It’s usually not a matter of if a product’s user journey will become unnavigable but when.
Successful products tend to become more robust over time. As companies build new features in an attempt to add value and solve problems, the user journey becomes more complicated than the original pathway laid out to get a user from A to B.
If a product’s user journey doesn’t evolve alongside its capabilities, users are destined to start getting stuck. Attempting to complete previously simple tasks becomes a chore, and as a result, conversion rates drop.
They’re not destined to, though.
By carefully keeping a pulse on user feedback, the user journey can evolve alongside the product itself. We recently spoke with two New York-based product designers about what rings their alarm bells and indicates that a user journey has become too complicated, as well as the processes they use for specifically identifying areas that need to be simplified.
Warner Bros. Discovery is the company behind some of the most notable entertainment brands, including HBO, TBS and CNN. Grace Ho is a staff product designer for CNN and works on the news network’s mobile apps. Ho said that when it comes to simplifying the user journey for CNN’s apps, staying on top of user feedback and data is important, as is developing a close working relationship with product and engineering.
When do you know it’s time to simplify your product’s user journey?
When assessing live product features, analyzing user feedback and data is the first step in identifying areas that need streamlining. High bounce rates, low conversion rates and user feedback indicating that a task is too complicated or time-consuming are key indicators of a complex user journey. Staying updated with emerging trends and technologies that can simplify the user experience is also important. By continually evaluating and innovating, you can improve the overall user experience and increase the likelihood of your product’s success. Designers strive to create happier users, and a simplified user journey plays a significant role in achieving that goal.
We don’t impose rigid processes, but we found that analyzing, ideating and testing can simplify the user journey.”
What process do you use to identify opportunities for simplification?
Trusting your instincts and expertise is key to choosing the best approach for your project while meeting requirements and not necessarily adhering to strict processes. On our team, we use agile methods and experience to determine the most appropriate approach. We don’t impose rigid processes, but we found that analyzing, ideating and testing can simplify the user journey.
In recent redesign projects, we started with a thorough analysis of existing insights, problem areas and the competitive landscape before ideating solutions. We collaborate with product and engineering to ensure the solution is technologically feasible, meets product requirements and provides a seamless, time-efficient and delightful user journey. We leverage our research partners by using prototype and testing tools to test our design assumptions and iterate until we find the best user journey.
Simplifying the user journey is a collaborative effort, and we involve our partners throughout the process. Our organic team culture — a rare find in the remote world — makes it easy to work together and continuously evolve our product’s user experience.
What are some common traps designers can fall into that result in an overly complicated user journey?
The most common pitfalls I’ve seen are losing focus on the main goal, attempting to do too much and prioritizing building features over solving problems. While avoiding these may seem straightforward, it’s a common challenge in the ideation stage where possibilities seem endless. While brainstorming is important, it’s more important to prioritize the user’s needs and take a step back with critical eyes to identify ways to simplify the user journey.
Achieving this may require multiple rounds of user testing, closer collaboration with engineering to automate tasks and reduce unnecessary steps, and staying up-to-date with technology trends while constantly innovating. Designers should also watch out for other pitfalls, such as ignoring user feedback, adding too many features that create a cluttered interface or confusing navigation, not staying up to date with technology trends, failing to involve partners in the process and not iterating on the product experience.
It’s not that Moses Ting, director of product design at healthtech company Pearl Health, thinks simple isn’t beautiful. Rather, it’s that sometimes stripping down a product isn’t what leads to a better user journey. Ting explained the concept of “complexity with intention” and why it’s sometimes needed when designing products in the healthcare industry.
When do you know it’s time to simplify your product’s user journey?
We move quickly, so we know there’s always room for improvement in the experiences we deliver. By keeping our ears and eyes open, we get amazing signals from our customer success teammates, regular customer interviews, user ticketing metrics and hearty product feature discussions. In turn, those signals help us determine the most important improvements we should make for our users.
Occasionally, introducing complexity with intention leads to a better user experience and outcome.”
What process do you use to identify opportunities for simplification?
Simplification isn’t always the correct path forward. Occasionally, introducing complexity with intention leads to a better user experience and outcome. In the health care space, you want to avoid unintended errors because of the potential downstream impact. We leverage customer interviews to get our designs as close as possible to support and enable real-world workflows in medical offices. And more often than not, things are more complicated than what we know initially.
What are some common traps designers can fall into that result in an overly complicated user journey?
Designing based on partial understanding. Failing to identify core issues or workflow hurdles. Trying to reinvent the wheel on well-established patterns, as well as copying well-established patterns verbatim. Designing for yourself, your team or your stakeholders instead of actually designing for the individuals who will use your designs.
