How To Design a User-friendly Experience in a Me-Too Landscape

Posted in Entrepreneurship On Sep 02, 2019



Brand experience is the only real thing that separates you from your competitors. It matters less what business you are in or what product or service you sell, as compared to the feelings associated with getting in direct contact with your brand. While technology plays a role in helping competitors copycat each other in a matter of days, experience differentiates the real ones from the rest. Proceeding with features and functions produce me-too products that compete on the basis of price.

Since time is a finite and depreciating resource, people become conscious of the importance of spending their time with a friendly and easy-to-use product or service. Such experience helps change their emotions, attitudes and even their lives for the better. Acting on the basis of experience gives your brand more space to deliver value and to differentiate yourself from competition. When in doubt, think of what a brand Like Starbucks is selling? Coffee? Hardly! Though they are sourcing the best coffee in the world, what they provide to customers is a great coffeehouse experience.

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According to New York-based CB Insights, Among the 20 primary reasons that startups fail, the No. 6 reason is: introducing a user unfriendly product. User experience is the art and science of making your product and service simple, user-friendly and easy to use. Making things complicated drive customers away from what you offer. For example, more features raise the chance of making the product complicated. More complexity confuses the customer and by confusing him, you lose him. Usability and ease of use, on the other hand, is what makes your brand reliable and simple.



Your web site is a crucial point of contact where customers’ experiences can make or break your brand. As the saying goes;” When it comes to your web site, content is king while usability and ease-of-use is the queen.” To get users to stay on your website, the rule is simple: make it easy for them to stay. When respondents were asked about the most important factor in a website, over 75% of them state that ease of finding the information is a major determinant in having a good experience with the brand. That’s why understanding customer’s online behavior gives insight into what works and what doesn’t. Creating and modifying an object to simplify its use is the centerpiece of making a great brand.

User-friendly web sites are customer-oriented at their core. Those who landed at your web site are having a problem and expecting you to solve it. Your goal is to make their journey worth experiencing. The first principle for achieving this is to respect your customer precious time by optimizing the speed of loading your web site. Failure to be loaded in less than 5 seconds can cost you losing visitors. The second principle is to design a clear identity that can be easier to identify. Every single element in the design from the logo to the color codes to fonts communicates something different from your competitors. Consistency in using these elements will help visitors identify and differentiate your brand by time.

Being user-friendly is not limited to the form, but extends to content. Here comes the third principle; that is, the simplicity of delivering your content. By using a language that is simple, concise and void of industry jargon, visitors experience the feelings of being part of the web site community. Fourth principle is to keep your navigation simple. What users really need is the freedom to navigate freely and easily throughout web pages. No matter what the device is, a desktop, laptop or smart-phones, your navigation should be easy to find and use in all of these devices. Designing apps must be both customer-friendly and efficient in the sense that the customer finds it convenient to place an order while on the move or during free time at office or home.

Designing a user-friendly experience is what keeps your brand differentiated. While your brand runs the danger of being homogenized as a result of technology, it is the feelings that your customers have while experiencing your product that finally counts. It is your task to make such moments with your customers memorable and unforgettable.

About The Author

Tareq Alaghoury

Tareq M. Alaghoury is the founder and Managing Director of Holistic Communications where he offers business coaching services and guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to build their brands and move their business to the next level.