Regardless of what design or IT support work you do, there’s no denying that the end user’s experience matters the most. So, to keep their satisfaction up, developers and support staff need to consider a couple of things when working towards improving end-to-end user experience:
Rigorous QA
Part of ensuring positive end-user experiences involves clear design intent and thorough testing during website or app development. Each iteration needs to bring improvements to the end user without introducing new bugs or issues. Most developers recognize that regression testing during quality assurance tests is the best way to meet this goal.
You might be wondering: “what is regression testing?” This methodology involves testing new features on old software versions to see if it introduces new bugs. This backward-compatibility testing ensures users on older versions or hardware don’t experience bugs when you roll out new features.
Follow quality UI guidelines
Along with delivering new features, your website or app should be easy to read. Clear text and proper use of spacing and color can change any layout from a cluttered mess to a logical interface.
Most devs know this, though. The easy thing to miss is the readability of the text. Proper grammar and syntax go a long way to improve readability for end users. So, using tools that enhance grammar mistakes will help fix these simple errors.
Maintain fast response times
Patience is a virtue, but the digital era created the expectation of short response times and minimal loading screens. Gone are the days when end users would wait to view web pages or load their applications. Fast response times can make or break a web service.
Whether you want to develop a program or create a website, optimize your response times as best as you can. Bounce rates skyrocket when wait times get too long.
Support multiple platforms
Thousands of devices connect to the web now between the different desktop and mobile devices and web-enabled appliances people use in their daily lives. Everyone has their preferred platform, but the trouble developers can encounter making their user experience work across these varied platforms.
Despite this difficulty, opening support to as many platforms as possible will benefit your end user’s experience. Rather than shoehorning your service onto their devices, supported platforms give users the experience they want.
Put end-user satisfaction first
The end-user experience matters most when it comes to design goals. Users unhappy with how their adventure plays out will leave the service eventually.
Every step in development should consider how someone unaccustomed to using the service or app would feel or think. Taking time to think from this perspective will allow developers to get away from their usual mindset and into a frame focused on delivering a good user experience.
Summary
It takes many things to create a satisfying user experience. Rigorous QA testing, platform support, response times, and quality interface design all factor into that experience.
If developers keep these design goals in mind, they give themselves a better chance of creating something their users will love.