To ensure that digital solutions are properly developed, according to the target audience, personas, and their pain points, it is essential to invest in Design. With that in mind, we interviewed Priscila Rodrigues, SoftDesign’s Lead Product Designer. In the content below, we explain how it helps to reduce uncertainty and increase user satisfaction.

If your startup or corporate still does not invest in Product Design, you are certainly wasting time, money, and relevance. To change this scenario, fill out the form below and talk to our specialists.

Product Design and Technology

SoftDesign – Design is one of the pillars of our work, and this is an area that has been growing a lot in the world of Technology. Why?

Priscila Rodrigues – Design has existed for a long time – since the Industrial Revolution – but the IT market still did not see its relevance. In recent years, we have been able to identify that this is an important and powerful tool, because without planning we cannot understand why we develop products and services. Technology without Product Design does not solve problems, it creates new ones.

To prove this idea, in 2018, the McKinsey consulting carried out a survey in order to understand the business value of design. The results obtained showed that corporates that use this knowledge effectively in their culture generated 32% more revenue and 56% more return to shareholders.

This is the largest survey ever conducted in the area, and its outputs make it clear that the market is increasingly aware of the importance of Design. Therefore, corporates that do not understand this will be at a disadvantage compared to others.

SD – In practice, what is the importance of Product Design?

PR – No one wants to consume a product that is not good to use, and this feeling does not come from nowhere, it is not just a personal view of the user. Its origin is often related to usability problems. Thinking about usability is precisely analyzing how a certain person will use an application, enterprise software or platform, and in what context this will take place.

It is impossible to develop a digital product without thinking about the user. If we want solutions to be desired and bought, we need to think about people. That is what Product Design is for. Moreover, it is through research and applications that we provide good experiences in digital products.

Experimentation is the key

SD – Product Design is present in all SoftDesign services. How does it add value in Product Conception and Experimentation?

PR – The first stage of research is carried out in Product Conception. Therefore, customers who use this service can be startups in their early stages or corporates creating solutions (either for internal or external use). At this stage, we seek to understand who the users affected by the product are and what their real needs are.

In Product Experimentation, the previously raised product and business hypotheses are put into practice to test user adherence. Its main mission is to find the product-market fit, that is, to prove that the product solves a pain and, in some cases, that the solution is profitable.

That match is what we seek to find in this service. However, customers often prefer to move from Product Conception directly to Software Development. It is possible, but depending on the case, we do not advise it. This is because the probability of something not working as idealized and with the expected return on investment can be high. We cannot predict user behavior when using a product for the first time. That is why many startups and corporates end up going bankrupt or pivoting their idea.

At SoftDesign, we understand that to streamline this process, the first step should be to test the product quickly and with the lowest possible investment to seek learning. A No-Code or Low-Code MVP, for example, is a simple option to test the idea in the company or market, verifying that the product has adherence and that we can reach the correct users.

Only after successfully completing this phase we can state the solution has a future; and only then we suggest a greater investment of time, effort, and money. We have this concern and transparency with our customers.

Real Problems Require Real Tests

SD – Being a human-centered company is one of SoftDesign’s main differentials. Therefore, research and testing of our products are conducted with potential users. Is that correct?

PR – Indeed. Surveys are conducted with real users using various techniques, always looking for profiles that match the business in question. A common mistake when starting a digital business is precisely to conduct these tests and surveys with friends or family. It is natural for such people not to want to displease us and, therefore, they say the idea is great and that they would certainly buy the product. However, there is no guarantee that this action will materialize in the future, as friends and family may not be the personas of the product.

In some cases, the entrepreneur may end up getting excited about these responses to the point of investing a considerable amount in the development of the digital solution. It is highly likely that his idea will not have the expected return. We look for users who really have a profile compatible with the product, to conduct clean research and tests, avoiding origin defects.

User Research in Practice

SD – You commented on several research techniques. How do we apply User Research in startup apps and corporate enterprise software, for example?

PR – Regardless of whether it is an app or a system, we first need to understand who its users are and the business context. That is the key point. Basically, User Research is to understand user behaviors and needs and there are several techniques available and in use even before Design was popularized, as they originate in Anthropology.

Therefore, what we do is understand which technique makes the most sense in the context we are working with, and how we can customize and mix approaches to reach the given objective. Thinking about it, it is essential that the person who works in Product Design understand research and have an analytical look.

At SoftDesign, we highly value dialogue, which is why we aim to understand who our users and stakeholders are. For this to happen, we conduct structured interviews or informal chats, which allow us to analyze beyond verbal language. We always suggest eye-to-eye conversations, even if they are held remotely. In addition to quantitative research, when numbers and whys must be understood.

The ideal is to make a match between tools and techniques since conversations can replicate a bias. We tend to say things that we do not necessarily do daily, because these actions are already automatic for us. It is precisely at this moment that we perceive usage addictions, but the user does not always notice this movement, as this process has already been naturalized.

The Role of Design in Software Development

SD – After the Product Conception and/or Experimentation stages, the product evolves into Software Development. What is the role of Designers in this phase?

PR – Product Design continues to be part of the development of the digital solution. It is not inserted only in the initial part of research and experimentation. Therefore, we can say that Designers who work in development teams are responsible for giving voice to users throughout the entire creation journey.

In an agile team, for example, in each sprint and release we continue to improve our understanding of personas, creating flows, testing, and validating whether what is being developed in accordance with the discoveries made in discovery stage – what we call User Experience Design (UX Design).

Through it, we ensure that critical issues for the user are not forgotten. We work with a focus on business objectives and continually validate these issues, especially during software development, as we have deadlines and features that need to be built.

In addition, Designers are responsible for materializing journeys, understandings, and interfaces – what we call User Interface (UI). In a product team, it is also our role to create style guides, prototypes and interactions, aiming at better usability.

User Experience X User Interface

SD – Are surveys also important to improve the User Experience (UX) and the User Interface (UI)? What is the difference between them? How do they impact product creation?

PR – Yes! Research is essential for us to create fluid and efficient experiences in the products we plan. UX is the User Experience, and it can be generated by several factors. One of them is precisely the Interface Design. In a simplified way, people who work on User Experience focus on research, creating journeys, designing flows, understanding usage and business.

The UI, on the other hand, is focused on the interface, which means that this Designer is the one who will transform the learning from research and user data into screens. At this stage, other architecture and information hierarchy practices, typography, accessibility, application of Gestalt laws, Nielsen’s Heuristics, color theory, among other things, come into play.

Finally, there is a series of essential knowledge to be able to provide a valuable experience from the interface. In addition to the flow and journey, the way the user is seeing and interacting with the product is important. Therefore, even though they have different focuses, UX and UI are complementary disciplines that must go hand in hand.

Click Here to Advance!

SD – In practice, it is this work that defines the location of buttons, in addition to how the user will navigate in each application, for example. Can we say that it is the role of the UX/UI Designer to reduce problems and make the journey more intuitive?

PR – Yes! These issues are predicted through Nielsen’s Heuristics, aiming to reduce the cognitive load, that is, the mental effort that the user needs to make to use an enterprise software, platform, or application. Questions like: should I include space between the numbers? Should I add a hyphen? These are examples of thoughts that represent an unnecessary waste of time and energy for the user.

This turns out to be a problem for the company, as every second wasted can impact thousands of conversions that will not happen, like the classic example of the $300 million button. For this reason, every detail matters and this is not an aesthetic issue, as the main objective is not to make it ‘pretty’.

Until recently, Product Design was seen as something superficial. However, its main function in technology is to achieve good usability and connection with users, and this is not achieved through the personal taste of Designers. There is even a strong connection between Design and Psychology, since all these sensations and experiences, whether good or bad, are built based on emotions and triggers.

Therefore, understanding people’s mental model and needs is crucial. For example, we are already used to clicking on an X icon to close something, that is, this is an already established mental model. If in the application that same icon behaves completely differently, that will significantly affect the user experience.

The Influence of Culture on Digital Products

SD – Do UX/UI Designers also need to be aware of behaviors and cultures throughout product development?

PR – It is important to note that the Designers on the team are not the end user. We are aware of what the best practices are, but the context of use is very particular, so it is not possible to simulate. Only the person who uses the product knows whether it is good for their needs. And, sometimes, that same person may even think he/she is satisfied, but we still must understand how long that person takes to perform an action, or to find certain information.

As designers, we do need to consider cultural issues. Remember that what is culturally understood in the universe of colors and usability in Brazil can be completely different in another culture/country. An example of this is Shein website, a Chinese e-commerce which bets on the excessive use of information – a reality that is different from European countries. Culturally this is how Product Design works for Chinese users. Other examples from the same segment are: Shopee and Ali Express.

The perceptions and language of these users are completely different from ours, and this impacts on the creation of products and services. Therefore, it is important to know and delve into the consumer universe to provide incredible experiences.

Design Consulting

SD – Product Design is also present in Consulting. How does this service work? What type of business and needs does it serve?

PR – Unlike Product Conception and Product Experimentation, which apply Product Design in the early stages of a business, Consulting is more focused on corporates that already have their digital solution available on the market. These customers already have a significant user base, but for some reason they are not getting the expected return.

Therefore, in the Design Consulting service, we analyze the product and its usability, and carry out qualitative and quantitative research using various techniques. Among them is Shadowing, which allows us to observe the person in their context of use or interacting with a product, allowing us to understand where the origin of the problem is.

Based on this study and in-depth analysis, we were able to propose improvements to solve the identified problems. Be it usability, suggesting new flows and interfaces, or the service. After all, there is no point in analyzing only the interface of an application, since sometimes the gap is in another part of the operation that is not working very well.

I believe that we would be irresponsible if we only delivered a part of the problem analysis. Our investigation seeks to understand the whole: where are the obstacles and how we – a software and technology company – will propose measures to solve them.

Don’t Forget to Rate the Service!

SD – Without a pleasant experience, the user will give up using a product. Is that correct?

PR – Yes! That is exactly why corporates that still do not understand the importance of Product Design lose customers. After all, through a simple Google search, users will quickly discover a competitor that is better prepared to meet their needs.

SD – That proves the importance of Product Design. Is representing the voice of the user the key to success?

PR – When I cited McKinsey’s research on the impact of design on business, and how much corporates benefit from it, I emphasized that this benefit does not come for nothing. Consumers need to be heard, mainly because there is a lot of competition and options available in the market.

If I do not like a product, I will just use another one. My money will go towards a solution that suits me better, and that really solves my problem. That is, corporates that believe that investing only in code is enough, have not yet seen the power of Product Design and, very soon, will be stuck in time.

Remember that ‘making it pretty’ does not bring results, it does not add value to the business. It is not possible to create a desired and successful product – that everyone wants to consume – without generating value for people. Design is much more than form, it is also context and function. You can develop the most amazing tool in the world, but if the user does not understand how to use it and if an emotional connection is not established, your product will not be adopted.

In summary, the person who works in Product Design is the one who connects all these parts, along with technology and the business. We are an ecosystem that works towards a digital product.

All For One, One For All!

SD – It is important to highlight that the Designer does not work alone. How does this interaction occur with the other professionals of a product team, such as Product Owners, Managers, QAs, and Programmers?

PR – Development teams are multidisciplinary. So, there are distinct roles. For this interaction to work, communication and dialogue are needed. In addition, each specialist has a different connection and interaction with Product Design.

For example, Product Owners, Managers and Designers work very closely, because while one looks at the business, the other looks at the user. These two visions need to be connected to define what needs to be prioritized, aiming that deliveries generate the greatest possible value within the agreed period.

Today, testing is much more about quality than just how it works. This means that this work is related to the user experience and, therefore, Designers and QAs need to look in the same direction, questioning themselves at all times: what level of quality do we want to deliver?

The same question is asked to  programmers. Therefore, one person depends on the other for a given product to be developed, and this interaction needs to be very efficient to respect established negotiations. Designers also need to know what the limitations of the chosen technology are: does it support interactive animations in its interface, for example?

For that, co-creation is constant, as well as refinement – an important stage of the project, as it is when the team meets to analyze the proposed solution – identifying technical and feasibility issues. We are specialists, each with a different expertise, seeking to achieve the same result: incredible digital products.

Product Design at SoftDesign

SD – What is the profile of Designers at SoftDesign?

PR – Our Designers have a more generalist profile, as we work in all stages: from discovery to delivery. For this reason, we conduct research, analysis, and journey definitions, as well as the creation of interfaces and usability tests.

In addition to these hard skills, we also value soft skills, as we understand that being technically good is not enough, you also need curiosity and autonomy. The person specializing in Product Design needs to be curious and have an active voice. We represent users throughout development and need to be able to communicate their needs.

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The Product Owner (PO) has already worked in this area and shared some of her knowledge with other employees. Customer Success is when your customers achieve their Desired Outcome through their interactions with your company (Lincoln Murphy).

The role of Customer Success  

According to Bruna, the person who works with Customer Success acts on four main points, aiming at ensuring that the customer has a satisfactory experience and, consequently, also promoting benefits for the organization. 

• Retention: for the company, acquiring a new customer can be up to seven times more expensive than keeping one; 
• Enchantment: support and ensure that the customer knows and makes the most of the products and services offered; 
• Value delivery: the customer receives what he expects, following from the negotiation to the delivery of what was agreed, aligning expectations; 
• Expansion: support in renewing contracts or contracting additional services. Monitor the client’s health and identify new needs, proposing new services to be offered. 

Customer Success and the Customer Journey

Several corporates, mainly in the technology area, are investing in teams responsible for this follow-up. With that in mind, Bruna highlighted the importance of distinguishing Customer Success from sectors such as Support and Service. These fronts act reactively, focusing on solving specific problems and managing crises. The CS person works proactively, guiding the client throughout their relationship with the company, being data-driven and implementing a follow-up plan. 

However, Bruna clarified that the responsibility for delivering success is not just of one person or one sector, it must be shared. Everyone is responsible, as everyone interacts in some way with the customer. It’s not just people from the Commercial or Customer Success areas who act as points of contact.  

There are also those involved in running the project, all this impacts on the experience. That is why Customer Success must also be part of the company’s organizational culture, ensuring that service is qualified throughout the customer’s journey, as shown in the figure below.

Customer Success x Customer Experience

Bruna also reinforced the difference between the role of Customer Success and Customer Experience (CX). Even if they have common goals, the CX person is responsible for defining the identity of the experience and ensuring that the entire organization is aware of it. It is only after this stage that the figure of CS appears, ensuring that the experience will be delivered continuously, acting as an interlocutor between the areas. 

This reinforces the idea that customer success should be seen as company value. If that assumption is part of the organizational culture, it will be possible to provide the same experience at all points of contact. 

Bruna concluded her presentation by reinforcing that we always deliver success, in every interaction that the customer has with the company. If this is not clear, each area will have its individual metrics and objectives, without this common goal – so it is necessary to work together to prevent this from happening.

*SoftDrops is a knowledge exchange event that takes place every Wednesday at SoftDesign. Each week, an employee is willing to expose to colleagues some topic of interest that is related to the three pillars of our business: design, agility and technology. The mini lecture lasts around thirty minutes and is followed by a chat between the participants. 

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According to the 2026 Gartner report, 60% of large enterprises will use Total Experience Strategy to transform their business models. This combination of experiences is capable of providing a competitive advantage, better engagement rates, and high performance. The challenge is to be able to connect different users and deliver the best possible experience to each of the audiences involved in the business.

Together we will win!

Total Experience Strategy is the combination of Customer Experience — CX, User Experience — UX), Employee Experience — EX, and Multiexperience — MX. It is believed that the union of these forces is capable of achieving results superior to those that would be achieved by each of the isolated experiences. However, in order to achieve that, it is necessary to connect all these universes in a holistic way.

Combining these disciplines, which are often sectored in organizations, is crucial. Therefore, this strategy only achieves success if the integration follows the entire journey of the internal and external customer. By achieving this objective, the company also obtains a competitive edge in the market.

Putting this strategy into practice requires collaboration, co-creation, and integration between different areas. Moreover, it involves a deep process of mindset change and strengthening of the organizational culture. According to Jason Wong, VP Analyst, Research & Advisory at Gartner, Total Experience is a business strategy focused on creating shared experiences, which interconnects four disciplines.

1. Customer Experience

The products offered on the market are increasingly similar and, in the Age of Experience, what helps to differentiate one product or service from another is exactly the experience that the brand provides to the consumer during the purchase process. That is where Customer Experience (CX) comes in; a set of customer feelings and perceptions that result from interactions with employees, systems, channels or products.

This set of actions is important, as it is capable of adding value to your business. Throughout the purchase journey, it is important to unify the service of the entire company, that is, everyone must be able to serve the customer in the same way. With that in mind, think about your organization’s goal: Is it to be the most attentive? The fastest? The most qualified?

Strengthening that purpose during the customer journey is a very important strategy. According to research data from the 2022 Zendesk Customer Experience Trend report, 90% of customers will spend more with companies that personalize the service they offer. In addition, customers expect service to be fast, easy, and efficient.

Remember, CX is much more than a service: it is a relationship. Therefore, have all customer touchpoints mapped and allow them to choose their own path (channel) during their purchase journey. Moreover, if possible, follow Steve Jobs’ advice: “Get closer than ever to your customers.  So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves.”

2. User Experience

According to Gartner, User Experience (UX) is the sum of the effects caused on a person by a digital solution. That is, UX efforts focus on the experience people have when interacting with a specific product or solution. And, of course, these experiences can be positive or negative.

The term UX originated in 1986 and was popularized by Don Norman, when he was Vice President of Apple’s Advanced Technology Group. For him, User Experience “is everything related to your experience with the product. And maybe you don’t even need to be close to the product, you could be talking about it to someone”, he points out.

Keep in mind that these experiences pertain to using a particular product or service, and this is completely different from the shopping experience (CX). When thinking about UX, think about your relationship with your computer, phone, operating system, car, and everyday applications, for example.

Realize that these experiences are strongly present in everyday life and that the mission of UX is precisely to simplify and improve the user’s life. Therefore, throughout our services of Product Conception and Development of new products and services, we explore ideas and conduct research seeking to understand users in depth. Only in this way, can we generate value, solve real pains and problems and provide appropriate user experiences.

3. Employee Experience

We already know that customer experience and user experience are very important, but have you ever wondered what the experience of employees in your company is like? Are they engaged? Are there ways to measure this engagement? The eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) can be a good ally to search for data and information.

This tool, in addition to evaluating leaders, helps to understand everyone’s view of the products and services developed by the company. In addition, through this metric it is possible to measure people’s level of satisfaction and classify whether the organization has a good working environment, for example.

The application of this tool consists of a set of objective and discursive questions that evaluate segments such as product, leadership, and company. These surveys can be carried out at several times, as their methodology is considered simple. Through these results, it is possible to transform information into action plans, which result in data-driven decision-making.

Having a team made up of engaged people is also profitable. In contemporary companies, empathy in the interactions between leaders and followers and Nonviolent Communication (NVC) have become essential practices, since the experience of the employee also needs to be pleasant. At SoftDesign, the mission of Endomarketing is precisely to bring a good experience to all people, regardless of where they are, since we are a remote-first company.

4. Multiexperience

According to Wong, multiexperience looks at the different technologies of the digital experience, from the web and mobile apps to chatbots, wearables, and immersive technologies. “In the new economy, we believe that experience will increasingly become a competitive differentiator”, he emphasizes.

The multiexperience is the consolidation of the Omnichannel — the simultaneous and interconnected use of different channels (online and offline), which improves customer experience. This means that, by investing in technology and process automation, your company will be able to offer unique experiences across multiple communication channels.

In practice, the objective is to provide customers with a personalized journey, where they can buy products through the website, pick up their purchases in physical stores and seek service through a chat or telephone, for example.

Inspiring Internal and External Customers

How about reflecting on how you can integrate the entire company in this Total Experience Strategy journey? One idea is to start by inspiring your business’s internal audience by applying the Employee Experience. Share information, strengthen the culture of collaboration and feedback, and present ideas and products to employees with the same motivation and enthusiasm as official launches. This inside-out movement helps create brands loved by everyone.

This is the case with big techs like Apple and Amazon, who always look for validation and internal inspiration before launching new products. It is this behavior that drives the competitive differentiator and that transforms the company into a desire for consumption not only for customers and users, but also for the employees. “Companies need to use and understand Total Experience to transform their operating models, and it will help them deliver better to customers and employees, accelerating growth and profit,” said Wong.

When the time comes to build digital products and services, whether internal or external, do not hesitate to contact us. Together we can work on the User Experience best suited to your users’ needs.

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At SoftDesign, User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) Design are present in all services, but with different purposes. So what are the occasions when the ideal solution to the design issue is Product Conception? Which ones require UX Design Consulting?

Two services, two purposes

Product Conception aims at exploring ideas, better understanding users, identifying features, and choosing technologies. Through Product Conception, the digital product is designed, focusing on the issue it solves and on how it will generate value.

The Product Conception team is multidisciplinary, made up of product managers, product owners, architects, and designers. Together with the client, they apply Design Thinking techniques, carry out user research, determine Value Proposition, define personas and user journeys, and plan the construction of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP).

In UX Design Consulting, the designer dedicated to the project diagnoses usability problems in existing software to suggest improvements. Based on a heuristic analysis, the professional designs and presents new design suggestions.

Another possibility for the application of Consulting is in the creation of a new UI design for a digital product when the designer researches with potential users to understand the context of use. A design proposal is delivered to the client, who can develop the solution internally or continue the work with our team.

In both cases above, the designer holds frequent meetings with the other designers in the company to explore the problem and exchange knowledge. Thus, the client has access to our entire pool of UX/UI designers who can contribute, each with their own expertise, in a different way to the solution.

So Conception is only for startups, right?

No. Startups benefit from this service because it offers the development of new digital solutions and their business models, helping in the structuring necessary to effectively start software development.

However, established companies that are creating new solutions on existing platforms or systems may need Product Conception to think about this new part. For example, an internal software that manages sales needs to meet a new customer control need in the sales department.

Furthermore, Product Conception can be essential in a digital transformation strategy, since it requires the development of Product Thinking, that is, product-oriented thinking – which helps to transform needs into practical solutions to be prioritized and delivered. Here is an example.

One of our partners in the benefits card area (food vouchers, transport vouchers, etc.) had an internal management system that controlled the balance of each client (company) and its employees. This information was visible internally, but could not be accessed by clients: in other words, for each company to know its balance and confirm its transactions, it was necessary to call our partner. In short, the service’s end-user could not learn about their status and the status of their employees digitally.

Through Product Conception, our partner understood that it could not simply grant visibility to the system, as the user journeys and objectives of internal operating users were completely different from those of external users: our partner’s employee needs to control the balance of one hundred clients, while each of these clients only wants to know their own balance. In other words, the company already had the database, the structure, and the system – and was able to use this base. However, for this new audience/persona, it was necessary to think about how they would access the platform, understand it, their issues and needs, among others.

What about UX Design Consulting, is it only for existing products?

Mostly. This is because our Consulting services are always oriented to solve problems. The main objective of UX Design Consulting is to solve usability issues and those related to the experience of using a digital product or service.

Such problems can be: users do not understand the system; they complain that the platform is difficult to use; people delete the app because it is confusing, etc. Therefore, the client needs a study that analyzes how this usability and interface can be modified and improved.

However, in rare cases, UX and UI Consulting can be used to propose the usability and interface of a new product.  If the entrepreneur has an idea already conceived, already knows the business model, has already designed the flows, and has his own development team, he may need a design specialist to think about the experience of use.

For example, we recently provided Product Conception services for a partner. His idea matured and it was already possible to develop the software, but he did not have all the necessary financial support – he was looking for investors. With the available value, however, he opted for UX Design Consulting to already create the interface, think about the product’s usability and develop high-fidelity navigable prototypes. Thus, it was possible to materialize his idea further to present it to potential investors, which facilitated its sale.

Other cases

In Product Conception, we think of a digital product or service under different aspects: value proposition, business model, design, functional structure, technical structure, software architecture, among others. In UX Design Consulting, we only look at Design, for journeys and experiences of using the solution.

Now that you know the best service for your needs, just request contact from a consultant.

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