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February 28, 2025
If you’re wondering whether UX research is worth the investment, consider this: a 2023 PwC study showed that 73% of consumers rank user experience as a key factor in their purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, only 49% of brands actually deliver a great user experience. And according to Gartner’s 2022 digital experience research, companies with mature UX practices enjoy a 30% reduction in customer support costs and a 25% boost in customer retention.
These numbers aren’t just eye-catching; they highlight a truth we see in action every day: UX research is not just a nice-to-have—it’s a smart, strategic investment that can massively impact your company’s bottom line.
In our experience, there are four key ways brands see significant benefits from UX research.
One of the most powerful outcomes of UX research is uncovering hidden opportunities to drive revenue. Through usability studies, we often discover major issues companies didn’t even realize were affecting their bottom line. Sometimes, these problems are so big that fixing them can mean millions in additional revenue.
Take, for example, a situation where a company wasn’t sure why their revenue was slipping. Upon review, we found that the checkout page was confusing—there were two options, PayPal and Checkout, but no mention of credit cards, leaving the brand’s older customers unsure about how to pay. A small tweak—adding a simple note about credit card options—turned out to be a game-changer, improving both the user experience and their revenue.
When you invest in UX research, you’re not just guessing about what’s working and what’s not—you’re making informed decisions with confidence. Knowing exactly what your users want (and don’t want) lets you focus on the things that will truly drive value. This approach helps you prioritize the right features and reduce the risk of wasting time and resources.
For example, one of our clients adopted user-centered design principles after conducting research. This helped them streamline their workflows and avoid spending time on features that sounded good internally but lacked real user validation. By including users early, they saved time, money, and effort—and gained the confidence that they were headed in the right direction.
Everyone has ideas, but UX research helps you sort the good ones from the not-so-good ones. By understanding the real struggles and frustrations of your users, you can pinpoint which problems need attention—and come up with solutions that make a meaningful impact.
UX research leads to two types of ideas:
• Generative ideas: These are fresh, new concepts that you might not have thought of before.
• Iterative ideas: These involve tweaking or fixing existing features to better meet user needs.
Both types of ideas are crucial for improving the customer experience and keeping your brand ahead of the competition.
Looking at analytics can tell you a lot about how users are interacting with your site—but seeing a frustrated user in action? That’s a whole different experience. Watching a session replay of someone struggling to complete a purchase or hearing their exasperated comments, like "This is so annoying, I’d just bail if I weren’t in the study," can bring a whole new level of urgency and empathy to your team.
These powerful insights often drive teams to make changes they might not have prioritized otherwise, helping to fix issues that directly impact users' experience with the brand.
If UX research is so valuable, why isn’t everyone doing it? Well, there are a couple of common pre-conceived notions that often result in this critical step being abandoned:
• It’s too slow: Many brands worry that UX research will slow down their process. But in reality, taking time to understand user needs upfront can save you time and money down the road. Without it, you might waste resources building something that misses the mark.
• It’s too expensive: Sure, some UX research methods—like longitudinal studies—can get pricey. But not everything needs to be at that level. Targeted research, like small-scale usability tests, can provide valuable insights at a fraction of the cost.
• It’s too complicated: Many companies also hesitate because they don’t have UX researchers on staff or aren’t sure how to choose the right tools. But that’s where an agency partner, like CXperts, can help. With the right support, you can start building momentum and gain confidence in your research process.
Skipping UX research can be costly. Without it, you risk launching products or features that don’t resonate with customers. The result? You’ll end up spending time and money trying to fix things that were flawed - or even unnecessary - from the start.
But perhaps the biggest risk is that you’ll fall behind. Your competitors who are doing UX research will stay ahead, while you continue to waste resources on guesswork.
Ultimately, brands that skip UX research are playing a dangerous game. They risk wasting money, losing time, and, relevance by failing to create the kind of experience that their customers truly want. Once a valued customer migrates to your competitor who is offering up a superior user experience, it’s going to be difficult and expensive, (and maybe even impossible) to claw them back.
To get the most out of UX research, here are a few key steps:
Before you dive into UX research, define what success looks like. Are you aiming to increase conversion rates? Reduce cart abandonment? Improve user retention? Make sure you have specific, measurable goals to guide your research. This way, you’ll know exactly what to focus on and how to track your progress.
Far too often, brands make improvements based on vague assumptions, only to find out later that their efforts didn’t move the needle. Not only does all of this effort fail to make real progress, but a lack of measurement strategy means that no learnings can even be salvaged from the failed effort. To avoid this, set clear objectives from the start and measure your progress along the way.
It’s natural to think you know what’s wrong based on past experience or customer feedback gathered months or even years ago. But don’t let that assumption based on aging insights blind you to the value you can gain from new insights. Remember, the digital experience landscape can evolve quickly, and customer expectations tend to do the same. Approach UX research with an open mind—gather fresh, diverse data, and be ready to be surprised by what you learn.
UX research is most effective when everyone is on the same page. Share your findings with the wider team—product developers, marketers, engineers, and project managers—so that everyone is working from the same set of insights. The more your team understands user needs, the more likely they are to prioritize the right things.
The real value of UX research comes when you act on what you learn. Don’t let your insights sit in a report—use them to make real changes. Whether it’s fixing usability issues, tweaking messaging, or refining features, acting on insights can lead to higher conversions, happier customers, and better business outcomes.
At the end of the day, UX research is about understanding your customers and using that understanding to make smarter business decisions. If you’re ready to start making data-driven choices that’ll truly improve your bottom line, we’re here to help. At CXperts, we help brands dive deep into the digital experience, make impactful changes, and build a customer-centric mindset that drives long-term growth.
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