Planning for 2019? Make User Experience a Priority.

As a marketing leader, your mind is fully in 2019 - deciding which channels to expand, what new platforms to test, and how to stay fresh and relevant in the fast moving digital environment. This time of the year is a perfect time to reflect on your user experience, both where it has been and where it is going.

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Establishing a detailed game plan for incremental testing by putting yourself in the shoes of the user can result in significant gains. User expectations continue to evolve so understanding the needs more fully can increase revenue and always makes the C-Suite happy. A clean UX also sets up new platforms or strategies for a greater chance of success.

This is common sense, yet something more easily preached than practiced. As an entrenched employee, it can be extremely difficult to see your site as a user would.
Here are some tips to keep in mind to make the most of your UX optimization efforts and to see the forest through the trees in the New Year.
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• Bring in fresh eyes. A clean perspective is needed to identify opportunities and create impactful tests. This could be found in an agency, a consultant, or a new team member. Internal stakeholders are often blinded by personal attachment to work they have done. They can be biased by past results or be too close to the business to remove themselves from test ideation and results interpretation. Getting an impartial voice in the mix can help limit these pitfalls and ensure you are testing the right elements to move toward success.
• Ensure you have the right resource managing your UX strategy. UX requires a very rare skill set. Not only does someone need to be analytically minded, they must be a creative problem solver. Additionally, this person needs to be highly scientific when it comes to testing and not let their own personal bias and opinions color their thinking. These are not an easy combination of skills to find in any one person, yet are essential for your UX strategy to work. Taking the time to ensure the right resource is in place is critical.
• Consider the experience a user has before they hit your site. The experience of your potential customer begins long before they hit your site. Their brand impression forms pre-visit. The ads your prospects see, the sites on which your ads are served, your social voice, your brand content that lives off-site, etc. – allof these touchpoints are part of the experience potential customers have with your brand and influence their likelihood of converting once on your site. Knowing this, it is essential messaging is seamless, cross-channel communication is occurring, and all of these touchpoints are analyzed when considering the experience of your user.

Ensuring a strategy is in place to monitor and improve your user experience opens up the possibility to a wealth of long-term gains. Additionally, it allows time and increases the chance of success when testing the latest and greatest new digital features and platforms.