4 Upcoming UX Design Trends for 2017

User experience (UX) is the latest buzzword in digital marketing. This is because more businesses are finally realizing the importance of prioritizing UX and are now designing their company’s websites, apps, and technologies with the sole focus of creating a seamless, intuitive, and enjoyable UX. As we noted in our recent blog post on how UX is transforming design, companies have come to realize that a great product cannot overcome a bad user experience. Businesses that aren’t prioritizing UX in the design process risk higher bounce rates and lowered customer retention rates. Let’s take a look at four upcoming UX design trends your business must implement to stay competitive and ensure you are providing the best experience possible to your users:

Upcoming UX Design Trends to Implement Now:

• Hapnotic Feedback Incorporation. Haptic feedback refers to the use of touch in the user interface (UI), like a virtual keyboard whose keys provide tactile feedback when used. Due to the popularity of high-end smartphones, haptic technology has developed rapidly and is slowly becoming even more sophisticated. Looking ahead, innovative Designers will begin to incorporate hapnotic feedback, which is the use of subtle haptic clues as a form of subtle hypnosis. This can be anything from a sequence of subtle pulses or vibrations to encourage a user to click “buy now,” or a pleasant sensation to keep a user from abandoning a page. This type of technology provides Designers and businesses with the incredible potential to change and modify customer behaviors through sensations which can boost conversions, improve customer retention, and lower bounce rates.
• Age-Responsive Design. Today, business websites and technologies must be responsive and able to adapt to whatever device the user is using. However, this is only the first step. Businesses are now looking into making their websites age-responsive as well, meaning the website can adapt its content, structure, and design aspects based on the user’s age. Considering your target audience is often made up of a wide range of ages, why would your website be one-size fits all? Targeting the website to the age of the user guarantees a better UX, the potential for more conversions, longer length of time spent on the page, and improved customer satisfaction. Designers and Developers can adjust everything from the color schemes, font size, navigation menu, spacing, and more to better personalize the website to the user’s age.
• De-linearity. 2015 was the year of simplicity and linearity when it comes to design. The thought process behind this movement was that simplicity guaranteed better usability, but this is not always the case. While it works for apps like Uber that rely on a simple, linear path for the customer, customers are demanding de-linearity. They want to be treated as individuals, rather than one large group that must be guided through every single step of the process. This demand has led to the rise of de-linearity and thus the inclusion of non-singular paths within apps or websites, an increase in the number of decisions to make throughout the process, and the addition of varying paths to complete touchpoints. Rather than assuming the user can’t handle navigating the app or website on their own, Designers are putting trust in the user by giving them more options and a less restrained path. Due to this, users feel empowered, trusted, and encouraged to retain their individuality throughout the purchasing process which leads to higher conversion rates and increased customer satisfaction.
• Optimization of Interstitial Anxiety. Interstitial anxiety refers to the pause between when a user completes an action and receives the response. A clear example of this is when a user goes to complete their purchase, clicks the “buy now” button, and awaits the completion page showing their purchase went through. Depending on the length of time the response takes to load, users can experience varying levels of anxiety which can lead to a bad UX. This momentary lag between pages when users are left in the dark is the new frontier for Designers. Innovative Designers are now beginning to design transitional elements, so users never feel abandoned during an action on a website or app. These transitions lessen the anxiety users would otherwise experience, and, if done well, actually spark anticipation and excitement instead. Businesses can utilize these transitional design elements in a variety of ways, like a chance to boost conversions by displaying related items the user might be interested in viewing or purchasing based on the action they just completed. By optimizing interstitial anxiety, businesses can enhance the UX and increase customer satisfaction, both of which are crucial to positive customer retention rates.

In Conclusion:

UX has never been more important when it comes to design. Businesses must prioritize the experience of their users and stay up-to-date on the latest UX design trends if they want to retain customers, boost conversions, and increase customer satisfaction. For 2017, these are the four UX design trends companies must implement if they hope to stay competitive, innovative, and successful moving forward.

If your business lacks the design expertise to begin incorporating these UX design trends, contact Mondo today. We’ll match you with the specialized UX talent you need to implement these trends into your website, app, or various technologies.