What Does A UX Designer Do

During the inspiration stage, the UX designer seeks to understand and observe. To do this, they conduct extensive research and competitor analysis in order to fully grasp the problem or challenge they are setting out to solve. This involves interviewing those who are, or will be, directly engaged with the product.

The designer then uses this feedback to identify the user’s goals, emotions, pain-points and behaviors. All of this information helps to form user personas. The next step is to consider what these personas are trying to accomplish when using a particular product, and the journey they will take to do so. The designer considers information architecture and uses various techniques, such as card sorting, to map out user flows.

Once the user flows have been determined, the designer knows what steps the user needs to take to complete their desired tasks. They will visually brainstorm solutions for each of these steps, creating wireframes and prototypes of what the final product might look like.

With prototypes to hand, the UX designer will then conduct usability tests to see how users interact with the product. This shows whether or not the user is able to complete their desired tasks, or if changes need to be made.

UX designers not only come up with solutions to user problems; they also need to present their ideas and designs to key stakeholders as part of their day-to-day work.

No matter what product or service they are designing, or what stage of the process they are at, UX designers will ask themselves the following questions:

• Is the product usable? Is it logical, self-explanatory and easy to use?
• Does the product or service solve an existing user problem?
• Is it accessible for different categories of users? You can read more about accessibility in design below.
• Is the product or service desirable? Does it create a positive experience which the user would be happy to repeat?

What Tools Do UX Designers Use?

UX designers rely on a number of different tools as they go about their work. At the research and inspiration stage, they will use survey and polling tools as well as video chat software to interview users and gather as much information as possible. There are also specific programs for wireframing, prototyping and usability testing, with Balsamiq, InVision and UsabilityHub among the most popular in the industry. In addition to design-specific programs, designers also use communication and project management tools to keep track of their work at all times.

What Kinds Of Projects Do UX Designers Work On?

As the tech industry grows, the field of UX design is becoming increasingly varied. UX designers can find themselves working on a wide range of projects within various contexts. Here are just some applications for UX design:

• Website, App And Software Design

UX designers are responsible for ensuring a smooth online experience for the user. From ecommerce websites to dating apps, from CRM software to web-based email clients, each and every online journey you take has been carefully designed by a UX professional.

• Voice Design

Voice user interfaces are revolutionizing the way we interact with technology. UX designers have a huge role to play in the rise of voice, as products like Amazon Alexa can only be successful if they are user-friendly and accessible for the masses. Designing for voice requires a slightly different approach to that of websites and apps.

• Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)

With the global VR market expected to be worth around $27 billion by 2022, UX designers will increasingly be required to design immersive experiences. Reality has also been working its way into the mainstream. More and more, UX designers will have to adapt their approach to ensure the latest technologies are accessible and user-friendly.

• Service Design

UX design doesn’t only apply to tangible objects and digital products; experiences need to be designed, too. This is where service design comes in.

Whenever you buy a coffee, stay in a hotel or use public transport, your experience is the result of service design, and service design methodology is very similar to that of classic UX design.

What Is User Experience Design

User experience (UX) refers to any interaction a user has with a product or service. UX design considers each and every element that shapes this experience, how it makes the user feel, and how easy it is for the user to accomplish their desired tasks. The goal of UX design is to create easy, efficient, relevant and all-round pleasant experiences for the user.

UX designers combine market research, product development, strategy and design to create seamless user experiences for products, services and processes.

The Difference between UX and UI Design

User interface design is not the same as UX. UI refers to the actual interface of a product; the visual design of the screens a user navigates through when using a mobile app, or the buttons they click when browsing a website. UI design is concerned with all the visual and interactive elements of a product interface, covering everything from typography and color palettes to animations and navigational touch points.

UX and UI go hand-in-hand, and the design of the product interface has a huge impact on the overall user experience.

UX design is everywhere: the layout of a supermarket, the ergonomics of a vehicle, the usability of a mobile app.

To understand the principles of UX design, it helps to explore the history behind it:

2. The History Of UX Design

In the late 19th century, great thinkers and industrialists like Frederick Winslow Taylor and Henry Ford began integrating basic experience design principles into their production processes. On a mission to make human labor more efficient, Taylor conducted extensive research into the interactions between workers and their tools — just like UX designers today investigate how users interact with products and services.

In the early 90s, cognitive scientist Don Norman joined the team at Apple as their User Experience Architect, making him the first person to have UX in his job title. He came up with the term “user experience design” because he wanted to “cover all aspects of the person’s experience with a system, including industrial design, graphics, the interface, the physical interaction, and the manual.” Since then, each of these areas have expanded into specializations of their own.

For centuries, humans have been seeking to optimize their surroundings for maximum user comfort. These days, the term UX design has strong digital connotations, often referring to apps, websites, software, gadgets and technology.

How To Become A UX Designer

Working in UX requires a highly diverse skillset coupled with a passion for user-centric design. A career in UX can be very varied, challenging and financially rewarding.

There is no standard background or path that leads to a career in UX. However, the best UX designers typically share certain qualities and attributes, including:

• An ability to think both creatively and analytically
• A strong gift for empathy and a user-first mindset
• An interest in technology and how humans interact with it
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate

What Are The Most Important UX Design Skills?

UX designers don’t necessarily need a university degree to break into the field. Employers tend to look for a mixture of design skills, business acumen and soft skills. Some requirements you will often see in UX designer job descriptions include:

• Proficiency in creating user stories, personas, sitemaps, wireframes, prototypes and storyboards
• Ability to plan and conduct user testing, surveys, and formal evaluations
• Ability to iterate your work based on user testing data and qualitative feedback
• Understanding of interaction design principles and information architecture
• Ability to translate goals, objectives, and data into digital experiences
• Understanding of business metrics, and how your designs contribute to performance
• Strong communication and presentation skills; an ability to articulate and discuss your design decisions with clients and stakeholders
• Flexibility and adaptability

What counts as essential or desirable will vary depending on both the company and on the nature of the role.

Learning UX Design

Many people switch to UX design after gaining experience in another field like psychology, computer science, marketing or customer service. To get started in UX design, it’s important to do plenty of reading and research, to get to know the UX workflow, familiarize yourself with industry tools and build up a solid design portfolio. The most effective way to prepare for a career in UX is by taking a structured course and working on practical projects. Find out what exactly you should learn in a UX design course here and feel free to check out these free UX design tutorials.

The importance of Branding

You should have your branding strategy worked out before you launch your online store to avoid working backwards to try to aligned your store with customer expectations. A strong brand is easy to relate to and draws on values that resonate well with the target audience. For an E-Commerce shop, a strong brand can also be a safety net protecting a business from having to compete on price.

Branding is everything. Here are the main reasons why branding Is important:

• Well-executed branding has a lot to say. Great branding shows customers what makes you, you. Branding identity tells your story in an instant ​by establishing brand-defining keywords and using these words to shape the company voice, tone and aesthetic. Branding builds an emotional connection by establishing yourself as a brand, you can deeply connect with customers, employees and the general public. This connection is a gradual process which happens with time, but it starts by establishing a good reputation, letting your audience get to know you and ultimately finding memorable ways to communicate.

Great branding takes guts, strategy, intelligence and sometimes risk. To tell your customers what makes you “you,” confidence is essential.

• Whatever your brand may be, make sure there are goals and meaning behind it. Great branding is more than just your logo, font and colors. Your beliefs play a large role upholding your brand identity and communicating it with others. But how you do this is up to you. Some brands take a more subtle approach, while others opt to weave values into a logo itself.

Sometimes even the greatest brands can be greater. Rebranding happens in many ways, and a common approach is a logo refresh.

Rebranding is incredibly important to the long-term sustainability of a mega-brand.

• Part of the importance of branding is that a strong brand is essential to delivering the results you need. When you’re good, you’re good. That’s why well-established brands create sizable revenue.

With great branding comes great company culture, and employee morale goes right along with it. Employees love the brand and live the brand, and this happiness reflects positively on.

When you unite customers around their needs and your values, the connection ensures brand loyalty, which ultimately leads to brand longevity. Connection on a deep, personal level is a reflection of a well-built brand.

Branding is everything. So be good to your brand and take the time to carefully curate your brand identity.WOONAS will be there for your brand every step of the way.

Competitive Analysis

What is a Competitive Analysis?

A competitive analysis is the process of identifying your competitors and evaluating their strategies to determine their strengths and weaknesses relative to your own business, product, and service. The goal of the competitive analysis is to gather the intelligence necessary to find a line of attack and develop your go-to-market strategy.

Why competitive analysis matters for ecommerce?

The main reason this activity is important is because you can’t effectively compete without knowing your direct competitors—and you can’t differentiate yourself if you don’t know what actually makes you different.

For ecommerce businesses in particular, a competitive analysis can also help:

Make more informed decisions about your marketing strategy

• Identify industry trends
• Create benchmarks for yourself
• Determine your pricing strategies
• Unearth new ways of speaking to customers, or even new customers to speak to
• Finding a gap in the market, but also ensuring there’s a “market in the gap”

This type of analysis is not just for first-time business owners, either. A competitive analysis can be a living document that’s constantly evolving as your company grows and matures over time.

Maintaining a resource like this is a powerful way to measure how your brand stacks up against the competition right now—but it also can help provide clear direction on how you’ll continue to excel in the future.

How to conduct a competitive analysis?

Now that we have our list of competitors, it’s time to start the actual competitive analysis. Not all of these steps will be useful or relevant to you, but each one should at least be explored.

Each step is broken down so that you’ll get a description, how to conduct this part of a competitive analysis, and then some guiding questions or ideas to lead the analysis.

When you’ve got all the data together, you can then start comparing yourself in a useful way to your competitors and discover areas to improve, as well as how your rivals might start taking business from you.

It’s a good idea to build out a spreadsheet where you can keep all this info in one place. Consider setting up multiple tables, one for your main direct competitors, one for your main indirect competitors, and then a list of any competitors you want to keep an eye on. The third spreadsheet will end up being quite extensive, but use it more as an index and data resource than something you check and update regularly.

Online Research

What is online Research?

Online research is a research method that involves the collection of information from the internet. With the advent of the internet, the traditional pen-and-paper research techniques have taken a backseat and made room for online research. Online survey research is much more impactful than the traditional means, considering the ease of access and cost savings they come with. The response rates received for online research are much higher than the others as the respondents are assured that their identity will be protected.

Research Methods and Techniques:

Researchers and statisticians collect data from respondents using various online research techniques. They are often called internet research or web-based research methods. Many of these research methods are already being used in one way or the other but are being revived for the online mediums. The latest in this line of online research methods is social media research as it offers extended levels of complexities and thus, new avenues for research are created.

There are 5 such online research methods which are extensively used by researchers due to the precise nature of the offered results.

-Online focus group: A subset of the online research techniques, online focus groups are methods usually used for B2B research, consumer research and political research. A moderator is assigned to conduct and supervise the focus group who invites pre-selected and qualified participants who represent a specific area of interest to be a part of this focus group at a particular time. The respondents are usually incentivized for being a part of the discussion that usually is an hour and 90 minutes.

-Online interview: This online research method is quite similar to the face-to-face interviews yet different in terms of the required standard practices, understanding with respondents and sampling. Online interviews are organized using various computer-mediated communication (CMC), essentially, SMS or Email. On the basis of the response time for these interviews, they’re classified into synchronous and asynchronous methods. Synchronous online interviews are carried out via mediums such as online chat, where the responses are received in real-time while asynchronous online interviews are those that happen over Email where the responses are usually not in real-time.Just like face-to-face interviews, the online interviews probe into respondent thoughts and feedbacks about a particular topic to get insights into their experiences, ideas or attitudes.

-Online qualitative research: Other than the mainstream online focus groups and online interviews, there are various aspects of online qualitative research. These aspects include blogs, mobile diaries, and communities. These methods contribute towards cost and time savings and are supremely convenient for the researchers to gather information for their research topics.The level of sophistication that online qualitative research methods bring to the table is superior to any other traditional forms as the respondents can be either recruited from existing databases, panels or can be added by conducting surveys.

-Online text analysis: This analysis technique is an extension of text analysis which exists since the 17th century which is a collection of various online research examples used to derive insights from content available online. By using this online research technique, researchers can explain penned, verbal or graphic communication formats.Categories such as web pages, paragraphs, sentences, quasi-sentences, documents, etc. It is most often used for quantitative research but for better interpretation of the text, researchers also use qualitative techniques.

-Social network analysis: Social network analysis is an emerging online research technique which is gaining acceptance due to the increased adoption of social networking platforms.By conducting social network analysis, a researcher can map and measure flows and relationships between people, organizations, URLs, groups or computers using graph theory. For instance, the latest meme culture has developed new social structures in which the people associated are termed as “nodes” and memes are the “links” between these nodes.

Online Research Advantages:

-Access to data across the globe: Internet is an elaborate platform for researchers to invest their time in retrieving crucial information that would otherwise consume a lot of their time. It is very easy for them to conduct research even if they’re lazing on their couch and have a deadline coming up.

-Minimum investment of time and resources: The online mediums have become the numero uno resort for individuals to look up for information to broaden their horizon of knowledge. There’s information being updated day in and day out and researchers latch onto this information for their benefits. It has eased the process of publishing and collecting information and thus, saves a lot of time and money.

-Central pool of facts and figures: Researchers and statisticians keep searching for updated information on various important topics, students search the internet for academic purposes and this is the greatest edge the internet offers.

-Capable tool for collecting information: Surveys, questionnaires, and polls are being conducted via online mediums like emails or QR codes or embedded on the website etc. to gather or spread vital information.

Business Valuation

What Is a Business Valuation?

A business valuation is a general process of determining the economic value of a whole business or company unit. Business valuation can be used to determine the fair value of a business for a variety of reasons, including sale value, establishing partner ownership, taxation, and even divorce proceedings. Owners will often turn to professional business evaluators for an objective estimate of the value of the business.

The Basics of Business Valuation:

The topic of business valuation is frequently discussed in corporate finance. Business valuation is typically conducted when a company is looking to sell all or a portion of its operations or looking to merge with or acquire another company. The valuation of a business is the process of determining the current worth of a business, using objective measures, and evaluating all aspects of the business.

A business valuation might include an analysis of the company’s management, its capital structure, its future earnings prospects or the market value of its assets. The tools used for valuation can vary among evaluators, businesses, and industries. Common approaches to business valuation include a review of financial statements, discounting cash flow models and similar company comparisons.

Valuation is also important for tax reporting. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires that a business is valued based on its fair market value. Some tax-related events such as sale, purchase or gifting of shares of a company will be taxed depending on valuation.

There are numerous ways a company can be valued.

Methods of Valuation:

1. Market Capitalization

Market capitalization is the simplest method of business valuation. It is calculated by multiplying the company’s share price by its total number of shares outstanding.

2. Times Revenue Method

Under the times revenue business valuation method, a stream of revenues generated over a certain period of time is applied to a multiplier which depends on the industry and economic environment

3. Earnings Multiplier

Instead of the times revenue method, the earnings multiplier may be used to get a more accurate picture of the real value of a company, since a company’s profits are a more reliable indicator of its financial success than sales revenue is. The earnings multiplier adjusts future profits against cash flow that could be invested at the current interest rate over the same period of time. In other words, it adjusts the current P/E ratio to account for current interest rates.

4. Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) Method

The DCF method of business valuation is similar to the earnings multiplier. This method is based on projections of future cash flows, which are adjusted to get the current market value of the company. The main difference between the discounted cash flow method and the profit multiplier method is that it takes inflation into consideration to calculate the present value.

5. Book Value

This is the value of shareholders’ equity of a business as shown on the balance sheet statement. The book value is derived by subtracting the total liabilities of a company from its total assets.

6. Liquidation Value

Liquidation value is the net cash that a business will receive if its assets were liquidated and liabilities were paid off today.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the business valuation methods in use today. Other methods include replacement value, breakup value, asset-based valuation and still many more.

Which Method to Use:

Different experts tout different methods, but in practice, it often depends on your individual situation. If there are no comparable business, if you pay for a professional appraisal, the appraiser will decide which method works best.

Brand Positioning

What is brand positioning?

Defined as the space a company owns in the mind of a customer and how it differentiates itself from competitors, brand positioning is a marketing strategy that helps business set themselves apart. From cell phone manufacturers to online retailers to even nonprofits, brand positioning helps customers instantly recognize and connect with a company. One of the most important factors of success is how well, and how many, people know your brand. It’s not enough to set up a generic website and hope people flock to it by the millions. In fact, no company is able to truly thrive in the marketplace without an established brand position.

How Important Is Brand Positioning?

With 89 percent of brand marketers concerned about creating engaging brand experiences and 77 percent of B2B marketing leaders convinced that branding is critical to growth, it is clear to see just how important brand positioning is. In addition to the critical element of customer recognition, brand positioning is important for your business in these four ways:

• Market differentiation: Showing the uniqueness of your product in any industry creates a major advantage. When you use your brand positioning to celebrate how your product solves a particular problem or need differently than your competitors, customers will take notice.
• Easy purchase decisions: By clearly defining your product and how it can benefit your customer, you take the guesswork out of the purchase process. When you give customers the answers to questions they are looking for, they will be quicker to trust and buy.
• Value confirmation: A strong brand doesn’t have to rely on pricing wars with competitors. Instead, great brand positions establish the high value of their product, making customers want to buy it no matter what (even if it isn’t the cheapest on the market),
• Magnified messaging: A clear brand positioning statement gives you a springboard for compelling creative storytelling. By having a concrete vision, you can elevate each additional piece of marketing to further solidify your place among the competition.

How to Create Strong Brand Positioning

Any skilled marketer can develop a brand positioning strategy. The real challenge? Making it lead to real business results and resonate with your target audience.

You’ll need more than a carefully created statement. To create strong brand positioning, you’ll need research, customer data, authenticity, and flexibility.

Here are three tips to help you along the way:

• Do your research: Benchmark all of your competitors to determine what their brand position is, how well it is doing, and how you can outdo it. By constantly knowing where you stand among your competitors, you’ll be able to position yourself in a way that makes customers pay attention.
• Be authentic: Your brand positioning is what you want people to think of when they see your company, so be sure it’s authentic. Develop a story that captures your mission as a company and incorporate your own values so that you can always be relatable and trustworthy when speaking to it.
• Adjust accordingly: Having a set brand position doesn’t mean that it can’t change. When you identify flaws in your statement or uncover less-than-stellar customer feedback, don’t be afraid to adjust your messaging accordingly.

How to Improve Brand Positioning

Your brand positioning should be dynamic and fluid. This doesn’t mean you have to do a major overhaul every year, but you do need to revisit it at least every quarter to see how you can make it better.

Here are three ways to improve your brand positioning:

• Listen to your customers: Don’t create your brand positioning in a vacuum. In order for it to resonate with your customers, make sure you are listening to what they have to say. Set up focus groups, send surveys, or simply talk to customers at events and use all those insights to improve your message.
• Refocus your statement: Does your brand positioning try and do too much? Have you lost sight of the one or two things that truly make you unique? If your statement has lost its focus, get back to the basics by revisiting your initial research (or conducting new research) to see if your statement is still effective.
• Create some buzz: If you’re a small company just starting out, you may not have a large enough following to test your brand positioning. If you need more eyes on your messaging, run some paid adsto A/B test a control statement (perhaps a generic statement about your business) against your brand positioning statement to see how people react.

Brand Loyalty

What Is Brand Loyalty?

Brand loyalty is the positive association consumers attach to a particular product or brand. Customers that exhibit brand loyalty are devoted to a product or service, which is demonstrated by their repeat purchases despite competitor’s efforts to lure them away. Corporations invest significant amounts of money on customer service and marketing to create and maintain brand loyalty for an established product.

How Brand Loyalty Works?

Loyal customers are the ones who will purchase the same brand regardless of convenience or price. These loyal customers have found a product that meets their needs, and they’re not interested in experimenting with another brand.

Most established brand name products exist in a highly competitive market overwhelmed with new and old competing products, many of them barely distinguishable. As a result, companies employ many tactics to create and maintain brand loyalty. They spend their advertising budgets on messages targeted at the segment of the market that includes their loyal customers and like-minded people who could become loyal customers.

Brand Loyalty Campaigns:

Companies collect and analyze data on customer spending habits to better understand how to market their product. Marketers track changes in trends and create a corresponding marketing campaign to help the company acquire and keep the brand’s loyal customers.

Using social media to build brand loyalty:

Ideally, your social media marketing strategy has set goals like increased brand awareness, higher conversion rates and overall better customer experience. Using social media to build brand loyalty is not just about posting new products or updates, but when done right it can drive results to these goals. You want your followers to invest in your brand story, and social is the perfect platform to tell that ongoing story and delve into all the facets of your brand identity. The way to do this is to create compelling content that generates engagement with your audience.

The long-term impact of brand loyalty:

The goal of building brand loyalty is to create long term ambassadors that support your brand. After all, loyal customers are more likely to recommend you to their friends, support future launches and talk about your brand on social media.

Brand loyalty has the power to grow your business and sustain long term growth. Stay engaged and in communication with your audience and use social media listening. This will help you learn more about their needs and allow you to set your brand up for long term growth. The more you prioritize the long-term effects of brand loyalty, the more you’ll see the impact.