Are you new to the world of UX design and UX flow charts? Let us get you into the groove with an example.
Imagine you log into your mobile banking app to make a credit card payment, but to your surprise, you do not see any buttons, next steps or a guided route that would lead you to complete the payment cycle. Wouldn’t you, as the user of the app, get confused?
UX flow charts tackle this situation for you. They help you interact with a product and guide you through a process from start to finish. But before we dive further into this, let us understand a bit more about UX app design.
What is UX design?
UX or user experience involves how users feel when they engage with your product. For instance, how is their experience with your brand’s coffee maker, or how do they feel when they walk into a store to buy a data plan? From the digital side of things, look at it this way: did you like hopping onto the website for your latest online purchase or how was your experience with the recently used gaming app?
How these products (websites or apps) are designed per your needs and goals as you interact with them creates the user experience. UX app design is meant to realize the needs and goals of customers who will eventually drive that experience. It is about identifying their problems and pain points and finding solutions to elevate their experience.
Understanding User Flows
Once a user logs into an app, there are different pathways they can take when interacting with a product. For example, while making a bill payment on an online store, the customer can either go directly to the saved product in the cart or browse other items before making the purchase.
A user flow will visually represent various avenues users can take while using the app or website. User flows are flowing charts and begin with the consumer’s entry point on the product. Mostly, it starts on the product’s homepage and ends with the customer clicking on the final action or the outcome.
Your goal is most often to let the users purchase a product, sign up for a new service, get a subscription, and so on. But sometimes, user flows could be a two-step representation of something as simple as signing up for a newsletter or completing their profile on a social media app. Whatever the case, visual depiction of this process allows designers to evaluate and optimize the user experience and increase conversion rates.
What do UX flowcharts consist of?
The UX flowcharts consist of different touchpoints, each represented by a node. These nodes, characterized by different shapes, indicate a particular process. For example, in the example below, a diamond means the customer is in the decision-making process and is ready to proceed.
It’s best to define your audience in the preliminary stages to create a flow that focuses on how your target consumers will interact with the product. A well-defined communication strategy lets you know for whom you want to generate this flow.
User flow emphasizes that all your users will interact with the product differently and may take various paths to accomplish a singular outcome. Thus, while creating a flowchart, you should consider different scenarios starting from various touch points within the app.
Why does User flow matter in UX app design?
Now that you know what UX flows are, it’s time to talk about how they can help you create a better user experience. Whether you want to launch a new product or revamp an old one, focussing your time on the flows will help you in many ways. Here are some key areas of benefit.
Provide users with an intuitive interface
Users interacting with your product expect it to address their key concerns and help them save time and sometimes even effort in accomplishing a task. For instance, consumers who want to minimize the hassle of going to a grocery shop will log into an app and place their orders.
User flows lay out various possibilities the user will take to sail through the app and help designers determine how to design the flow to create the best navigation experience. The ease of movement through the platform plus the navigation efficiency of a platform add up to create an intuitive interface.
Evaluate existing solution
Sometimes the solution you’ve created is super helpful and benefits your customers in many ways. But for some reason, your users do not interact with it well enough and do not take action steps you expect them to accomplish.
User flows help you determine this problem. Laying out the customer journey visually helps you understand what’s working and what’s not working for them.
You may also learn about different areas that need improvement. The flows can reflect why users stall at a certain point. It can help you brainstorm what you and your team can do to enhance their experience.
Maybe one screen does not flow into another, or the patterns in the flow do not make sense for your customers.
Create a great UX experience with our UX flow chart template
As you know, UX flows are integrated during the early stages of your product design and development. They allow us to assess the technical requirements of the product, map out a design project and see beyond the interface we are designing. Also, all the future revisions to the product solutions depend on this initial flow.
The other important aspect is that this flow helps you coordinate with your team members and collect feedback. It is easy to edit them and construct them as your brainstorming changes. Continuous revisions can help you come up with the best visual representation of what your consumers will receive when they experience it firsthand.
Ready to give your users this unique experience by creating user flows? Download Produktiv’s User Flow Template or get in touch to let us help you bring your project to life.
