User Experience for Non-Technical Users

Want to show the value of your UX work to the business? You need to speak in $$$, not UX-ese . Here are 3 powerful ways to make stakeholders care about UX. 🔍 Desirable, viable & feasible Your design needs to hit all 3. Ask these questions about your work: - Desirable: Does it provide the transformation users want? - Viable: Can you sell it or does it add value to something being sold? - Feasible: Can it be built with available resources? 🔍 Map your business ecosystem  To understand how you work is important to the business, understand the business. Create a visual map showing how your business delivers value, how it charges for it, and the revenue streams.  Don't guess—talk to your CFO, accountants, and PMs to understand the business model fully. Ask for the numbers. 🔍 Connect leading indicators to lagging indicators  Leading indicators (like completion rates) = metrics your UX work directly affects. Lagging indicators (like revenue) = business outcomes everyone cares about Your job? Show how improved onboarding completion rates (leading) connect to more paid subscriptions (lagging). Don't claim credit for distant outcomes—demonstrate how your work influences specific metrics that lead to business results. What techniques have you used to communicate UX value to stakeholders?

Imagine this: you’re filling out a survey and come across a question instructing you to answer 1 for Yes and 0 for No. As if that wasn't bad enough, the instructions are at the top of the page, and when you scroll to answer some of the questions, you’ve lost sight of what 1 and 0 means. Why is this an accessibility fail? Memory Burden: Not everyone can remember instructions after scrolling, especially those with cognitive disabilities or short-term memory challenges. Screen Readers: For people using assistive technologies, the separation between the instructions and the input field creates confusion. By the time they navigate to the input, the context might be lost. Universal Design: It’s frustrating and time-consuming to repeatedly scroll up and down to confirm what the numbers mean. You can improve this type of survey by: 1. Placing clear labels next to each input (e.g., "1 = Yes, 0 = No"). 2. Better yet, use intuitive design and replace numbers with a combo box or radio buttons labeled "Yes" and "No." 3. Group the questions by topic. 4. Use headers and field groups to break them up for screen reader users. 5. Only display five or six at a time so people don't get overwhelmed and bail out. 6. Ensure instructions remain visible or are repeated near the question for easy reference. Accessibility isn’t just a "nice to have." It’s critical to ensure everyone can participate. Don’t let bad design create barriers and invalidate your survey results. Alt: A screen shot of a survey containing numerous questions with an instructing you to answer 1 for Yes and 0 for No. The instruction is written at the top and it gets lost when you scroll down to answer other questions. #AccessibilityFailFriday #AccessibilityMatters #InclusiveDesign #UXBestPractices #DigitalAccessibility

Accessibility should be seen as necessary, mandatory, and crucial. Here are 8 tips for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Before I dive into these simple tips, let’s quickly learn about GAAD. The main purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the 1 Billion+ people with disabilities. GAAD is celebrated annually on the third Thursday of May, so this year it's on May 15th (today!). A disabled person should be able to experience the internet, apps, social media, and all digital spaces like anyone else, but unfortunately, many websites and digital spaces are still inaccessible. So here are 8 easy tips for digital accessibility: 1. Color Contrast Accessible content generally has high contrast between the background and text colors, which makes it easier to read. For example, using a black background with white text will be accessible for most people. There are exceptions to this guidance as those with colorblindness and conditions like Irlen Syndrome may have other needs. 2. Closed Captions When hosting virtual meetings, always provide closed captions. Also, provide captions for content that you produce online. Please provide fully accurate captions instead of relying on automatically-generated ones. 3. Image Descriptions (IDs) Write IDs to help blind and low vision people learn what an image looks like. This is especially important when an image conveys information, such as an event flyer. You can add IDs within a post or in the comments. 4. Audio Description (AD) Audio description is helpful for those with vision disabilities. AD describes visual content in enough detail so that people don't miss out on information. Include AD in videos and verbally describe images in presentations. 5. Transcripts Transcripts are wonderful for business because they allow you to improve your SEO rankings since your audio or video content has been turned into words. Transcripts also help make content accessible for the D/deaf and hard of hearing, those with other disabilities, and more. 6. Label Buttons Unlabeled buttons on apps and websites create access issues. This is very important for screen reader users. Each user needs to be able to easily determine what a button does and also find the buttons. 7. Pascal Case Hashtags Capitalize each word within a hashtag to ensure a screen reader can understand it. Example: #DisabilityAwareness 8. Include Diverse Images Many times, disabled people don't see themselves represented in the world. This is especially true for disabled people of color. Use diverse images in media representation, advertisements, images on social media, and more. Did you know about Global Accessibility Awareness Day? Will you use these tips? cc: GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day) Foundation PS: For more accessibility tips, check out my free accessibility ebook (linked at the top of my profile)! #Accessibility #GAAD

A good survey works like a therapy session. You don’t begin by asking for deep truths, you guide the person gently through context, emotion, and interpretation. When done in the right sequence, your questions help people articulate thoughts they didn’t even realize they had. Most UX surveys fall short not because users hold back, but because the design doesn’t help them get there. They capture behavior and preferences but often miss the emotional drivers, unmet expectations, and mental models behind them. In cognitive psychology, we understand that thoughts and feelings exist at different levels. Some answers come automatically, while others require reflection and reconstruction. If a survey jumps straight to asking why someone was frustrated, without first helping them recall the situation or how it felt, it skips essential cognitive steps. This often leads to vague or inconsistent data. When I design surveys, I use a layered approach grounded in models like Levels of Processing, schema activation, and emotional salience. It starts with simple, context-setting questions like “Which feature did you use most recently?” or “How often do you use this tool in a typical week?” These may seem basic, but they activate memory networks and help situate the participant in the experience. Visual prompts or brief scenarios can support this further. Once context is active, I move into emotional or evaluative questions (still gently) asking things like “How confident did you feel?” or “Was anything more difficult than expected?” These help surface emotional traces tied to memory. Using sliders or response ranges allows participants to express subtle variations in emotional intensity, which matters because emotion often turns small usability issues into lasting negative impressions. After emotional recall, we move into the interpretive layer, where users start making sense of what happened and why. I ask questions like “What did you expect to happen next?” or “Did the interface behave the way you assumed it would?” to uncover the mental models guiding their decisions. At this stage, responses become more thoughtful and reflective. While we sometimes use AI-powered sentiment analysis to identify patterns in open-ended responses, the real value comes from the survey’s structure, not the tool. Only after guiding users through context, emotion, and interpretation do we include satisfaction ratings, prioritization tasks, or broader reflections. When asked too early, these tend to produce vague answers. But after a structured cognitive journey, feedback becomes far more specific, grounded, and actionable. Adaptive paths or click-to-highlight elements often help deepen this final stage. So, if your survey results feel vague, the issue may lie in the pacing and flow of your questions. A great survey doesn’t just ask, it leads. And when done right, it can uncover insights as rich as any interview. *I’ve shared an example structure in the comment section.

Telling a compelling story with UX research has nothing to do with flair and everything to do with function, empathy, and influence. One of the most critical yet underappreciated lessons in UX and product work - beautifully articulated in It’s Our Research by Tomer Sharon - is that research doesn’t succeed just because it’s rigorous or well-designed. It succeeds when its insights are heard, understood, remembered, and acted upon. We need to stop treating communication as an afterthought. The way we present research is just as important as the research itself. Storytelling in UX is not decoration - it’s a core deliverable. If your goal is to shape decisions rather than just share findings, the first step is to design your communication with the same care you give your methods. That means understanding the mindset of your stakeholders: what they care about, how they process information, and what pressures they’re facing. Storytelling in this context isn’t about performance - it’s about empathy. The insight must also be portable. It needs to survive the room and be retold accurately across meetings, conversations, and documents. If your findings require lengthy explanations or rely too heavily on charts without clear conclusions, the message will fade. Use strong framing, clear takeaways, and repeatable phrases. Make it memorable. Avoid leading with your process. Stakeholders care far less about your methods than they do about the problems they’re trying to solve. Lead with the tension - what’s broken, what’s at risk, what’s creating friction. Only then show what you learned and what opportunities emerged. Research becomes powerful when it forecasts outcomes, not just reports behaviors. What will it cost the business to ignore this behavior? What might change if we take action? When we can answer these questions, research earns its place at the strategy table. Treat your report like a prototype. Will it be used? Will it help others make decisions? Does it resonate emotionally and strategically? If not, iterate. Use narrative elements, embed user moments, bring in supporting visuals, and structure it in a way that guides action. Finally, stop thinking of the share-out as a one-way street. Facilitate instead of presenting. Invite stakeholders to interpret, ask questions, and explore implications with you. When they co-create meaning, they take ownership-and that leads to real action. Research only creates value when it moves people. Insights are not enough on their own. What matters is the clarity and conviction with which they are communicated.

I'm not usually one to share my product design 'hacks.' Hope this helps more folks tap into the 🪄 of better product thinking. 1. Steal workflows from industries outside of tech. Architects, game designers, even chefs—everyone solves complex problems differently. Borrow their frameworks. It’s wild how much it improves your design logic and product flows. 2. Every new feature should subtract something old. If adding a feature doesn’t naturally replace or improve something else, you’re layering complexity. The best products stay sharp because they evolve—not accumulate. 💥 3. Use constraints to force better solutions. Limit the width. Limit the colors. Limit the interaction patterns. Constraints make you think deeper, and users will never feel the difference—except that everything just works. 4. Kill unnecessary settings. If a setting exists to “fix” something that could have been designed better by default, you’ve taken the lazy route. The best products have fewer decisions for users to make, not more. 5. Build interactive prototypes, even for simple ideas. Static designs don’t reveal problems—movement does. Sketch out transitions, hover states, and micro-interactions early. It sharpens your design instinct fast. 6. Start with mobile. Not because “mobile-first” is trendy—but because smaller screens force brutal prioritization. If the design works on mobile, scaling it up feels like a reward. 7. Test for boredom, not just usability. “Does this work?” is step one. Step two is asking, “Would I use this every day without hating it?” Usable products get abandoned. Engaging ones stick. 8. Design without data at your own risk. Placeholder content lies. Inject real (or semi-real) data early. Long names, weird edge cases, and incomplete info will blow up pixel-perfect layouts faster than anything else. 9. Never trust the first solution. The first design is often the most obvious. The second one starts to explore. The third version? That’s usually the winner. Keep pushing until it surprises you. --- PS - There are somehow 125,000 of y'all following along. Appreciate your support 🙏 🎁 For regular product design/product building insights, don’t miss ADPList’s Newsletter — my free weekly newsletter: https://lnkd.in/guJJsBaT

CSMs, are we asking the right questions? 🤔 Sometimes, we stick to surface-level questions that don’t really get to the heart of what our customers need. But small tweaks can lead to big insights. Here’s how to take your customer conversations from basic to brilliant: Go from: "Are you happy with the product?" ➡️ To: "Can you share a specific example of how our product helped you achieve a recent business goal?" Asking if someone is happy only scratches the surface. The better question digs into the value they get from the product and how it ties into their success metrics. Go from: "Do you have any issues with the product?" ➡️ To: "Can you walk me through a recent challenge you faced while using the product and how you worked around it?" A yes/no question limits feedback. Asking for a specific experience helps you understand user pain points and provides actionable data. Go from: "What features do you like?" ➡️ To: "Which feature did you use most often this past week, and how did it help your team?" It’s not just about what customers like; it's about what creates the biggest impact for their team. Go from: "What are you concerned about during your next board meeting?" ➡️ To: "What key metric are you most focused on reporting to your board next quarter?" Asking this question helps you understand your customer’s priorities and where your product can help them deliver on their goals. Go from: "What metrics are you held accountable to in your specific role?" ➡️ To: "Which metric has been most challenging for you to hit, and how can our product help improve it?" This question shifts the focus to their pain points, giving you a chance to help them leverage your product to overcome obstacles. Go from: "Are there aspects of our product that you feel you are not fully utilizing yet?" ➡️ To: "Is there a feature of our product that you haven’t fully explored but think could be valuable for your team?" This specific question gets customers thinking about how to get more value from your product and where they might need help to unlock new features. --- These updates give you more than answers. They push deeper talks that lead to useful ideas and better connections. What’s one question you plan to improve in your next customer conversation?

The biggest challenge in user experience isn’t research or execution — it’s proving impact on the business. Design doesn’t speak for itself. You have to connect the dots between user insight and business outcomes. Executive support doesn’t hinge on polished prototypes. It hinges on showing how your work moves the business forward. Here are 5 ways to bring UX and business into alignment — and turn design into a growth lever: 𝟭. 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗰𝗸-𝗼𝗳𝗳 Want support? Know what they care about. Whether it’s speed, revenue, risk, or reputation, tailor your framing to their drivers and their biases. 🎯 Someone obsessed with sunk cost? Show long-term savings. 📊 Data-driven skeptic? Come with a prototype and a revenue forecast. 𝟮. 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆, 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝘆 Your best critics become co-owners when they’re part of the journey. Invite cross-functional stakeholders into problem-framing workshops. Co-create problem definitions. Align on what matters before the pixels move. 💬 Early involvement = fewer late-stage “surprises.” 𝟯. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 Executives speak numbers. If your research can’t be tied to retention, revenue, or risk mitigation, it gets sidelined. 🧠 “Users were confused by the form” → “This friction costs us $XM/month in lost conversions.” 𝟰. 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Skip the 40-slide deck. Try an “impact brief.” Focus on the most powerful video clip. Use AI summaries. Give busy execs a frictionless way to get it. ⏱ Clarity wins trust. Brevity wins time. 𝟱. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 Want executive buy-in? Don’t ask for a leap of faith. Pilot something small. Deliver a win. Share results. Then propose the next step. 📈 Stakeholders fund demonstrated momentum, not hypothetical potential. Bottom line: Great experience doesn’t just serve users. It drives strategy. But only when we meet the business where it is, and bring it with us. How are you aligning UX with business value in your work? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

User research is great, but what if you do not have the time or budget for it........ In an ideal world, you would test and validate every design decision. But, that is not always the reality. Sometimes you do not have the time, access, or budget to run full research studies. So how do you bridge the gap between guessing and making informed decisions? These are some of my favorites: 1️⃣ Analyze drop-off points: Where users abandon a flow tells you a lot. Are they getting stuck on an input field? Hesitating at the payment step? Running into bugs? These patterns reveal key problem areas. 2️⃣ Identify high-friction areas: Where users spend the most time can be good or bad. If a simple action is taking too long, that might signal confusion or inefficiency in the flow. 3️⃣ Watch real user behavior: Tools like Hotjar | by Contentsquare or PostHog let you record user sessions and see how people actually interact with your product. This exposes where users struggle in real time. 4️⃣ Talk to customer support: They hear customer frustrations daily. What are the most common complaints? What issues keep coming up? This feedback is gold for improving UX. 5️⃣ Leverage account managers: They are constantly talking to customers and solving their pain points, often without looping in the product team. Ask them what they are hearing. They will gladly share everything. 6️⃣ Use survey data: A simple Google Forms, Typeform, or Tally survey can collect direct feedback on user experience and pain points. 6️⃣ Reference industry leaders: Look at existing apps or products with similar features to what you are designing. Use them as inspiration to simplify your design decisions. Many foundational patterns have already been solved, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. I have used all of these methods throughout my career, but the trick is knowing when to use each one and when to push for proper user research. This comes with time. That said, not every feature or flow needs research. Some areas of a product are so well understood that testing does not add much value. What unconventional methods have you used to gather user feedback outside of traditional testing? _______ 👋🏻 I’m Wyatt—designer turned founder, building in public & sharing what I learn. Follow for more content like this!

During meetings with stakeholders, we often hear about 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔, 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒔. If you're feeling confused and overwhelmed about how to do all of this, you're not alone. Here's something for those new to the world of metric-driven design. Trust me, your designs can make a real difference :) 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 → Talk to real users. Understand their pain points. But also, grab coffee with the marketing team. Learn what those metrics mean. You'd be surprised how often a simple chat can clarify things. 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 → Sketch it out, literally. Where are users dropping off? Where are they getting stuck? This visual approach can reveal problems you might miss otherwise and which screens you need to tackle. 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗱 (𝗞𝗜𝗦𝗦)→ We've all heard this before, but it's true. A clean, intuitive interface can work wonders for conversion rates. If a user can't figure out what to do in 5 seconds, you might need to simplify. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 → Trust isn't built by security badges alone. It's about creating an overall feeling of reliability. Clear communication, consistent branding, and transparency go a long way. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 → Transform mundane tasks into engaging experiences. Progress bars, thoughtful micro-animations, or even well-placed humor can keep users moving forward instead of bouncing off. Remember, engaged users are more likely to convert and return, directly impacting your key metrics. 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻, 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 → Set up usability tests to validate your design decisions. Start small - even minor changes in copy or button placement can yield significant results. The key is to keep iterating based on real data, not assumptions. This approach improves your metrics and also sharpens your design intuition over time. 𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹 → While it's tempting to create something totally new, users often prefer familiar patterns. Research industry standards and find data around successful interaction models, then adapt them to address your specific challenges. This approach combines fresh ideas with proven conventions, enhancing user comfort and adoption. Metric-driven design isn't about sacrificing creativity for numbers. It's about using data to inform and elevate your design decisions. By bridging the gap between user needs and business goals.