Good UX:
What it is & what most companies get wrong about it

When designing user experiences, managing user expectations is what determines if the UX will be good or bad. It's one of the most important aspects of UX design yet it is almost always overlooked or misunderstood.

Let's talk about what that means
In general, a user's expectations are subjective. During any given interaction, one person might expect X to happen while another expects Y. Other times, there is a consensus. Societal conditioning, norms, culture, or environment will create a collective expectation when using a certain product or service.

For example, the DMV. I was born and raised in LA. DMVs in big cities are a nightmare. So I've been conditioned (by my own experiences) to hate the DMV. The buildings are ugly, wait times are long, the staff always seem rushed and annoyed, and processes are slow and unintuitive. Not to mention if you forget something there's no grace or consideration, they push you aside and tell you to make a new appointment. It's a miserable experience. Therefore, my experience shaped my expectation and my expectation of any DMV experience is was as low as it gets.

This is why simply meeting expectations can get businesses into trouble. I know the DMV isn't a business in the traditional sense, but it serves as an extreme example of meeting expectations. After all, unless you're not from LA, you'd never think that a different or positive experience is even possible at the DMV.

Fast forward to a few years ago when my family and I moved to a small town in South Carolina. As new SC residents, my wife and I needed new driver's licenses. Because of my past experiences, I already knew what to expect. I waited to go for as long as I could but I eventually managed to summon the courage to finally go in for a new license. While the building was as ugly as I expected it to be, that's where the similarities with the DMV in LA ended.

I waited less than 5 minutes before my name was called which was shocking to me. When I got up to the counter, the lady behind the desk greeted me kindly and with a smile. We went through the required paperwork and proof of residency without issue but when it was time for the vision test, I realized I forgot my glasses. I only use them when driving at night so I don't keep them on me. I knew that as soon as I told her I didn't have my glasses, I'd immediately be dismissed and would have to return another day.

But the complete opposite happened. I told her I forgot my glasses and they might be in my car. She said, "That's no problem, go ahead and grab them, I'll wait." I quickly checked my car and they weren't there. Now I had no choice but to come back another day. I went back inside and told her I didn't have them and instead of turning me away she said, "Do you want to try the vision test anyway? Maybe you can just squint a little." Amazed by her patience, I accepted the challenge and took the test. The letters were super blurry the smaller they got and I felt the pit in my stomach grow larger because I was taking forever to make out each letter and expected her to grow impatient and throw me out. On the last one, the smallest one, I couldn't get it. No matter how much I squinted or adjusted my face, it was too blurry. I told her that and she told me to guess what I think it is. My first few guesses were way off before she started giving me hints. Without telling me what the letter was, she would tell me if I was hot or cold until I eventually got it. The whole experience shattered my reality, expectation and perception of what an experience at the DMV could be. I was in and out in less than 15 mins, was treated with respect, and the staff was happy, caring, and patient.

The relationship between my initial expectation, based on my experiences going to the DMV in LA, and the experience I actually got at the DMV in South Carolina is the difference between good and bad UX. Too many businesses simply design their UX based on the current or conditioned expectation the majority of their users have. If users/customers aren't expecting much, they feel they don't need to offer much. They simply match their expectation. It's lazy. Basically if the user doesn't care and is already expecting X experience, why should the business care and spend more money to make it better? They just give their users exactly what they expect to get.

For some things, matching expectations works. Like a 5 star restaurant. You expect an exceptional experience and often get it. But the part most businesses miss is that the only reason that restaurant is rated 5 stars is because they didn't give their customers what they expected when they first opened. They gave them more, and because of that, a 5 star experience is now the new expectation when dining at a 5 star restaurant.

In contrast, your local McDonald's, with a 1.5 star rating on Yelp, doesn't feel the need to do better because customers don't expect anything more than a 1.5 star experience.