Key pillars of UX strategy: how to unlock success

Key pillars of UX strategy: how to unlock success

by | May 7, 2021 | Blog, Product Design, UX

In short:

  • A UX Strategy is a plan to achieve an end goal.
    It’s a multi-step step approach that answers to the following three questions:
    1. Where are we now?
    2. Where do we want to go?
    3. How are we going to get there?
  • Before you embark on this journey you need to understand what level of UX maturity your organisation is at. There are 4 levels of maturity. Only spend time on a UX Strategy if the company is at level 3, otherwise aim your efforts at increasing the UX maturity of the company.
  • Second, when you’re on level 3, get executive buy-in by showing them what the benefit of a UX Strategy is for the company. Do this by answering the following two questions:
    1. What is the benefit for the user?
    2. What is the benefit for for the business?
  • Once you have buy-in from the executives, work on your UX Strategy by applying UX-methods such as:
    UX Research,
    stakeholder & domain expert interviews &
    desk research.
  • Then, for more impact, boil your findings down to a one page plan (or a blueprint) like the examples on this page.

What is UX Strategy

UX Strategy is a plan towards achieving a goal. It consists of 4 to 5 steps that describe:

  • Where we are now,
  • Where we want to go,
  • How we’re going to get there, and
  • How much time we have to get it all done.

UX Strategy can be viewed on an organisational level (how do we make the entire organisation UX aware?) or at a project level (what will we do to achieve our goal?)

I looked at many UX professionals who discuss UX Strategy from their own perspective. I ended up with 6 of them that stood out. I took the similarities and the differences in their approach and combined that with my own experience. I share my findings with you in this post.

The 6 professionals are:
A. David Juhlin ⤵ – Five Levels of UX Strategy
B. Jared Spool ⤵ – UX Strategy Means Business
C. Jim Kalbach ⤵ – UX Strategy Blueprint
D. Jaime Levy ⤵ – UX Strategy
E. Robert Hoekman Jr. ⤵ – Guide Your Design With a 1-Page UX Strategy
F. Daniel Birch ⤵ – Five pillars of UX strategy

“Strategy is a story told to others about how challenges can be overcome. It is about persuasion: convincing others to work with you or explaining to adversaries the consequences if they do not.”
– Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman –

A. Five Levels of UX Strategy – David Juhlin

We will start with David Juhlin because of his focus on the Business strategy first and UX strategy second. He discusses 5 levels of UX strategy that range from UX strategy on product level to a UX strategy on a global level(image right). I will skip the industry and global levels. These are irrelevant for most companies.

An important point that Juhlin raises is to be aware of what the business strategy of the company is. Because ‘offering the best at user experience’ may not be what the company strives for.
“A company that bases its business strategy on superior technology” Juhlin says “may stop at delivering a good enough experience for its users.”

I bit off more than I could chew on several occasions where I tried to lift the level of UX maturity in a company only to be confronted with the fact that that is not what the company was looking for. Avoid that.

David Juhlin’s 5 levels of UX strategy

“A great UX strategy is the approach that best supports the company’s overarching business strategy.”

Via various examples he shows how a well implemented UX strategy boosts a company’s sales and how that is a good argument to level up your UX Strategy.

Most of corporate UX occurs on a project level (the smallest circle). This often means applying best practices . Few companies can lead in this field. Only those who have the means to invest time and resources to develop a ‘leader strategy’. When they do, it’s almost immediately copied by others.

He emphasises to benchmark progress as the organisation grows and scales its UX strategy. He offers various methods to do this such as Attrakdiff, Net promoter Score (NPS) and the System Usability Scale (SUS).

“The reason for the product, application or the site. Why we create it, who are we doing this for, why people are willing to use it, why they need it. The goal here is to define the user needs and business objectives“

“The reason for the product, application or the site. Why we create it, who are we doing this for, why people are willing to use it, why they need it. The goal here is to define the user needs and business objectives“

B. Jared Spool’s “UX Strategy Means Business”

UX powerhouse, Jared Spool also considers the business side of things before it comes to UX Strategy. His philosophy is that if you want to move the UX needle forward then the first thing you need to do is convince executives that your UX design ideas make the organisation stronger: The Need to Think and Talk like an Executive.

What Jared Spool teaches is how to get (the executives of) your organisation ready to embrace a custom UX strategy. You do that by showing what’s in it for them and answering the following 5 questions:

How might our UX design initiative:
1. Increase overall revenues? ⤵
2. Decrease operational costs? ⤵
3. Increase revenues from new business? ⤵
4. Increase revenues from existing business? ⤵
5. Increase shareholder value? ⤵

1. Does our UX design initiative increase overall revenues
A colleague told me once “Everything we do here is to help the salespeople sell”. This is true even for non-profit organisations. With that in mind look closely at your team’s UX design initiatives. Do they help salespeople sell? If the answer is ‘no’ then the initiative may not be in the company’s best interest.
Answer the following questions with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ with every design initiative you take:

  • Does this initiative increase direct revenues?
  • Does this initiative increase indirect revenues?
  • Does the investment in our design return value to our organisation?

At least one of these questions should be answered with ‘yes because…’

2. Does our UX design initiative decrease operational costs
A poor user experience costs organisations money. When we find costs associated with poor UX, we can decrease operational costs such as:

  • Support costs
  • Efficiency costs or
  • Development costs

3. Does our UX design initiative increase revenues from new business
Sometimes products and services are too complicated for new users to understand. This keeps them from becoming new customers. If your designs can make it easier to onboard new users then that’s a good argument for how to increase revenue from new business

4. Does our UX design initiative increase revenues from existing business
Renewals, upgrades, and purchases of follow-on products and services can be the lifeblood of some organizations. “Poor design turns existing customers away, while enticing follow-on products or upgrades is a great way for design teams to add to the organization’s bottom line.”

5. Does our UX design initiative increase shareholder value
Shareholder investors are looking for a long-term return on their investment. You need to ask yourself if what we do today still holds true 10 or 15 years from now. Can what we do now help to build a better, more solid organisation in the future?

Armed with your answers to the questions above you can start the process of convincing executives to invest in a UX strategy plan. Items C to G teach you how to make a UX Strategy on project level.

“It’s important that we can answer at least one of the above questions about our UX design initiative. If we can’t, what value is the initiative bringing to the organisation?”

C. UX Strategy by Jaime Levy – How to devise innovative digital products that people want

Levy is a heavyweight in her own right. She’s been into UX before the field was established. She also has business strategy as her starting point.

The image to your right is from the book “UX Strategy” by Jaime Levy.

It shows four dinner plates that form her UX strategy. Levy calls this the discovery phase. Each plate (or tennet) represents a principle:

Levi’s 4 tenets of UX strategy

Tenet 01: Business strategy
Business strategy is the reason that the company exists. It makes sure that a business grows in its market and beats competition. It describes how a company plans to achieve its desired objectives for the next 3 to 5 years.

Traditionally companies do this by continually utilising a competitive advantage which is either cost leadership (e.g. supermarket price wars) or differentiation (e.g. Starbucks coffee).

Levi introduces a UX competitive advantage with differentiated user experiences.

Differentiated user experiences add value to a product because it makes it more appealing to more people. If more people use your product, and tell other people about your product, it leads to higher use and more success.

Tenet 02: Value innovation
Value innovation is developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne and is the cornerstone of market-creating strategy; the task of finding opportunities in a blue-ocean market. Its goal is to render your competition irrelevant by creating a new demand and changing the market. The opposite is called a ‘red ocean strategy’ which is fighting competitors in an existing market.

Tenet 03: Validated user research
Validated user research is making sure that the idea (MVP) you end up with is something that users like (and will pay for).

Tenet 04: Killer UX
Killer UX is exactly what it sounds like: an aesthetically pleasing product or design that provides value to the user.

“ The purpose of any strategy is to create a game plan that looks at your current position and then helps you get to where you actually want to be.”

C. Jim Kalbach – UX Strategy Blueprint

Author of the 2014 book Mapping Experiences: A Complete Guide to Creating Value through Journeys, Blueprints, and Diagrams

He is also the owner of the website Experiencing information on which he shares his UX Strategy blueprint like the one you see on the right (the information, not the design). The Blueprint can be found on his website.
His blueprint consists of six planes or steps that each have their method and function. They are:

How might our UX design initiative:
1. Challenges ⤵
2. Aspirations ⤵
3. Focus areas ⤵
4. Guiding principles ⤵
5. Activities ⤵
6. Measurements ⤵

Start with the ‘challenges’ and ‘aspirations’. Then fill in the other fields. When all fields are filled cross things off, move sticky notes around, rework ideas, crumple it up and start over again until you are satisfied

1. Challenges
Strategy implies the need for change, a desire to move from point A to point B. From where you are now to where you want to be. Identify what the challenges are that keep you from reaching that desired outcome?
Strategy is about problem-solving. What problems are you solving? Focus on these areas:
α. Individuals → Adoption, Engagement, Persuasion, Friction
β. Experience → Coherency, Modernisation, Innovation
γ. Process → Efficiency, Effectiveness, New methods, Political

2. Aspirations
What experience do you ultimately want to deliver? Strive for something aspirational like “We want to differentiate our service through a specific type of user experience, which would drive adoption”.

Consider how you will impact your customers’ work and daily lives. How does your solution transform what they capable of doing and who they ultimately are? Your aspirations should inspire your teammates.

3. Focus areas
Indicate your primary focus for these five topics in a straightforward, factual manner:
Users→ Who will use your solution? If you have personas, list the ones that are most relevant to the success of this strategy.
Regions→ What are the countries, languages, and cultures that are in play?
Services→ What products, services, platforms, and technologies are included in the strategy? Scope out the ones that aren’t.
Use cases → Indicate the key scenarios of use at a high level. For instance, in e-commerce settings will you focus on finding products, the purchase process, or both?
Areas of UX → What areas of UX will make the most difference? Highlight aspects such as information architecture, interaction design, visual design, content strategy or branding, as well as attributes of usability such as control, learnability, or discoverability, among others.

4. Guiding principles
In business strategy, the guiding principle indicates how you’ll win against competitors.
For UX strategy, the guiding principles are the approaches you’ll take to overcome the challenges and solve the problems you’re facing.

Strive to be specific:
What rules of thumb must be in place to reach your aspiration?
What mantras would you give design teams to consistently execute towards the same goal?

Strategy provides consistency in behaviour. How will you get everyone paddling in the same direction?

5. Activities
What types of UX activities are needed to implement the strategy and achieve your aspirations?

This includes such things as user research, concept development, sketching, screen design, prototyping, and testing, as well as creating patterns or guidelines.

Keep in mind you may need new capabilities to execute your strategy. Strategy isn’t a re-configuration of existing skills and resources, rather how you’ll maximise chances for success.

6. Measurements
How will you know your strategy is on track? How can you show progress and success? Often benchmarking and comparison is needed.

This means you’ll likely have to measure aspects of your user experience (e.g., satisfaction) before and after work begins. Ultimately, your measurements should support the business goals. Find metrics that show the positive impact UX has on business. Be specific with goals like “increase sales by 5% by streamlining checkout” or “reduce calls to the support center by 15% by providing better self-help online.”

You’ll probably find overlap with the information you provide for these six elements. That’s a Good Thing: strategy is an interlocking set of choices you make to overcome adversity and reach a desired position. The overall logic should make a coherent storyline.

“Strategy is about uncovering the key challenges in a situation and devising a way of coordinating effort to overcome them for a desired outcome”

E. UXPin’s 1-Page UX Strategy by Robert Hoekman Jr.

Hoekman’s approach to UX Strategy is akin to the UX Strategy Blueprint by Jim Kalbach . Just like Kalbach’s blueprint, Hoekman also divides his approach into six exercises that are each subdivided into smaller tasks.

Teams should start off by getting the message right. Align team members in a project kick-off to ensure that everyone is on the same page at the start of the project.

“What good UX strategy actually entails is researching and recognising the constraints and concerns from all sides and painting a big red target on the wall so that everyone involved can make decisions that serve researched, vetted, and defined objectives.”

UXpin’s ‘s UX strategy represented as the different approaches to get to the top of the mountain

F. Daniel Birch

According to Daniel Birch at Justinmind , UX Strategy boils down to why and how you’re going to implement user experience in your software.

He spreads his approach out over 5 pillars. Each pillar shows what steps to take to end up with a UX Strategy that works every time.

Daniel Birch’s 5 key pillars of a UX strategy

1. Understand who your users are:

2. Understand your Value:

3. Know how to solve the problem:

4. Have a clear vision:

5. Continuous feedback and iteration:

“The reason for the product, application or the site. Why we create it, who are we doing this for, why people are willing to use it, why they need it. The goal here is to define the user needs and business objectives“

G. UX Real

I believe that a UX Strategy lies somewhere between Lean UX and Agile UX. If Lean UX is about reducing waste within the design cycle itself, and Agile UX frames UX design inside the Agile development framework, then this UX Strategy plan caters for both. Here it goes:

1.

“In Corporate UX time = money2, so “

UX Planet’s 5 key pillars of a UX strategy