An organisation’s capacity and desire to effectively implement user-centric design is measured according to its level of UX maturity.
UX maturity indications are one of the most beneficial aspects of our UX audit services at Make it Clear because we think that having knowledge about UX maturity and your current UX maturity position is valuable for your business.
How is UX maturity assessed?
We assess UX maturity levels according to the model developed by the Nielsen Norman Group because it offers a clear framework for assessing the degree of an organisation’s UX-related strengths and shortcomings.
The model also reveals solutions for organisations to progress to the next UX maturity stage. The Nielsen Norman Group identifies six positions of UX maturity:
- Absent: UX is disregarded or non-existent
- Limited: UX work is uncommon, carelessly conducted and of little significance
- Emergent: Although the UX work is useful and promising, it is also inefficient
- Structured: The organisation has a widely used scientific UX methodology that has differing degrees of efficiency
- Integrated: UX work is extensive, successful and widespread
- User-driven: Valuable insights and outstanding user-centred design outputs are a direct outcome of a commitment to UX at all levels
The following four categories define what stage an organisation is in:
- Strategy: How effective is the prioritisation of resources, strategy and leadership in UX?
- Culture: How crucial is practitioners’ development and UX knowledge to the organisation?
- Process: How rigorously are UX research and design methodologies applied?
- Outcome: How frequently are the outcomes of UX work consciously defined and quantified?
Why is an understanding of my organisation’s UX maturity beneficial?
Aligns actions with user needs
An awareness of your UX maturity position and how to advance to the next stage helps to ensure that the user drives design-related decision-making processes in an organisation. As a result, user-related risks are minimised during the development phase, and resources are best utilised. Conversely, poor understanding of UX maturity and resistance to any change may indicate that an organisation’s activities aren’t in line with user needs or wishes, which might lead to future expenditures.
An intuitive, user-friendly digital product will increase overall internet traffic and user engagement, increasing brand visibility as a result. Strong UX design concepts are crucial for businesses because they foster long-lasting relationships with users and hence increase retention rates. Therefore, by knowing your present UX maturity level, you can improve user ease and increase conversion rates.
Directs your focus to obstacles
You can only achieve the necessary level of user-centredness for your digital product by meticulously analysing your organisational UX procedures. To ensure that your efforts are going in the appropriate direction, you will need a clear UX strategy, and knowing where your organisation stands in terms of UX maturity will help you to identify the main challenges you’ll face and how to solve them. For example, the greatest difficulty in stage 1 is typically a lack of knowledge about user experience, its advantages, how to initiate UX work and internal UX procedures.
Understanding your organisation’s UX maturity is crucial so you can recognise your merits and drawbacks, recognise good practices and address areas that need improvement.
Improves the quality of your work
The quality of your UX work and, ultimately, the experiences you design for your users can only be improved and sustained by developing insight and self-awareness about your UX maturity position. Because of this understanding, UX work may be integrated into the culture of the organisation, ensuring that sound UX procedures endure significant organisational shifts.
Even if your organisation’s UX work appears to be going well, there are undoubtedly things you might be doing better that would enhance the process of creating products and your organisation’s credibility. Assessing what works and why is beneficial for even organisations functioning at high UX-maturity levels.
To conclude
The UX maturity model is an excellent approach to making sure that your company has implemented user-centred design and user research across all processes. A clear UX strategy and a high UX maturity stage are crucial components that may set your digital product – or perhaps your entire company – apart from competitors.
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