When we started Iteration Group nearly ten years ago (whoa), usability and user experience design were niche specialties.
Boy, have things changed over those ten years:
- Companies large and small have embraced UX design as an important part of their software and app development process.
- UX design is now a commodity. The number of folks who can create wireframes and design great-looking interfaces has grown massively. At the same time, these newer designers are less grounded in the old-school fundamentals of usability and human-computer interaction.
- The honeymoon is over. The bar has been raised. UX design isn’t enough. Standalone, it won’t dramatically lift your sales, lifetime value, retention, net promoter scores, and other KPI’s.
Most businesses need product strategy, not just UX design.
This requires experience, understanding, and a point-of-view across all areas of the business: sales, marketing, business development, technology, operations, and finance. Things like:
- What are we trying to accomplish? What are the short-term and longer-term goals?
- How is the business doing today? What are the key performance indicators? Revenue, Lifetime Value, Gross Margin, Retention?
- Where does the current software fall short? What do we think? What do the customers say?
- What are the “quick wins?” The stuff that requires minimal work, that can be shipped as soon as possible, and that we think can move the needle?
- How is the team performing? What key hires and outside talent should be brought in? What is the long-term plan here? What talent is strategic to the business?
- How is the technology platform working? What is holding us back?
- What are the marketing plans? How does the software dovetail with these plans to enable smooth sign up, onboarding, and upsells? How do the marketing funnels look today?
Need some help designing a new product from scratch? Or modernizing and refining an existing product used by lots of people every day?
We’d love to talk with you about it. Email us or contact us.