The UX Revolution

As advances in big data and artificial intelligence take center stage and consumers adopt and adapt to an “always-on” sharing culture fueled by near-universal internet connectivity, there has rarely been a better time for e-commerce brands to deliver superior experiences. Doing so will lead to higher revenues. But are they doing enough to understand just how and why their customers are buying, or why they abandon their shopping carts before purchase? Around £133bn was spent online with U.K. retailers in 2016, £18bn higher than the previous year, according to IMRG and Capgemini forecasts. Factor in mainland Europe and that translates to a whopping half-trillion euro industry. In the United States, e-commerce is expected to boom yet further, with Statista estimating it will grow from $396.7bn in 2016 to over $684bn in 2020. Savvy businesses know they must invest to increase online conversion — be that sales, or otherwise – and user experience (or UX) is at the heart of that process. Great UX can be the difference between making a sale or not, between a consumer becoming a loyal customer and brand advocate — or not. Little wonder that Forrester predicts the user experience (UX) industry will be worth more than $3 billion in just a year’s time.