User empowerment in product design
“There is certainly more to an enjoyable activity than the mere ability to complete it.” — Jakob Nielsen
While there are some discrepancies in the design community about the differences between UX design and product design, it is mostly agreed upon that UX design is a facet of product design. User experience focuses on the customer journey, while product design focuses on the user from a business perspective. This is the definition I will be basing my statements on for the duration of the article.
Marketing used to be all about telling people how great your company is through advertisements and PR. Modern marketers focus more heavily on organic methods to reach their target market. It’s less about ‘how can we get the customer to come to us?’ and more about ‘how can we meet our customers where they are?’.
What we are seeing more of is companies creating content that is curated for their target market.
A cookware company may write recipe guides. A fashion warehouse may offer articles about starting your own fashion brand. The point is to provide value to your clients so that they trust your brand…
…and you know what else?
To empower them.
In marketing’s case, it’s to make customers feel as if they now have the ability and the resources to cook or start their own fashion brand. This (hopefully) leads to purchasing their product or service.
The same ideas apply to product design. Let’s dig a little deeper.
User Experience
experience
noun
1. practical contact with and observation of facts or events.verb
2. encounter or undergo (an event or occurrence).
The definition of experience is a little bit… vanilla, don’t you think?
I don’t know about you, but when I think of the word “experience” I think of things like going to the doctor’s office. It’s not something that you do unless you have to, and creating a ‘positive experience’ is just making something as painless and easy as possible.
You enter the building. There are clear signs and prompts to show you where to check-in. You are shown where the waiting room is. When it’s your turn, the nurse comes out and shows you what room you’re in. You are made aware that the doctor is coming. You get your physical. You leave.
Not a bad experience. Everything was clear and efficient. The next time you need your physical, you will probably go back to this office. But only if you need your physical.
Of course, ease of use is something that we try to achieve in UX design. This is something that we must achieve in UX design.
However, it shouldn’t stop there. You will eventually hit a wall with how simple a process can be.
User Encouragement
encouragement
noun
1. the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.
2. persuasion to do or to continue something.
3. the act of trying to stimulate the development of an activity, state, or belief.
Someone rarely goes straight from a positive experience to feeling empowered. Somewhere along the way, there is user encouragement, even if it’s just the encouragement to feel empowered.
Let’s stick with this doctor’s office example. How could we upgrade this experience to encourage the user?
Perhaps the doctor’s office could launch an app that allows users to speak anonymously to a nurse or doctor.
This encourages users to be more open and to reach out for help, as they will not be in fear of judgment for their habits or issues.
Encouragement would also come from the professionals themselves, ideally.
The idea here is to try and stimulate the user to reach out to a professional when they feel that something is wrong, or if they have a question.
In other digital products, users may feel encouraged by receiving a congratulatory popup after completing a task, or a badge after reaching a milestone. Knowing that they are making progress or doing a good job motivates the user to continue using the app.
Encouragement is the provision of support, from the app to the user.
User Empowerment
empowerment
noun
1. authority or power given to someone to do something.
2. the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights.
Empowerment is that ‘I’ve got this! I can do it!’ feeling.
Users can feel empowered by using your product/service, using it as a tool to feel empowered in something else, or both.
In the case of the doctor’s office, the anonymous chat app would both:
- empower the user when using the app because they feel stronger and more confident in seeking out medical advice. Whether it’s because they don’t want to make a trip to a doctor’s office, don’t feel comfortable talking about certain issues (such as intimate issues), or don’t want to disclose certain habits (i.e. drug use), people will avoid going to the doctor at all costs. The anonymous nature of the app should make people more comfortable and confident speaking honestly, thus feeling more empowered.
As well as
- use it as a tool to feel empowered in other aspects. Regularly speaking to medical professionals and being told that what they are asking is normal and that they are not being judged for their habits may result in users feeling more confident in going to a doctor’s office. Ideally, they will take their health and medical needs into their own hands as a result of using the app.
You should find that the user feels empowered when they return to use the product on their own volition and/or actively explore. They have decided that this product is useful to them and holds value, much like the content marketing example I gave in the intro of this article.
The Importance of User Research
Now you might be asking, “Morgan, are you trying to sell us this anonymous doctor’s office app? Why are you talking about this?”
To the former, no. (I mean….unless…)
To the latter, I am talking about this because there is a communication gap between users and user researchers. It’s no one’s fault, it can be difficult to put certain feelings into words.
Can you really say what makes you feel empowered? It’s easier to say what makes you feel oppressed. So you fix the issues that negatively affect the users then bada bing, bada boom, you’re done (not really).
Jakob Nielsen (yes, that Jakob Nielsen) has a great article about user empowerment. One of the topics he touches on is that users don’t always know what they want, and give researchers inaccurate information unknowingly.
For example, a user will say that they want simple content with no fluff, just give me the information so I can move on. However, when those users are going through the product, they will chuckle at cleverly written content, or say that something is cool.
He goes on to explain that the majority of user researchers are unable to properly decipher nonverbal cues like body language to determine what the user is actually feeling.
So back to our doctor’s office example. Do you think that if a user researcher asked a user why they avoid going to the doctor, the user is going to say, “because I don’t feel comfortable talking about [insert intimate or personal issue]”? Probably not, especially if they’re not willing to talk to a doctor about it. Or maybe the user just really does not know. It is the job of a strong user researcher to get to the truth or make inferences based on the cues the user is giving.
Takeaways
Ultimately, the user experience will remain the #1 priority in product design, as it is the foundation for both user encouragement and empowerment.
Poor user experience + encouragement = frustration. How many times have you had someone say, “you can do it!” in an instance where you actually, physically could not do something? Frustrating, isn’t it? That’s what it feels like when an app sends you encouragement (i.e. a suggestion) to do something, but the interface is too difficult to navigate or isn’t working. You probably just end up screaming, “I’d like to, BUT I CAN’T!” at your phone.
Poor user experience + empowerment = oppression. In his article about user empowerment, Jakob Nielsen says,
“If users can’t master the interface, they’ll feel oppressed rather than empowered, and are unlikely to explore or use anything beyond the absolute minimum.”
Feeling the power of controlling your own life is incredible, but when roadblocks are thrown up (i.e. in the form of a confusing interface) you end up feeling oppressed, as you know that you have the power but have no way to exercise it. As Nielsen says, when this happens, users are unlikely to do anything beyond the absolute minimum.
You might be thinking that this is just semantics, that user experience is user empowerment because that’s ultimately what we strive for. You might be right.
But I think it’s important to acknowledge the steps to get to user empowerment.
- User experience. Make the process painless, the navigation clear, and the interface should be easily mastered.
- User encouragement. Give the user the resources and support that they need to feel encouraged. This could include progress data, suggestions, or the app generally sending words of encouragement.
- User empowerment. The user feels that they are a master of the interface and successfully use the resources provided to take control of an aspect of their life. They come back to the app on their own volition.
I understand that in this article I make user empowerment sound like you must completely change the user’s life. While this would be incredible, user empowerment can be something as simple as a fun game. Making the user feel something. As I gain more experience in the UX design field, I hope to readdress and expand on this article in the future. Maybe I’ll be impressed with myself, maybe I’ll cringe. Who knows?
