The Future of UX

Tailored communications for different kinds of people

Most digital experiences are designed in line with the preferences of the ‘target customer’ or ‘ideal user’ of that particular tool or platform. The user experience of an app or website is primarily composed of visuals, transitions and communication. It’s essential to focus on contextual preferences like time of day, demographics and device type in the first instance. Preferences also evolve around an app that does well for its users is one that has managed to crack the look and feel of the experience, assisted by ease of navigation, appropriate copy/messaging, and useful notifications.

In this blog we’ll focus on that last bit – the messaging and communications. Of course, there are options to customise the overall appearance and visual aspects of an application by changing themes, colours, font sizes and dashboard data. When we think of innovations in UX, however, we need to take personalisation to the next level. How about enabling the digital tool or platform with the ability to tailor the style and frequency of communications, notifications and other messaging depending on each individual user’s unique personality or preferences?

As numerous studies show, there are different types of people with different personality types. Their level and style of communication vary with their innate qualities. The origins of personality theory can be traced back to the fifth century BC, when Hippocrates identified four distinct energies exhibited by different people. World-renowned psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung, identified the model of personality which was published in his 1921 work “Psychological Types” and developed in subsequent writings.

Jung’s work on personality and preferences has since been adopted as the seminal work in understanding personality and has been the subject of study for thousands of researchers to the present day. It is ubiquitous that a good understanding of individuals enables organisations to develop effective strategies for interaction and can help them to better contribute to their environment.

A (fictional) case study

If you have seen Leonardo DiCaprio’s last film Don’t Look Up (just a small spoiler ahead, if you haven’t), you might remember the character Peter Isherwell (played by Sir Mark Rylance), founder of the Bash Liif app, which is designed to sense the mood and emotions of each user via various inputs and send them messages and multimedia content to get them in a ‘cheerful mood’ and assist them with their wellbeing.

This almost sounds surreal and carries a bizarre dystopian undertone with it when seen through the lens of a sci-fi film, but in reality, there is nothing stopping us from achieving this and it can be utilised to drive positive outcomes in applications and improve the user experience. With the power of AI and ML we could enable systems to have a better understanding of users and have the means to modify/customise communications, accordingly, strengthening the relationship between human psychology and digital ecosystems.

Vidatec Lead Designer Matt Graham believes that “Personalisation is one of the biggest trends of 2022 and beyond. It is in our daily lives now! Personalisation works on AI and the behaviour of users within the App, which then shows them only the content they want to see. Based on my viewing history, Netflix has already recommended the new season of The Crown. You like The Office US, what about this TV show as well? Did you know that 75% of views on Netflix come from personalised recommendations? This is just one example that shows the power of a personalised experience.

When we design and develop products, we aim to tailor the experience & content according to the users’ interests, personality preference and tailor the full experience to the individual.”

Effective communication through tailored UX

To implement tailored communications, you need to start from the basics. This means acknowledging the nature of things people say and how they would like to hear them in different contexts and scenarios each day. Rather than communicating in a generic ‘corporate lingo’, or a single and rigid brand identity, brands can look at adjusting their communication styles to fit different users, based on their personality types.

AI algorithms can now gain a better understanding of a person’s approach to activities, relationships and decisions based on how they communicate with other users or the tool itself. This can already be seen through features like autofill on Google, text suggestions while composing mails or the insights you receive from your work suite summarising your week. All of this can be incorporated into targeted advertising, marketing collateral, app notifications, email marketing and overall messaging, and take UX to the next level.

Personalised communications are extremely crucial when it comes to designing digital experiences for corporates and organisations. Enabling your team members to have a clearer understanding of themselves and others is very helpful to keep internal messaging clear, appropriate, respectful, and professional, whoever you are talking to.

Having a tailored and personalised approach to your communications will go a long way to enabling an ideal working environment and positive employee experience.

Tweaking the tone while communicating the same piece of information is a skill that AI will increasingly help us with. Communication styles can be fine-tuned to meet personality traits and preferences to get the best out of the interaction. Matching the intensity and vocabulary to specific personality types helps get messages across more effectively, which results in better experiences all round.

If you are working towards building an application/portal that is UX-enabled with a deeper understanding of people and personalities, it’s time to rethink the fundamentals. The next step towards the future of digital experiences is developing a tailored fit for every user with the power of AI.

Vidatec’s Insights can help you achieve this sooner, make you stand out and future-proof your strategy. Speak to one of our experts today to learn more about how Vidatec can help make your next project a success.