Human-Centered Design in Business

What is human-centred design?

Although it rests on only a few core principles, they’re powerful enough to define the entire approach.

Let’s start with the first one.

Be human-centric. What does it mean?

Focus on the people that, whatever you’re doing, it is intended for. Whether you’re doing a service, a product, organizational structure, a new way of stocking a warehouse, or putting things on shelves. Whatever you’re doing, always think of the people. And all the people. Not just the people, say, who are going to retrieve the items you put in, but the people who have to put the items up there in the first place.

Don Norman

For example: Think about an online store. Focus on the shoppers: make it easy to find products, compare sizes, and check out. But don’t stop there.

Think about the warehouse staff who pack the orders, the customer service team who answers questions, and even the delivery drivers. Everyone matters. When all these people are considered, the system runs smoothly, mistakes decrease, and customers keep coming back.

Find the right problem

Look for the root cause, not just symptoms. Solving the fundamental problem often resolves multiple downstream issues.

For example: Imagine a scenario where a team analyzes user data and notices that many people abandon their online mortgage application halfway through. At first, we might think the solution is to provide more information. However, after conducting a few customer interviews, designers quickly discover the real issue: customers are confused by financial jargon like APR or interest rate and feel anxious about making the wrong choice.

A human-centered solution could be to provide immediate explanations of key terms or to use simpler, more approachable language throughout the application.

Think of everything as a system

Everything is interconnected. You have to think of it as a system and look at all the components.

Example: You have a checkout process, and to reduce cognitive load, you remove unnecessary information. That’s a good approach. But if you remove information without considering the broader system, you may create gaps that prevent users from feeling informed and confident.

The key is to think about where in the user journey information is needed so users can make confident decisions and achieve their goals.

Additionally, focus on outcomes, not features or tools. They are just ways to get there the real goal is the user’s experience. For example a users goal is not to click a big pink “Checkout” button, they want to get the right product quickly and confidently.

So focus on all the people, identify the root problem, remember that everything is interconnected, and aim for outcomes, not just features.

With these principles in mind, we can now see how human-centred design shapes business at its very core.

Business

You might think, “Business? That’s not my job.” But it is, whether you’re in strategy, operations, marketing, finance, HR, sales, or delivery, your decisions shape how your organization serves people. Let’s zoom out for a moment.

At its core, business is a set of activities like selling products, delivering services, providing care that are exchanged for money. But the real question is: what is the goal of these activities? The answer is simple: to serve people.

This is exactly where human-centered design fits. The principles we use to improve user experiences are the same principles that drive successful business results.

Numbers speak louder than theory: the eBags case study from NNG’s Return on Investment for Usability report shows how a redesign doubled their conversion rate.

eBags Case Study

Product Metric: Website conversion rate

• Before: 1%
• After: 2.5%
• Ratio: 250%
• Improvement: 150%

Background

eBags is the world’s largest online retailer of bags and accessories for all lifestyles.

This case study was included in the report in its first edition.

Problems

Like many e-commerce companies, eBags needed to tighten its belt and focus on profitability. The marketing department cut its PR budget and stopped all offline and much of the online advertising that required spending money.

Their goal was to increase website traffic, grow the prospect database, and improve conversion rates, while spending less money.

Solutions

Out of all the site design tests, the most significant factor was page-load time. Conversion rates were 10–20% higher on faster pages, so the team redesigned the site using a Yahoo-style homepage directory because it loaded much faster.

eBags also reduced shopping cart abandonment by 20% by improving each of the five pages in the purchasing process. The guiding principle was:

“Keep it simple. Show people exactly what they’re buying, what they’re saving, and where they are in the process.”

ROI Measurements

Adding a ZIP code entry box helped customers understand when their purchases would arrive and reduced calls to customer service.

When eBags launched in 1998, the site’s conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who became buyers) was about 1%, which was considered good for online retail at the time.

After the redesign in 2001, eBags’ conversion rate increased to an average of 2.5%–3%.

Example calculation

• 100,000 visitors per month
• Before: 1% → 1,000 buyers
• After: 2.75% → 2,750 buyers

That’s 1,750 additional buyers per month.

If the average order is $50, that’s $87,500 extra revenue per month.

How can we practice these human-centered design principles?

There is a process and mindset you can follow to effectively realize the principles of human-centered design.

Empathize

There are many ways to achieve the goal of this step, approached from different angles. Collect qualitative data through user interviews, direct observation, contextual inquiry, journey mapping, diary studies, and other activities depending on your needs. The main goal is to understand what your real users need.

Define

The goal of this step is to clearly articulate the problem you are trying to solve. Instead of generating a large number of ideas prematurely, focus on identifying what user needs you and your team want to satisfy. Once you have a clear problem statement, you can move to the next step.

Ideate

Generate a wide range of ideas, then narrow them down. Use brainstorming activities like “How might we,” “Crazy 8s,” or others. This is the time to put all ideas on the table as wild, crazy, or even seemingly impossible to gain new perspectives before evaluating feasibility.

Prototype

Build prototypes and optimize them based on real user feedback. This step has two major benefits: saving time and cost before full development, and allowing you to test with end users to iterate quickly toward the final product.

Test

Test your ideas. See what works, what doesn’t, and why. Then refine your solution. Optimize iteratively based on real human feedback.

Implement

Put the solution into effect. This is the exciting stage, when your solution reaches real users.

This six-step process usually follows a logical flow, but you also should practice it dynamically. The key is to always keep users at the center of every decision, creating solutions that continue to deliver value and purpose for both users and your business.

So, how does human-centered design relate to business?

Serve your customers. When you understand your users and design for them, you strengthen your business at its core and earn long-term loyalty.