User Experience is how the end user/consumer perceives a product, using a service like a website, desktop application, or mobile phone app. This perception can change from being pleasing and satisfying to indifferent, or even “ignored”, thereby being the reason for the success of the product or service. There are multiple aspects that dominate how a user percepts using a product or service. Avantika University offers B.Des UX Design College in Madhya Pradesh, a unique program centered on indulging students in a digital environment to help them understand ever-changing technologies. There are seven factors that have been described by the pioneers in the UX domain. These are also referred to as the user experience principles. We will discuss them in detail one by one.

Useful

This principle states that a service, or product should be useful. It should fulfill a customer’s needs and if that’s not happening, why should a customer buy one such product or service? Developing such a product or service will eventually be waste of time, capital, and resources for the product manager and the team involved. A product will be considered useful if helps the end users/customers achieve their decided tasks and goals. Consider the situation where a customer is browsing an e-commerce website and needs a home theatre. For the customer, Amazon, Flipkart, or any other e-commerce website is the best place to count upon. A product or service should be useful in the way it helps end users, and consumers accomplish their tasks and goals. For example, let’s say a user needs trekking shoes. For them, an Ecommerce website is the best place to search for. Another best example is the product description available on an e-commerce website that displays and communicates every information about the products to the end users. These information and product details are useful for the end user right from the awareness stage to the consideration stage to the final purchasing stage. No matter how creatively and beautifully the product is designed, it won’t prosper in the market if it does not solve the end user’s problems. In short, for a product or service to be successful it must be useful to the end user.

Usable

This principle states that a service, or product should be usable. If a product or service can solve the end user’s problems or accomplish their tasks, then it can be referred to as ‘usable’. It must be noted that the product or service should enable the end-user or consumer to achieve their tasks without any roadblocks and systematically. Consider the scenario where the user is browsing an e-commerce website and looking for a particular product. In this scenario, what makes browsing easy and efficient for the user are the multiple search options with filters as the consumer can conveniently search for the exact product they want. On the other hand, if there is no such search and filter option on the website, the consumer will look up the entire website and spend a lot more time searching for the exact product. This will lead to consumers leaving the website after some time without any conversion. In this case, the search feature becomes usable as it adds to making the consumer journey smooth. Consider another example where there is no menu on the website. This not only creates a problem for the user to navigate the website but also weakens the user experience. In simple words, the product or service should help the consumer accomplish their tasks.

Findable

This principle states that a service, or product should be findable or a consumer should be able to find the product they are searching for comfortably. It is a simple theory that if the consumer cannot find your product or service, they won’t buy it. In other words, if the consumer is ignorant about your product or service’s existence, why will they consider it? Hence, marketing a product and service becomes decisive and plays a pressing role to gauge user experience. Suppose a user is looking for Bluetooth earphones. They will consider buying from a particular website if it will have the required details and description. However, if the necessary information is missing, the user will look for similar products with available details on any other website. Similarly, product categories on a website like Amazon, make it easy for the user to look up the exact product they want. As discussed above, there are search and filter options to make it smooth for a consumer. Stay tuned for the remaining factors or principles that affect User Experience. We will be back with part 2.