User Errors Due to Device Size and Behavior Expectations

According to Mckinsey, the pandemic has sped up digital transformation for several years. Your customers use Apple, Google, and Netflix applications that look good and delight in user experience. Top-rated applications set up high expectations on usability. User errors occur when your apps don’t meet the customers’ expectations. There are two essential things to consider: The size of the device and the behavior that comes with it. 

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Map Customer Journey to Learn Customer Behavior

Product managers must map the customer journey to understand what led them to use the app or visit the website. Analyzing that will help plan for product design to address their pain points, frustrations, and motivations. Product managers may have to target specific device sizes, i.e., tablet or smartphone, PC, or larger screen, depending on how users intend to use the application. For example, a tablet is suitable if the target user may primarily sit but occasionally walk around with the device. So, the app needs to be designed for tablet size. If the phone app uses the same UI, the information displayed may be too small for a smartphone, and users may inadvertently tap on something they didn’t intend. 

The app or website must work well on a smartphone for use cases where users may always be on the go. Design each task to be specific to users’ goals and show only the necessary information. For instance, as mentioned previously in interactive design (link), 49% of mobile users use their thumbs. They use their thumbs to interact with smartphones. This user behavior means users focus more on the natural touch zones (the bottom screen) and ease of reach. They expect frequently used click-to-actions at the bottom, where it is easy for thumbs to reach. Designing a wireframe that reflects these behaviors is essential for retaining users. 

Using the right size and understanding the correct behavior can significantly benefit a product’s results. It ensures placement and arrangement will be easy. Users will be able to acknowledge that product developers are considering users. As a result, navigation will be more straightforward, and the product will gain users’ trust.

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Customers and Employees Benefit from the Right Size & Behavior 

Customers using the apps designed for their specific customer journey will often use the app, increasing engagement and NPS. Consumer usage is directly related to increased revenue and profits. On the employee-facing side, apps designed for their specific use case will improve their productivity and morale, reducing costs.

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Where do you begin?

The best UX design starts with wireframing concepts based on user journeys and personas from UX research. For apps that need to support multiple device sizes, it is vital to design mobile-first, i.e., for the mobile viewport. You then progressively add more information for tablet size, PC, and larger screen sizes as needed. Start with that specific device size if it’s only one target device. The wireframes show the layout of UI elements, and the screen size structure is also shown. Scaling the size of the wireframe is essential when developing a product. 

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Visual Design

The visual design represents an essential function in achieving an optimal visual hierarchy, highlighting important elements and lowering them down to less important ones. Device size is a significant factor in how UI needs to be designed to achieve that goal. As the device size increases, visual design becomes even more critical to present information with the correct visual hierarchy. A well-designed layout can look monotonous without proper visual hierarchy, and users may miss important details, leading to user errors. Learn more about the differences between UI and UX in our previous article.

Development

While developing for different sizes, current technology allows for showing or hiding certain elements depending on the device size. Designing for the target device enhances the user experience. Imagine a legacy PC application on the phone screen. It may be functional, but it will be error-prone.

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Costs

Consider the costs stemming from customers leaving to competitors or decreased employee productivity. You can save capital by targeting the only device sizes that matter. If planned well, the suitable device size design can save money later if the product needs support for other devices. If you try to do that, the other way around will cost exponentially more. Products that don’t consider these two factors when designing wireframes, visual design, or development can lead to poor user experience. It can result in users experiencing more errors in the final product. 

Conclusion

Choosing the right device size for the customer journey can better a company’s product experience. For further information, you can contact Designial for application design at a fixed price. Read more on our Digital Transformation and UX Design pages. Contact us to get started. Learn more about us.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.