UX maturity refers to the company’s ability to serve a User-centered design. Companies that have mature and experienced UX designers are able to provide a plan that focuses on Users’ experience.
A company can do that if it conducts extensive research on:
- What do the users want?
- How to deliver?
- Which tools will fulfill users' needs?
- Best UX strategies
To achieve UX maturity, you need to focus on quality, consistent research, well-planned design procedure, resources, and tools used by the company. All these factors make up a solid UX design.
The UX-Maturity Model: What is it?
The purpose of the UX maturity model is to assess an organization’s strengths and weaknesses regarding its UX-related capabilities. This assessment can help determine the stage at which the organization stands.
It also allows the organization to realize its gaps so they can work on increasing their UX maturity.
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Stages of UX Maturity
1. Absent
At this stage of UX, the company is either oblivious of what UX is or believes that working on a user-centered design is not needed. If users are the driving force behind the organization, only then a user-centric design works for the organization.
At this stage, one can only begin to incorporate UX strategy into the organization’s vision. In such an organization, authorities ignore people with such unique and updated ideas. They are much comfortable with their old and conventional methods.
2. Limited
At the limited stage, people know what UX is but don’t have a developed strategy. Their approach towards UX isn’t inconsistent. People enter this level if a leading authority is willing to take the initiative, or it may have become a legal necessity.
It is also possible that people step into this stage to experiment with how user-experience design affects sales. To move on from this stage, employees should receive training regarding a user-centered approach.
3. Emergent
On the emergent level, the organization is pretty aware of UX significance. They most probably have budgets and resources for UX planning and strategies. However, their efforts may not be as fruitful.
That might be because the UX-related resources and tools are insufficient to reap fruitful results as it requires extensive research and time. To get ahead of this level, organizations must see how UX is valuable for a company’s growth. They should also invest more significant resources in UX strategy and design.
4. Structured
This level of UX maturity means that UX teams, resources, and tools are well-developed. A company at this level knows that UX planning and strategies can help measure success. The company’s board of directors learns and uses newer methods to attract the target audience and keep the consumers loyal.
A company at this stage sees the potential of User-centered design, but it still faces some challenges and gaps to reap full benefits. To get ahead, the company needs to revise its strategy or adopt a new one altogether.
5. Integrated
Reaching this level is an excellent achievement for any organization. The integrated UX level means that the organization has well-defined strategies and extensive plans for UX. Their teams are dedicated to serve their users in the way they want.
The leaders of such an organization aren’t afraid to mix and alter their UX design for better results. They are open to new user-driven ideas. It is ideal for companies to be at this stage where they can integrate different UX strategies. At the Integrated UX maturity level, managers know that giving users what they want will help them reach the actual business goals and targets.
6. User-Driven
The user-driven stage is when companies start each and every project with a user-centered mindset. At this level, everyone in the organization works for their clients. Conducting user-centered research is their primary step towards developing any product.
Every prioritized project is developed under a user-focused strategy and design. Employees at all stages look into UX for their everyday tasks as well. They invest their time, energy, resources, and tools to contribute to industry standards.
Although this stage is the last stage of UX maturity, the company must align and compare its business goals with the users. Maintaining the company at the same maturity level requires momentum.