In an ever-changing digital environment, an increasing number of companies are eager to outsource UX work for many reasons. Trusting an experienced UX agency to take the lead on design projects provides access to specialised expertise and diverse skillsets, efficient resource allocation, and overall, a holistic user-centred approach which might prove difficult to establish in-house. In this article, we’ll discuss the various benefits of using a UX design agency.
Specialised expertise and skillset
An experienced and aligned UX design team offer a valuable combination of collective knowledge, commitment to keeping up with industry trends, and a wide range of skills. With extensive and continuously growing UX knowledge, design agencies are able to create tailored and strategic solutions to design problems. Furthermore, with their experience, UX agencies are better equipped to problem-solve more swiftly, and therefore spend more time crafting delightful user experiences.
UX agencies are also dedicated to staying on top of their UX knowledge game: for example, at Make it Clear, you can always find our team members nurturing their curiosity at UX-related workshops, conferences, and networking events. We don’t view the industry as limited, with a finite amount of knowledge at our disposal, but rather as a boundless world where the sky’s the limit. This means that we love being inspired by other leaders and experts in the field (whether it be graphic design, UX/UI design, UX research, or marketing). As a result, we love to apply what we’ve learnt outside of the office inside the office, ensuring that we’re adhering to best practices while fuelling our creative flair.
In UX agencies, constantly refreshing the methodologies and processes used across all departments is a priority. We set aside time to make sure we’re following best practices in our work, and guarantee that our ways of working and executing projects are data-driven to minimise risks.
UX agencies typically have teams with a depth and breadth of skills, including:
- Consultancy and research: Consultancy and research services might encapsulate design sprints, competitor and comparator analysis, content strategy, and user research methods to ensure that design solutions put audiences at the heart of our processes, and UX work is driven by real insight.
- Brand and creative design: Brand and design services might include brand identity, brand narrative, social asset creation, event support, print design and video and animation. These skills are crucial in crafting compelling brand identities and narratives that create long-term value and truly bring brands to life.
- UX/UI: UX/UI services support the entire digital design process, including the creation of design systems, information architecture, conversion rate optimisation, style guides, and UI design.
Holistic user-centred approach
UX agencies that possess a range of skills in UX research (user interviews, usability testing, and surveys) appreciate a user-centred approach. These activities help us to deeply understand users’ contexts, motivations, pain points and goals to develop personalised and meaningful user experiences, facilitated by a tailored strategy. This focus on research results in increased user satisfaction and in turn user loyalty, as we learn user expectations and how to exceed them. Another way in which UX agencies apply a holistic user-centred approach is through user journey mapping, which seeks to uncover the user experience from initial awareness to post-purchase interactions. Then, when it’s time to design, we have a full comprehension of what it means to provide users with a seamless digital experience that they’re bound to love and want more of. With UX agencies, the user-centred approach usually doesn’t end there – we place a high level of importance on feedback and continuous refinement to ensure the digital product we’re working on stays relevant and user-friendly.
Efficient resource allocation
In the long run, outsourcing a UX agency leads to significant cost savings. The recruitment and training costs, as well as a commitment to ongoing salaries and benefits expenditure involved in in-house hiring, can be saved by outsourcing UX design services. Building the level of expertise required to deliver exceptional UX work within an in-house team usually costs more than using a UX agency. Additionally, UX agencies can offer design retainers that can work out to be more cost-effective solutions. Alternatively, UX agencies can provide ad-hoc support for those times in which you might require work on a one-off basis, which saves the overhead and resource costs of getting an in-house team onboard.
Cutting-edge tools and technology
As aforementioned, UX agencies prioritise keeping up-to-date with industry trends. This means that we always have access to the latest tools for research and design, and are always on the look-out for ways we can upgrade the software we use. For example, to ensure UX agencies are drawing out the most insightful findings, they might use a range of research tools such as heatmaps, user analytics platforms, user testing platforms and eye-tracking software. On the design side, UX agencies will typically have access to tools such as Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, and InVision. In addition, to ensure that communication steams are consistent and reliable, UX agencies will use collaborative and project management tools such as Slack, Basecamp and Trello to aid in the management of tasks and workflows, which are key for the success, efficiency, and quality of research and design projects. In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), UX agencies might also leverage AI and machine learning technologies to save time and additional resources, and train their team on best practices for how to utilise these tools to their full potential.
Seamless collaboration and integration
UX agencies promote a cohesive and collaborative culture to make sure all team members, in every department required for a project, are aligned and working towards a common goal. This alignment is important in order to achieve consistency in the design work produced, and we ensure this through cross-functional discussions, unified project management software, and collaborative documentation. We encourage clear feedback loops managed by daily stand-ups as well as both scheduled internal and client calls to provide and receive feedback across the lifecycle of the project. The tools we use also allow for an ‘all hands on deck’ approach, meaning that documents and materials are accessible by the whole team, at any time, and can be used at the same time. For example, files with prototypes in progress can be accessed by the research team as well as the client so they can leave comments. This effort to continuously collaborate and integrate enables us to create high-quality user experiences.
Final thoughts
To conclude, outsourcing a UX team provides many benefits, from specialised expertise and the application of a holistic, user-centred approach, to the efficient allocation of resources and use of cutting-edge tools and technology. A combination of all of these benefits is highly rewarding, as it contributes to high user satisfaction and business success.
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