the bank, its process and the details involved — right up until the point of purchase. After that, there may still be communication about monthly statements, changes to interest rates, and other customer queries.

How To Fix Pain Points And Where

You might have a satisfied customer in terms of their attitudinal, affective, cognitive and behavioural response. Their satisfaction may also be evident via a Net Promoter Score (NPS) or a Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSAT). But how many other prospective customers found the website confusing, the application process too complicated, or customer service that did not meet their expectations … so they gave up?

This is why journey mapping is essential. By gathering feedback at each touchpoint, you can start to understand how each one contributes to the overall experience. And by being able to pinpoint specific pain points along their journey, you will be able to make improvements at the points it really matters.

Analysing these alongside your core CX metrics, you’ll be able to identify improvements that will have the biggest impact on their overall experience, and the impact on your organisation’s sales, conversion rates and customer lifetime value. Something you’ll learn the value of when undertaking a UX design course!

 

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