In today’s digitally-driven landscape, the realms of user experience (UX) and marketing have become intertwined more than ever before. While the two fields vary in execution, purpose, and culture, understanding the symbiotic relationship between UX and marketing and how to scale common principles can be insightful and offer a new approach. Maybe you as a marketer will learn something from UX dogmas, and maybe you as a UX researcher and designer will learn something from marketing practices.
Identify a problem, and how your “thing” can be the solution
✏️During the research process in UX, it is important to identify the problem your team will try to solve. This can be a problem with your existing product, an issue or bug users are facing, or a problem they don’t even know exist. By identifying the problem, we can work to further figure out the 5 W’s (who is facing this problem/what issues are they running into/when is this happening/where is this happening/why is this happening) of the problem and, in turn, how our solution will aim to solve these.
🖊️There are many types and niches of marketing. No matter your niche or expertise, you are probably trying to figure out how to communicate to your target audience. There is probably a big chance that your target audience has a problem! How you tell them you are going to solve their problem with your solution is the essence of marketing. Before you can plan on how to do that, you have to identify the problem.
Know your audience
✏️Understanding the user can help a UX researcher identify pain points or expand on previously identified problems. For example, if you are designing an e-commerce application for trendy board games and you notice many potential customers quit before they are able to complete a transaction, maybe the usability flow of purchasing is a pain point for them. After all, they want to purchase a game, not play one to purchase! If this is a previously identified pain point, taking a look at who your audience is may reveal some key insights in understanding how to design a mitigation. It may turn out that 64% of your users are trying to check out on a mobile device, when your designs are for a desktop sized screen.
🖊️Once you identify your problem, or maybe even before you start a marketing campaign in general, you want to understand your audience. If you are marketing a specific product, what is unique about your audience’s experience with that product? Or previous products that are similar? Who are they? What do we want them to do? In marketing, especially when analyzing audience trends, we often create “segments” or categories of our audience.
Know your competition
✏️There are different ways to go about a competitor analysis. The main difference, in my opinion, in a UX competitive analysis compared to a marketing competitor analysis is the scale. You might just be analyzing search functionality of competitors for your board game e-commerce platform. This analysis is partially to understand the market, but also to understand the current practices and matrix them in accordance to your product’s features.
🖊️In a marketing competitor analysis, you are likely analyzing competitor brands and organizations. You may dial into their KPI’s and how they compare to yours. You may want to figure out what THEY are doing for marketing and how that might translate to YOUR marketing strategy and execution. It focuses on brands as a whole, and then may scope into specific campaigns or methods of engagement.
Let the data drive you
All of the previous points can all be accomplished by LOOKING AT THE DATA! Data serves as a compass that guides us. If the user and our audience are our core motivators, the data should be a reflection of them and their journey. Of course, data can be wrongly attributed, analyzed, and interpreted. However, it’s a sound way to be confident about your designs, ideas, and pitches to higher ups who may not speak the same language as you, but do speak the language about KPI’s and being data driven.
And finally, be flexible
✏️It may take a while for users to get used to a new feature or design that has been rolled out. Change is often met with resistance. However, let some time pass. Once a projected learning curve has passed, revisit the data to see if users are still unsatisfied, or if this has solved the initial problem.
🖊️Depending on who you are marketing for, there are probably stakeholders or decision makers involved who get the final say. Their direction or feedback may not align with your strategic and creative vision. Be flexible and open to their feedback, but always be ready to defend your decisions.
