How to balance usability and business goals in UX design

Here at Usertive, we really, really love the users of our products. In fact, we love them so much that we even put them in our name. We always want to give them the very best experience, make their journeys smooth and seamless. We want to explain everything clearly, deliver only the exact content that the users want, and always make functions like opting out easy and intuitive.

But we can’t always do that.

Here’s a few reasons why it’s not always possible - how business goals sometimes become detached from user-centered design. But to prevent the article from getting too gloomy, near the end I’ll also give you a few tips on how to reconcile those issues as well as it’s realistically possible. Read on if that sounds like a good deal!

Why med students shouldn’t design commercial UX

Designers often enter the commercial world with their heads full of ideals. Their mindsets are a bit like those of medical students: to be full of empathy and helpfulness, to do no harm, to only take the actions which are in the best interest of the users.

Their attitude is 100% correct. User-centrism is literally the “mission” of a good UX specialist. So what goes wrong along the way? Why can’t all these ideals be always applied in real-world situations?

Why can’t we all be friends?

The answer is fairly straightforward: every product is created to make a profit. Our clients come to us with a particular business plan in mind, and the UX we craft for them has to not only serve the users, but also support the way in which the clients want to make their money.

Sometimes the two different goals align, and making the product profitable simply means creating the best possible user experience. This is the “old” way of doing things, generally associated with more traditional business models.

But more modern business schemes, like those based on ads, live services, special currencies and complicated subscription models, often find themselves in conflict with the “user first” principle. For them, making the UX of their product flawless is not always the best for their bottom line.

The best case scenario

Building an e-commerce platform can be seen as nearly the perfect case for user-centric design being in line with business objectives. Online stores make money when they sell products, and product sales increase when the process of buying is easy for the customer. There’s pretty much no catch here, it’s that simple.

This gives the UX designers a lot of opportunities to make the shopping experience easier, the user journeys smoother, the flows perfectly efficient. In other words, they can truly realize their job mission of solving users’ problems.

...and the worst case scenario

Now imagine a mobile app with a drastically different business model. It’s free to use, but makes its revenue with ads, and a made up currency bought with real money for the purpose of unlocking certain premium features.

This business model incentivises less than ideal UX. It’s tempting to, for example, unnecessarily spread out some actions over multiple screens to show ads on each one of them. Or to put an arbitrary timer on some functionality, which you can reset by buying the premium currency. Or -- you can probably think of something equally evil yourself. We’ve all experienced those apps.

What to expect in real-world situations

For the large majority of their work, however, designers find themselves somewhere in between those two extremes. Designing a typical website is a great example, because they generally have two goals: provide a great experience in delivering relevant information, and make conversions happen (be it making sales, collecting e-mail addresses, or booking product demos).

How to balance those two, often conflicting, goals? Here are some tips on how to keep both your company’s business side and the end users happy. Let’s call them “honest design” principles:

Make it obvious when you’re showing an ad.

Don’t try to sneak it as a pretend organic piece of content. The users are smart - they’ll quickly notice what’s going on and you’ll lose a lot of good faith.

Be self-aware

Say you’re tasked with designing a popup urging visitors to sign up for a newsletter. You can make your copy read something along the lines of “We know you don’t like being pestered, but we really think you’d like our newsletter.” This small touch can go a long way in warming the visitor up to the idea of converting.

Be super transparent about what users are signing up for

You can use as many different tricks to persuade the user to click the “Sign up” button as you like. But when she’s actually filling out the form, it’s time to clearly describe what will happen when she completes it. Is this a free trial? How can the user cancel? What will happen if she doesn’t? It’s not only an ethical thing to do - depending on the country, it may also be required by law.

Ask users for feedback

Reaching out to the users and asking for their opinion is a great way to let them know that you’re building the product specifically for them and care about the quality of their experience. A quick “what went wrong” survey during service cancellation is the typical place to ask for feedback - but you can just as well ask about the user’s experience, for instance, after she successfully completes a task. Feedback is also important to reliably gauge which conversion-centered pieces of your design are acceptable, and which the visitors find too over the top and off-putting.

Talk to the business side

I may be stating the obvious here, but nevertheless I feel it’s worth underscoring. If you feel that the business side is pushing too much in the direction of harming UX, try to engage in a discussion with them. Explain how exchanging quality UX for quick profits is a short-sighted strategy, show them research explaining how good UX makes users loyal and willing to spend more. If you approach the topic from a business rather than ethical or idealistic standpoint, you have a much bigger chance of succeeding.

Don’t stoop to using dark patterns

Just don’t. There’s really no excuses here, we should all be better than this. Plus, it’s a pretty reliable way of getting your page featured on one of multiple internet halls of shame.

And that's it! Now you're ready to go out there and start looking for the delicate balance between delivering great UX and realizing business goals. Good luck!

Further reading:

• Here’s a comprehensive list of all the most popular dark patterns to make sure you’re not using one by accident. Also check out their hall of shame, it’s a thing of beauty! https://www.darkpatterns.org/types-of-dark-pattern

• “The business value of design” by McKinsey is a great resource to use when “selling” good UX to the business side of your company. It’s smart, full of concrete data, and a fascinating read in itself. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-design/our-insights/the-business-value-of-design

• And here’s a more structured, scientific look at the various dark patterns commonly found around the Internet: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322916969_The_Dark_Patterns_Side_of_UX_Design