The UX process informs the technical layer and the UI. As many product teams have discovered, without the foundation of UX, investing in design and development is futile. Teams get caught up chasing fads and features, reskinning interfaces without addressing underlying UX issues, and ultimately fail to provide what all digital products need in order to survive: value.

I’ve talked to hundreds of agencies and product teams and only a handful incorporated a process that involved interacting with the people who would actually use their digital product or website. Spoiler alert: it’s not due to lack of time or budget.

Effective website navigation should be like a well-designed map—it provides a “you are here” anchor and gives you a sense of where you could go and how best to get there.