How to Balance User Needs and Business Goals in Digital Product Design

Earlier this year, Fortune reported that pressure on businesses to hit revenue goals and profit targets is still very much centre-stage. Not only that, but according to leading tech publisher, CIO, digital transformation is still a ‘perennial objective for business survival’ in 2023.

And then there’s ever-changing customer demands too…

Consider that 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated (McKinsey). These ‘moments of truth’ that are driving more and more complex customer relationships, are enough to make or break a brand.

Combined, these demands make for a veritable minefield that CEOs and Execs are having to deal with in terms of both short and long-term business goals.

So how do Digital Execs and Product Design teams in particular balance these two seemingly opposing forces? On the one hand, demanding business goals, on the other, demanding users!

Why are user needs so important in digital product design?

Let’s first of all take a step back. These ‘moments of truth’ referred to by McKinsey are fundamentally based on user needs. If a customer is interacting with your digital product and expects it to work in a certain way, that’s because they have a need or want for it to do so.

Very simply, good digital product design will fulfil these needs. By extension, taking user needs into account in digital product design reaps a number of business benefits, each one essentially leading to the next along what we like to call the ‘product design value chain’:

• Improved understanding of the problem – understanding user needs allows you to identify and address the real pain points and challenges that your customer is facing. This leads to more effective problem-solving and the development of features that truly meet user requirements.

• User-centred design – understanding the problem naturally leads to a design process that has the user at its core, which then leads to a product that is more tailored to the customers’ preferences and behaviours.

• Improved UX – next comes a more intuitive and user-friendly interface. This leads to a better user experience, reduced frustration and increased customer satisfaction.

• Increased engagement – in creating a more user-friendly interface, you’re also creating an experience that people will want to come back to time and again, i.e. increased engagement and repeat usage, which very often leads to great ‘word-of-mouth’ recommendations too!

• Enhanced accessibility – Forrester reports that digital accessibility is becoming more and more of a digital priority, with opportunities present to tap into the 1-billion strong market of people with disabilities and a growing aging population. For more on how accessibility benefits users, head here.

• Customer delight and loyalty – increased engagement, enhanced accessibility… all these factors contribute to a better overall customer experience – one that makes people literally ‘smile’, get that warm, fuzzy feeling, and, of course, remain loyal to your brand.

• Competitive advantage – in the race for market share, it’s clear that brands that win the hearts and minds of customers through great digital product design will also have a distinct competitive advantage. You’ve only got to look at brands such as Apple and Amazon to see that.

• Greater revenue opportunities – with competitive advantage comes greater revenue opportunities, the final rung on the ‘product design value chain’. For digital execs and senior managers, the business case is clear – create awesome digital products, and the revenue opportunities will be there for the taking.

So why aren’t more brands stepping up to this value chain? Unfortunately, it’s when the first step in the chain is forgotten about, i.e. when customer or user needs are ignored.

When are user needs ignored and why?

It’s a scenario that many digital execs will recognise – too many brands ignore their customers’ needs because of conflicting demands. For better or worse, many of these conflicts surface during tough economic times when there’s an increased focus on profit (and often short-term thinking) over longer term value drivers for customers.

But even in prosperous times, other internal company challenges can arise. These include:

• Bureaucratic thinking and hierarchical structures

• Legacy systems and processes

• Inertia and risk aversion

• Compliance and regulation

• Lack of competition

• Lack of customer-centric culture

• Assumptions about what a user wants

• Over-complex tech focus (what the UX Design Institute call getting stuck in the weeds)

The above are all too common in large Enterprise companies and they very often lead to endless discussions about how to overcome internal hurdles. In turn, this takes the focus away from the customer such that those fundamental pain points or problems that your brand is trying to solve get forgotten about.

When are business goals ignored and why?

That said, there are some brands that prioritise user needs over business goals. And these companies ignore strategic objectives at their peril!

Companies falling into this trap often suffer from:

• Siloed departments

• Inconsistent communications

• Short-term thinking and reactivity

• Misaligned incentives

• Resistance to change

• Lack of internal governance and research processes

Are these issues you’ve seen come up in your organisation? Perhaps you’ve even seen one department prioritising business needs, and a different one prioritising user needs – again, something that results in siloed thinking and misalignment.

The perennial question is therefore…

How do you balance user needs and business goals?

It’s the holy grail! The ability to balance user needs with business goals in a complex Enterprise org structure, such that customers are delighted with their end -user experience, and the board are equally satisfied with their financial returns.

So, how do you go about achieving this?

Caveat – it’s not easy, but it is possible – read on to find out how!

Set out clear objectives

First and foremost, it’s important to set clear objectives relating to both the user needs and the business goals. A great place to start on the user side is with in-depth user research, as Sally Graham, Director of Sourcing at UserZoom explains:

“Observing your clients will give you all the answers you need to improve the user experience. […] If you start with research in the discovery phase, you will be able to develop a new product faster, while spending less and giving something valuable to your clients.”

On the business side, you should then spend time on the clear development of a problem statement, coupled with an exact definition of your organisation’s business goals as they relate to revenue targets, market expansion, cost reductions, etc.

Create customer and cross-functional alignment

Here, you’ll want to identify areas of alignment between your users’ needs and how your internal departments work. The key here is to look for opportunities where departments can work cross-functionally to address customer requirements. One trick is to find the common denominators, as the VP of Experience at EPAM states:

“In short, product designers need to understand how to turn business objectives into useful features, that also satisfy user objectives.”

Set design objectives and metrics

Based on the alignment opportunities that you’ve been able to identify at Step 2, you’ll then need to establish clear design objectives and metrics, setting out what they’re aiming to achieve in terms of UX and business goals.

Be sure to read our recent article on the 10 metrics you should measure your UX against to ensure you’re tracking to the most effective goals and objectives too.

And don’t forget, these objectives and metrics should always map back to your overarching Digital Product Strategy.

Adopt a user-centred design approach

Once all the groundwork is done, then you can turn your attention to the design process itself. It’s important here to design with a user-centred approach, keeping the needs, preferences and behaviours of your customers in mind. The Interaction Design Foundation has some great tips on how to do this and you can read more here on the power of an innovative and efficient design system.

Test, measure, iterate and optimise

The next critical element is to avoid getting too bogged down in the design phase before you release anything to market. Instead, adopt an iterative approach to your digital product design and development whereby your team are constantly testing new features and designs, measuring their impact, iterating on feedback, and optimising the product as they go.

Read more here on the rapid iteration and validation process of prototyping.

Communicate consistently

Throughout any digital product design process, your design should be closely linked to strong communications. To ensure your teams don’t lose sight of the original objectives and alignment opportunities, be sure to communicate these regularly and consistently, reinforcing what the original goals were and making sure that team members don’t lose sight of the bigger picture.

The operational view – how HubSpot balances user and business needs

It’s no secret nowadays that HubSpot has a vast ecosystem of users and customers, including a network of highly skilled developers. These developers are such an important part of the brand that the company even has an internal function called ‘Developer relations’, whose primary focus is to balance user and business needs. To enable this, the department touches every part of the business, from product development and design, all the way through to go-to-market.

It may sound complicated, but HubSpot’s success with this approach comes down to three key things:

1. Finding the balance between development initiatives and business values.

2. Metrics – selecting the right metrics to follow and then the right tools to deliver on those metrics.

3. User research – with a focus on broad research beyond just the ‘superfans’.

These three components look familiar, right? They’re part of the step-by-step process outlined above!

Tips and tools for balancing user needs with business goals

When it comes to the execution of this approach, there are a number of tools that can be leveraged to make the process that little bit easier!

For objective setting and goal alignment:

• Try tools such as Leapsome or Asana.

• Leverage templates such as this one via Coda for setting OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).

For a user-centred design approach:

• Take advantage of research tools such as Hotjar.

• Make use of design tools such as Figma or Invision.

For testing, measuring and optimising

• Our friends at HubSpot have a great list here.

So, what are you waiting for? You’ve got the foundations, the step-by-step process, and a handy list of tools and templates to get started too. Follow this guidance and you’ll be well on your way to balancing user needs with business goals more effectively.

And remember, if you need support, objective or third-party advice on UX design and digital product strategy, get in touch with the Adrenalin team.

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