Top User Experience UX Companies United Kingdom (UK)

User experience is all about how people or customers interact with the product. It begins long before the product reaches the final customers.

The main aspects of user experience are user interface design and usability. However, UX is not that simple. It is a broad concept that includes:

• Product acquisition

• Product integration

• Branding

• Design

• Usability

• Function

So it involves the steps of getting the product in the customer's hands, combined with troubleshooting and aftersales support. All these elements work together to shape the entire user experience with the brand.

However, the user experience is unique for each customer. So there’s no rule book here; a good UX can be about how the customers interact with you and use the offering.

Also, an important point to note here is that your product should offer the following:

• Value

• Function

• Usability

• Good general impression

Today the markets are filled with customized, personalized, and user-centric products. So the reasons or importance of user experience is something that just can't be missed. It is very important because the end user matters most for businesses, and they rely on these experiences to meet the bottom line.

When it comes to web designing, the focus should be on how easy to use it is and how much the customers find it comfortable to navigate through the system. That is more important than the branding, aesthetics, and offering (although you can’t deny the importance of these aspects alone for the brand itself.)

So businesses need to come out of the bubble and work on more than just looks and what they like. It is important to work on the lines of what the clients or customers want since they are the ones who would actually be interacting with and using the product.

As we said, user experience is a broad term. It can be better understood if we divide it into four parts:

• Experience Strategy

• Information Architecture

• Interaction design

• User research

Experience Strategy

Experience strategy or ExS is a 360-degree strategy. It means the business plan should be strategized to consider the customers, businesses, and the company’s requirements.

So it's not just about the client or customer; the offering should also mean something to your business.

Interaction Design (IxD)

In this part, we see how the user interacts with the brand. This can include features like animations and buttons. Again, the more creative the design, the more it captures attention.

But at the same time, it shouldn't go out of the line and get too complex or too difficult to use.

A good strategy would enable users to complete all kinds of actions and tasks easily.

User Research (UR)

You need a lot of research and background information about the market, users, and competition before designing UX. Feedback is very important, and UX designers conduct several surveys and interviews with prospective clients before finalizing the design.

Further, they may also conduct usability testing and generate user personas to meet the product's customer requirements better.

Information Architecture

Next comes the part where you organize all the information and the main crux of the research in a meaningful manner. Again, this is important to help the users interact with the product.

The primary requisite for a good user experience is to meet - or better yet, exceed - the demands of the users, simply and making use of all the collected data and information.

Each UX is unique. The design depends on several factors like features, time, numbers, etc.

However, a rough timeline can be around three months. However, the final timeline depends on how much time you have before the final launch and how long the actual product development takes.

Before you find a skilled team to work on the User experience for your product, there are a few things you need to work on.

Product Usability: The product should be usable or hold meaning for the end-user. Plus, it should be easy to use.

Market Research: Remember the product is for the people, and hence it should be designed by the people. Therefore, you must have a thorough knowledge of the market and what the people want in the product if you want it to be a success.

Ongoing Project: The UX design of a product changes over time. So you need to take feedback over time from the users. You cannot simply stick to one-time input.

As times change, so do the market needs and requirements.

Check Your Business Needs: One part of the UX is that the product needs to fulfill the market demands or customer needs. But it should also help you meet your company goals.

Since the bottom line usually involves making sound profits off the product, it should always be a profitable venture. Other goals, if any, too should be met.

Developing UX is hard. One can’t do it without or with just a little experience in the field. There are different stages, and the designers should be equipped with the right knowledge and resources to help businesses.

When you opt for a UX design agency or team to work out a plan for you, you need to keep certain aspects in mind.

Company Repute

Since the design is very important, you need to go to a reputable company. Such a company would have all the required skills, experience, and expertise to handle different products.

Product Portfolio

Check out the company portfolio to see the previous tasks they've worked on.

Someone who has only worked on web apps and a few mobile apps is not good enough. But while an impressionable list of clients from various domains might tempt you, it's better to look for niches. So, it would be better to opt for a company that has previously handled and worked on similar tasks and products like yours.

Such teams can provide you with better service in terms of cost and other details.

The Team

Check your project team—the number of individuals involved and how skilled they are.

One best way to make things work is to contact them and regularly review the details. This way, you can work on improvements and amends through the process instead of waiting for it to complete and then finding flaws in the design.

Budget and Price

An ideal outsourced team should fall within your budget. However, since you are looking at a look term relationship with them, you need to work out a price that works for both parties.

Many new firms may charge extra high due to inefficient processes of unnecessary technology.

Stay away from those and go for a highly reputed and experienced profile. Never settle for cheap.

When you spend considerable time and money, you want the best results. So to get the most out of your developing team, keep these tips in mind:

• Your product or service should offer value to the end-users.

• It should be easy to use and shouldn't require much assistance.

• The product, your brand, and other aesthetic elements should build attraction and invite customer interest.

• You and your product should be easily accessible.

• The product must fulfill a need or solve a problem for the customers.

• All information provided for the design phase should be well researched and authentic.

It should also be accessible for people with physical or cognitive disabilities.

The total time designers take to develop UX can be better understood if we divide the process into different stages.

Research:Research includes the deliverables, concept design, and the final detailed design.

The cost for each is as follows:

Deliverables: cost $3,000 - $4,000

Concept Design: cost $1,000 - $1,500

Detailed Design: Cost $2,000 - $3.000.

However, the total cost depends on several factors, such as:

• How complex is your product?

• The number of people working on the project.

• Your area or country.

Even if you think you have the best product in place and the best team hired to help you out, there are instances where you might face setbacks due to some mistakes.

Some of the most common mistakes companies make when outsourcing include the following.

Using Complex Interface

Your design should be simple and easy to use consistently. Since users are quick to dismiss and switch to other interfaces within just seconds or less, you need to provide them with comfort when they enter your zone. Give them quick answers without wasting their time.

Complex interfaces may look good when we consider aesthetics and other design elements, but they are often the reason customers do not have a good experience with your brand.

Going for Cheaper

It may look compelling to settle for a cheaper agency or team of designers. But remember, quality doesn't come in cheap.

Make sure to never compromise on skills and experience. The more the designers know, the better they will be able to handle your business and its unique needs.

Using Copied Content

Your content and app have to be unique. If it looks similar to the other competitors, you'll not likely attract much of an audience no matter how good your product is.

Here we must distinguish between getting inspired and copying.

Inspiration is okay, but your product and app should stand out from the competition. Copied work is bound to affect your product and brand rather negatively. Discuss plagiarism and the use of distinct content openly with your designers.

Lack of Interactive Features

A vast majority of prospective customers judge an app on their very first impression. When UI or UX design fails to impress, that's a huge turn-off, and most prospective customers just shift away.

Check out the portfolio of the designers. You can look at some of the designs to gauge how well-versed they are in designing just the right platform. Remember, you need to give your customers the right onboarding experience.

Cluttering

Have a cluttered interface, and customers are bound to turn away the instant they enter. In addition, too many features and too much text can look rather disturbing.

You need to talk with your designers to keep it simple and allow some space between all the elements incorporated in the design.

Not Sharing Feedback

You need to give whatever information you have on the customers and their feedback to the partner firm. Withholding important information can lead to doubling of efforts - hence costs - and will not give you the desired results.

This is, in fact, the most common mistake designers make when designing the UX interface. You need to communicate and incorporate all relevant feedback and update it timely as more feedback comes in.

Impatience

It takes time to develop a good UX. So rushing things or squeezing in timelines for an early launch won't do any good for you or the designers.

Decide and operate on a timeline that works for both of you. Then stick to it.

UX is important to the success of any business. Therefore, UX designers diligently work to incorporate the customer's needs first and design the process around those.

Xpeer will help connect you with expert professional developers so you can know your customers better and design products to provide them with the ultimate customer experience.

With extensive research and a number of professionals on their list, Xpeer finds the best match for your business. Hence you can work with the team to delight your customers every time. That way, your customer base is bound to increase, putting you straight on the path to success.