The problem is that it is extremely difficult to find information about real B2B UX design projects. With a lot of effort, our team has dug up some useful information, but the question is complicated by the fact that everyone defines (and therefore changes) ROI in UX in different ways.
Bank of America
The American giant bank has ordered and financed the UX-redesign project to increase the number of online banking registrations. When developing a business case, the design team accepted the percentage of clients who completed the registration process as a key performance metric.
During the prototyping and testing of various design solutions, the percentage of completed registrations was used as the main KPI – the result was the most successful design strategy. A week after the new registration form appeared on the website, the percentage of completed registrations almost doubled and exceeded the desired ROI. This was a success not only for the design team, but also for the unit that sponsored the redesign project.
UX unification of General Electric programs
By 2010, General Electric, known for its experience in manufacturing, silent booby trap ranked among the 14 largest (by revenue) software companies. General Electric software products developed opportunistically, mainly in response to specific customer requests. As a result of inconsistencies between products created by different departments, the company often had to invest resources in a double work: tasks already solved in some products were solved again in others.
In general, users of GE programs noted that their quality did not meet the high bar that the company has set in the field of hardware production. General Electric management decided to invest in the creation of a single software platform in the company. The Software Center of Excellence (UX Center of Excellence) was established. The goal of the center was to guide management actions and stimulate change in the corporate culture to bring the user experience to a level appropriate to the reputation of the company.
UI/UX design firm Managers, engineers and designers began to work together to develop processes and tools to support cultural change within the company, as well as a database of design tools, poster mockups and metrics to support UX design. In the first year after launch, a new design system called IIDS delivered a 100 percent increase in productivity within the development teams and saved the company $30 million. As a result of this digital transformation, General Electric’s subsidiary, GE Digital, emerged and from that moment on GE began to lead the industrial Internet market.
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific is known as a leader in new technology implementation. The airline was the first airline in the world to announce plans to use onboard e-mail, the first to connect airbuses and maintenance centers electronically, and the first airline in the world to hold an online ticket auction.
Cathay Pacific offers its employees special flight conditions. The company’s 8-10 people were constantly busy fulltime, answering employee questions about these privileges and booking tickets. In collaboration with a design consulting agency, Cathay Pacific has created a new online portal called TravelDesk, a single point where employees can resolve all their flight-related issues.
Conclusion
Obviously, investing in UX design helps to expand customer experience and solve business problems. However, many executives have difficulty formulating the financial benefits of investing in UX through traditional ROI indicators. Great value for business is UX designers who are able to not only create a “design that works”, but also to formulate and demonstrate tangible business results and KPI to management and all stakeholders.
