UX Strategy Book Summary - UX Strategy Book explained in key points

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UX Strategy summary

Name: UX Strategy
Rating: 4 (105 reviews)
Author: Jaime Levy

Jaime Levy

How to Devise Innovative Digital Products That People Want

4 (105 ratings)

15 mins

Table of Contents

UX Strategy
summarized in 6 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 6

What’s in it for me? Learn how to make user experience a key part of your business strategy.

If you run a business, one thing is certain: you want your customers to be happy. And the best way to ensure customer happiness is to give people a user experience, or UX. In the digital age, UX design is crucial. It determines how easy an app or site is to use and how well it aligns with customers’ wishes and demands. Despite its obvious invaluableness, however, UX design still isn’t at the core of most companies’ business strategies.

These blinks will show you how to weave together strategy and UX design, creating a UX strategy.

You’ll also find out

what the four key elements in UX strategy are;
why provisional personas are a great tool for trying your ideas out; and
how to use storyboards to visualize the user experience.

Successful start-ups are built at the convergence of good business strategy and UX design.

Imagine a tiny start-up with an awesome aspiration: they want to build a platform to connect reputable drug rehabilitation centers with addicts in need of treatment.

To realize their dream, they make a database of facilities with empty beds, prioritizing those of higher quality, and make a website as well as an app for future users. Despite following this solid plan, however, nobody signs up.

The company has a sneaking suspicion that their failure might have to do with their UX design and begins redesigning the look and feel of their app. But their work avails them nothing; people still aren’t interested.

So what’s going on? Well, the UX design is a part of the problem, but the real issue is that it isn’t in sync with their business strategy.

This is where UX strategy comes in. UX strategy requires that you take a big-picture view and consider whether your user experience fits your overall business plan. The first question here is whether the product you’re offering is actually desirable to your users.

That’s why, rather than assuming that your future users will want what you’re selling, it’s important to gather evidence of a demand way before you even get to your UX.

After all, it might make more sense to revamp your business strategy and reconsider the products and services you’ll be selling to users before considering their experience of your app. In other words, you should begin with your business strategy and then design a UX that fits it.

But how?

By following the straightforward plan laid out in the next blinks, you’ll learn how to break down UX strategy into its four central elements: business strategy, value innovation, validated user research and state of the art design.

A well-thought-out business strategy will put you ahead of the pack.

So a solid approach to UX begins with your business strategy. But why, exactly?

Your business strategy is your company’s DNA; it guides every decision your company makes. For instance, the famous business theorist and practitioner Michael Porter says that, for a business to be viable, it simply needs to have a competitive advantage over the competition. Without this, it’s impossible to guarantee a business will continue to exist. There are basically two ways to achieve this advantage:

User research and strong UX design round out your UX strategy.

The old world of business was one of trial and error; sometimes ideas worked out and sometimes they went belly up. The only way people learned in this context was through painful failure.

But today there are other options. Now business people can remove the risk from their ideas, while reducing the costs incurred in the event of failure.

Testing your ideas, on both hypothetical and real customers, is essential.

Imagine you’ve got an idea for an app that helps engaged couples plan their wedding. With your product, they can select everything, from a location to entertainment to hors d’oeuvres. The idea is great, but who are these soon-to-be-married couples?

A great way to answer this essential question is to form provisional personas – tools to help you define your value proposition. More specifically, a provisional persona is a sketch, created by you or your team, of a potential user.

Research and analyze the competition to improve your advantage.

The best athletes review hours and hours of footage of their rivals to better understand the competition’s moves and prepare for a match. Similarly, it’s essential for you to observe your competitors to learn how they solve their problems. After all, understanding how other companies have succeeded or failed will help you build your competitive advantage.

This process is a little bit like peeling an onion; the more layers you peel away, the closer you get to the core of what you want. And as you peel, you may realize that your ideas aren’t completely original.

Identify key experiences, take advantage of UX influencers and storyboard your value innovation.

Everybody has heard the old adage “less is more.” Well, it should come as no surprise that it applies to the development of stellar digital products as well. After all, to truly succeed, a product should focus on the experiences that are absolutely essential for users.

To define these, you can think about which aspects of your product differentiate it from the competition. In other words, where does your competitive advantage lie? For instance, in the case of Twitter, the key experience of the app is the ability to send a 140-character message. But also keep in mind that your product may have multiple advantages.

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What is UX Strategy about?

UX Strategy (2015) is your guide to integrating business strategy and user experience design. These blinks lay out a concrete path to develop a product and business strategy, as well as product experience that will captivate users, capture market share and catapult your start-up to success.

Who should read UX Strategy?

Entrepreneurs and product managers
UX, interaction and UI designers
Anybody interested in closing the gap between business strategy and UX design

About the Author

Jaime Levy is a UX strategist and consultant with almost 30 years of experience. Additionally, she created the influential e-zine WORD, which was online from 1995 to 2000.

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