Digital responsibility and the user experience 2/2: journeys and experiences
As we discussed in Part 1 of this article, eco-design and all of the concepts associated with digital responsibility are real levers for innovation and improvements in the user experience. Once you are fully familiar with your users’ habits, you can improve the service you deliver to them, while reducing the overall impact of your digital products.
Streamlined, optimized journeys
Aside from the number of functionalities, the time spent on a website is another factor that contributes to your environmental impact. The principle of eco-design leads to the optimization of tree structures, web pages and user journeys, as well as a reduction in the number of screens or steps that are involved. This lets users find what they are looking for quickly, which, in turns, reduces their navigation time. Because less time spent means less energy consumed.
Further work can then be done to reduce the volume and size of your data and media, with the end result of interfaces that are streamlined, clearer and easier to read, as well as a faster, more effective website. All of these levers for the eco-design process will have a direct impact on the quality, readability and fluidity of journeys, which can only benefit the user experience!
An experience that is accessible to all
Another essential aspect of digital responsibility is the fact of designing tools and services that anyone can use. 500 million people around the world today have disabilities – sensory, motor, cognitive, mental or psychiatric – that can be a barrier to accessing and using digital services.
For example, people with vision impairments tend to abandon ⅔ of their journeys and transactions. Accessibility gives everyone the same possibility of accessing information, regardless of disability. In other words, accessibility – when guided by a framework like the RGAA (General Accessibility Framework for Administrations) and international standards like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) – drives the adaption of tools, services and interfaces to make them perceptible, comprehensible and usable by anyone. Once again, the application of this principle can improve and facilitate the experiences of ALL users. This is especially true when you consider that web accessibility benefits other users, like the elderly, whose abilities change with age.
In France, digital accessibility is framed by the RGAA, a system of reference that is based on WCAG international guidelines and whose purpose is to standardize how digital accessibility is assessed.
Smile support accessibility through accessibility audits and recommendations and can help you comply with RGAA requirements.
A product that respects your users
Protection of privacy and ethics, data storage periods, data minimization, notification of data subjects, and the list goes on. By its very nature, digital responsibility also entails strict compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Rules of ethical conduct that focus on people provide an essential frame of reference for becoming a digitally responsible player. They are also another point of leverage for improving and enhancing the user experience. As you can see, a digital responsibility strategy is a great way to work on all of the different aspects that can give your users a positive experience.
Conversely, digital responsibility also builds on and is rolled out thanks to UX. And it follows the path to corporate responsibility and offers a multitude of benefits, both ecological and social, and in terms of improvements to the user experience. But more than that, this positive optimization can also be an asset for search engine optimization, since UX is now a central point in the latest algorithms. A positive approach on every level!
Let Smile and UX-republic guide you toward digital responsibility!
Want to learn more and launch your own digital responsibility strategy? Smile and UX-Republic are here to assist you with your digital responsibility strategy and with all of the various subjects related to eco-design, accessibility, the GDPR and strategic autonomy. You can also check out our UX/UI eco-design training, GDPR training and accessibility training.
Further reading about digital responsibility and eco-design:
- “Let’s get UX green for 2023”
- “Design at the service of ecology”
- Our white paper, User Experience & Data
Sources: World Health Organization, INR (Digital Responsibility Institute), ADEME (French Environment & Energy Management Agency) and Ecologie.gouv.fr
