An introduction to our Professional Services team and Q&A with UX and CRO Analyst, Adam.
Many agencies that work with clients follow a simple internal structure; you have your Creatives and Developers working their magic and a team of Account Managers and Project Managers managing the project tasks and communicating with the client. Ordinarily, it falls with the Project Managers to recommend optimisations and new opportunities, but while managing the day-to-day and agile sprint plans, this can sometimes prove challenging.
To tackle this problem and ensure we are actively exploring and recommending innovations and ways to achieve growth with our customers, we’ve introduced our Professional Services team. This newly formed team is currently made up of a Business Analyst, UX and CRO Analyst and Partner Manager. The Professional Services team are present during the road mapping phase of a new project and on hand after the project goes live. Bringing their eCommerce knowledge and skillset to every project and working with best-of-breed technology partners, the team is fully dedicated to adding value to our work and achieving next-level growth for our customers.
We caught up with Adam who recently joined the Professional Services team as UX and CRO Analyst to get all the details on how he’s finding it at AYKO and to give you some handy tips on how to improve your user experience and conversion rate.
What are some of the most common UX and CRO downfalls you see with projects?
I find that while projects are great at focusing on business needs and technical challenges or possibilities, the needs of the customer (user) can often be overlooked. “How will a real person use this?” is a question that is not asked enough, and this is something I hope to continue to help improve.
Does user experience (UX) and conversion rate optimisation (CRO) go hand in hand?
In many ways yes, a primary focus of UX is to help users achieve their goals as easily as possible, and in the case of eCommerce that is often to help users convert. However, that goal may be something else, and as such, UX has a broader responsibility, including considerations such as accessibility.
What is a simple way online retailers can improve their conversion rate?
Always consider the user – before making any design changes or introducing new features, be sure to consider if this is the best move for your user base. If in doubt, ask them! After all, they are the ones who will ultimately be affected.
Would you advise retailers to have a UX strategy at the beginning of a new project?
Absolutely! I believe that the user should always be front and centre of any product or service design, and this should be maintained not just at the start of a new project, but throughout the lifetime of any ongoing work.
How necessary is user testing when fine-tuning a customer journey?
I would say that it is crucial; users will surface key functional issues that may require a rethink of how a page or feature works. The earlier this is caught, the less work will need to go through the design and development stages.
In our industry, things are continually changing. Does this apply to UX and CRO methods?
To a degree, yes. Don Norman first wrote about user-centred design as a concept back in 1988, and many of those principles still apply today, but how we best service those principles are constantly evolving with emerging technologies. Heatmaps and screen recording feedback are just two examples of modern UX testing tools, and who knows how we will be tracking user behaviour five years from now?
What is the most rewarding part of your job, and what do you enjoy about working at AYKO?
Understanding how people use services and websites, and how we can make that smoother for them is truly fascinating. It involves an interesting mix of technical knowledge, empathy, and psychology. Being able to implement that also requires input and actions from a wide variety of talented individuals, and I am pleased to say that is something we have in abundance at AYKO.
Alongside offering this optimisation service to our current customers, our Professional Services team can also be hired on a consultancy basis to help eCommerce merchants reach their full potential and maximise their ROI. If you would like to chat with Adam or another member of our team, you can get in touch to request an open call back to discuss your next steps.