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User experience

User experience (UX) is how a person perceives, feels about and interacts with an interface, a product or a digital service. In a company, it directly shapes user satisfaction, engagement, effectiveness and the success of digital transformation programmes.

7 min read Design Adoption

Definition at a glance

User experience (UX) is the full set of emotions, perceptions, responses and behaviours a person goes through while using a digital solution.

  • It is not just design: the aim is to remove friction from business applications.
  • It rests on five pillars: usability, accessibility, usefulness, ergonomics and emotion.
  • A usability redesign improves business metrics by 83% on average (Nielsen Norman Group).

What is user experience?

User experience (UX) is how a person perceives, feels about and interacts with an interface, a product or a digital service. That experience covers the full set of emotions, perceptions, responses and behaviours triggered while using a digital solution.

In a company, UX is a strategic matter: it directly shapes user satisfaction, engagement, effectiveness and, ultimately, the success of digital transformation programmes.

Why does user experience matter in a company?

Improving user experience is not just about pleasant design: the aim is to make complex business applications easier to use, remove friction and support digital adoption at every level of the organisation.

Forrester (2009) found that sites with a superior user experience show visit-to-lead conversion rates up to 400% higher than poorly designed ones. Neglected UX has the opposite effect: digital tools get rejected, operational errors multiply and productivity falls.

What are the key figures on UX?

88%

of online consumers say they are less likely to return to a site after a slow, frustrating experience.

Gomez / Compuware, 2010

+400%

higher visit-to-lead conversion on sites with a superior user experience, compared with poorly designed sites.

Forrester, 2009

+83%

average improvement in business metrics after a usability redesign.

Nielsen Norman Group

What are the pillars of user experience?

  1. Usability: how easily a user completes their tasks.
  2. Accessibility: making a tool usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.
  3. Usefulness: how well the features on offer match a real business need.
  4. Ergonomics: an intuitive, coherent interface design.
  5. Emotion: an overall positive feeling, which encourages adoption and loyalty.

How do you improve UX in a transformation programme?

  • Co-creation with end users: involve employees from the design phase onwards.
  • Regular usability testing throughout the development cycle.
  • User-centred design (UCD): an approach that puts the user at the heart of every decision.
  • Contextual digital adoption: embed interactive guides to support the user at the right moment, in the right context.

How do large companies build UX in?

Groups such as Airbus, Société Générale and L'Oréal have built advanced UX practice into their digital programmes. Société Générale redesigned the interface of its internal CRM tools to improve sales-team effectiveness; L'Oréal ran a UX overhaul of its internal HR management platforms, which drove fast adoption by employees.

Knowmore's expertise

Knowmore's expertise in user experience.

At Knowmore we work with more than 40% of CAC 40 companies on improving user experience through our digital adoption solutions. K-NOW and K-STUDIO embed interactive learning content directly inside business applications, to guide users and strengthen ownership.

Redesigning an interface takes months; adding a layer of contextual support takes a few weeks and often has the same effect on real-world usage.

Conclusion

User experience is a major performance lever in transformation programmes. By putting it at the centre of the adoption strategy, companies maximise engagement, productivity and project success.

And when an interface overhaul is out of reach, contextual support fixes most of the friction without touching the product itself.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between UX and UI?

UX (user experience) covers everything a user feels while interacting with a tool, a service or an interface. UI (user interface) covers the visual and interactive part of the product: buttons, colours, typography. Good UI serves a smooth UX, but it is not a substitute for it.

What are the risks of a poor user experience for a company?

Weak UX can lead to wholesale rejection of internal tools, falling productivity, demotivated teams, more support requests and critical business errors. Over time it undermines the success of transformation programmes.

How does user experience contribute to change leadership?

By making new tools easier to pick up, UX reduces resistance to change. It strengthens user confidence, improves autonomy and supports overall buy-in to the transformation.

Let's get practical

You cannot redesign every interface.

Show us your business applications: we will show you how Knowmore removes friction without touching the product.