ROI on interaction design?

On May 25, 2005, at 11:33 AM, Wendy Fischer wrote:

> I guess specific issues are (as a VP posed to me), since he and I
> are both trying to make a business case for more UX resources and
> build out a UX practice for both product design but also for
> professional services (basically we have a core product platform,
> we provide customized solutions and we do a revenue shared based on
> transaction completion):
>
> How do you measure the ROI of an interaction designer?
> What are business metrics that can be used to establish or track
> the productivity/contribution of interaction design?
>

We generally use some combination of the following:
- change in use patterns (especially for companies who have use-based
fees, such as wireless operators),
- frequency of calls to customer care that address product design
- what customers say design is worth (conjoint analysis*)
- increase in sales

Also, in a B2B environment, it's important to look not at your
company's ROI on design, but what your clients can get if you have a
provably good design. If you can calculate the value of good design
to your clients, then you can charge them any amount less than that
value. Note that the word "provably" is important here: if it isn't
provably good, it's just a sales pitch.

* Conjoint analysis is a marketing tool that allows marketers to
understand relative values of many different product attributes,
including brand, design, price, etc. http://www.quickmba.com/
marketing/research/conjoint/

---
Barbara Ballard 1-785-838-3003
barbara at littlespringsdesign.com

TJX Treats Customers to Better Shopping Cart Technology; Increases
Conversion Rates by 50%

Using a Single-Screen checkout and Macromedia Flex, Molecular was able
increase click through at TJ Maxx, and decrease the number of abandoned
shopping carts.

The full case-study can be found here:

http://www.molecular.com/clients/case_studies/tjx.aspx

Peter Baird | UX Consultant: IA | Macromedia Consulting | Macromedia, Inc |

On 5/25/05 11:00 AM, "Wendy Fischer" <erpdesigner at yahoo.com> wrote:

> [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted material.]
>
> Can anybody point me in the direction of ROI on interaction design?
>
> I know that there's the ever popular classic "Cost Justifying Usability",
> which appears to have come out in a new addition, however, I am looking for in
> particular information regarding on how businesses measure the ROI and
> effectiveness of interaction design.
>
>
> -Wendy Fischer
>
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