The Consequences of a Bad UX Strategy For Your Project
-
The most common mistakes that appear from ignoring UX
-
The consequences of neglecting UX
-
How UX errors can lead to financial losses
Some companies, often looking to cut costs, still choose to skip UX research and design. They assume they know their customers, their expectations, and their needs well enough. But decisions based on incomplete assumptions can have serious consequences.
In reality, companies that neglect UX research only have insight into what their customers are doing, not why or how. As a result, even if a finished product meets all business requirements, customers might still avoid using it. And making changes after the product is already built is both expensive and time-consuming.
The Most Common Mistakes from Ignoring UX
Neglecting UX during the design phase, launching projects without proper research, and failing to continuously improve the user experience leads to a range of issues that negatively impact user satisfaction and ultimately, a company’s profits. Below are some of the most common mistakes, their business impact, and how to address them.
1. Thinking UX Is Just About (Nice) Appearance
Impact on the business: Some organizations still equate UX design with simply making a product look good. This mindset leads teams to focus only on the visual elements and ignore how users interact with the product, often resulting in errors or problems in the purchase journey.
Solution: UX isn’t about visual appeal but usability and interaction across the entire user journey. A well-defined UX strategy means a conscious approach to creating and implementing user interactions with our product or service, in such a way as to meet their expectations and at the same time achieve our own business goals.
2. Ignoring User Needs
Impact on the business: Design decisions based solely on internal assumptions and ideas can result in solutions that don’t meet user needs, leading to higher project failure risk, costly delays, and rework.
Solution: Conduct regular research with real users and usability testing, which will allow you to better understand their needs and respond quickly to potential issues.
3. Skipping Usability Testing
Impact on the business: When testing is skipped during design and development, issues may not be detected until after launch. This damages user satisfaction, and the costs of fixing “in production” are higher than during development.
Solution: Regular testing of features and interfaces with real users during the design process allows for quick detection and fixing of bugs, which minimizes the risk of problems being discovered only after implementation.
4. Overlooking Digital Accessibility
Impact on the business: Most users will experience some form of temporary or permanent limitation in interacting with digital products. Lack of accessibility affects conversion. In addition, excluding people with disabilities can lead to a loss of market share, as well as legal consequences related to the lack of compliance of the solution with accessibility regulations.
Solution: Design websites and applications in accordance with accessibility standards such as WCAG. This ensures your product is usable by all while also minimizing legal risks.
5. Overly Complex Interfaces
Impact on the business: Interfaces that are unnecessarily complicated can frustrate users, which can result in more abandonment of the product or service purchase process.
Solution: Simplifying the interface by minimizing unnecessary elements and providing intuitive navigation increases user convenience and the conversion rate.
6. Unclear Language
Impact on the business: Complicated phrasing, excessive jargon, or oversimplified messaging can confuse users and reduce their engagement, leading to higher bounce rates and lost revenue.
Solution: Use clear, simple language and terms that users already use will make them understand what you are talking about. This increases user engagement and reduces the risk of abandonment of the purchase process.
| UX Mistake | Impact on Business | Solution |
| Focusing Only on Visual Design | Errors in the user journey that make the purchase process more difficult |
A strategic approach to designing and implementing user interactions |
| Skipping User Research | Solutions misaligned with customer needs, resulting in high correction costs | Conduct regular user research and usability testing |
| Lack of Usability Testing | Fixing issues that were only identified after project completion | Test features and interfaces with users at every stage of the project |
| Ignoring Digital Accessibility | Excludes users with disabilities, with possible legal consequences | Design according to accessibility standards (WCAG) |
| Overly Complex Interfaces | Low user satisfaction and reduced conversion rates | Simplify the interface and ensure intuitive navigation |
| Unclear Language | Lower user engagement and higher abandonment rates | Use clear, simple language tailored to the target audience |
Examples of Mistakes Caused by Insufficient UX Research
Walmart
Walmart once asked its customers a simple question: “Would you like Walmart stores to feel less cluttered with products?” The answer was mostly “yes.” Based on this feedback, the company launched a program to reduce product density and make stores easier to navigate. However, the initiative led to a sharp decline in sales, costing Walmart an estimated $1.85 billion.
While initial customer satisfaction reports were positive, the strategy failed because it lost sight of Walmart’s core value proposition: offering a wide selection of low-priced products. The critical mistake? They asked a yes/no question and drew conclusions based only on what the respondents said, without observing their actual behavior.
Citigroup
In 2020, Citigroup, acting on behalf of cosmetics company Revlon, accidentally sent nearly $1 billion to the company’s lenders, instead of the intended $7.8 million. The problem turned out to be a confusing transfer process. The only way to process the transaction within their outdated system was to enter it as if it was repaying the loan in full, sending the part ordered by the client to the lenders' accounts, and the rest to an internal Citibank account. One subcontractor misfilled the form, and the entire amount was sent out.
Even though three people reviewed and approved the transaction, none caught the mistake. The problem in this case was the use of an outdated, complicated, and non-intuitive system and a technological debt that had been accumulating for over 20 years. In highly regulated environments like finance, every system change is costly, so outdated tools often remain in use. Without testing and improvements to User Experience, old systems will become increasingly difficult to use, and errors will become more frequent and more costly.
Early Investment in UX Prevents Expensive Mistakes
Investing in UX from the very beginning of a project helps create consistent product experiences that meet user needs and sometimes even exceed their expectations.
UX should not be treated as an add-on to be “fixed” in the final stages. It’s an ongoing process that should be integrated alongside or even ahead of technical and business development.
Learn how e-point clients used UX improvements to design systems that meet both business needs and user expectation.