Measure the importance of design in business growth

This article offers a way to transform the perception of design by demonstrating its importance to business.

• Develop a simple, easy-to-understand new model to measure the value of design and explain it to people across the organization.
• Know exactly what to measure through knowing exactly how you define design.
• Through market research, demonstrate that effective design impacts key metrics such as: brand preference, customer purchasing power and profit growth.
• Measurement should be conducted before and after design changes to track results and allow ROI calculations;

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Intuitively, we understand that design is important for every business.

As a result, companies are hesitant to introduce changes to brand identity, packaging or product design.

The lack of clear financial benefits from design innovation breeds a lack of respect for design and designers.

Clearly, there is an urgent need to transform perceptions of design by demonstrating its importance to business.

The goal of this document is to provide a new model for measuring the ROI of investing in design, then apply the model to address situations and change corporate attitudes.

Define

In this document, the word “design” refers to any form of communication accomplished through visual cues. entire customer experience.

Where to start?

There are three basic things that need to be done to ensure success in measuring how design creates value.

1. Determine what you are measuring

The first step is to understand exactly what “design” means in this particular case – how broad or narrow is the definition of design?

2. Clearly define the purpose of measurement

Why do you do this?

i) Obtain budget approval

Clarifying the reasons for investing in design is perhaps the most practical part of this approach.

ii) Make design decisions

Quantifying the financial impacts can help ensure that the design decisions being made are appropriate.

iii) Change in attitude

Simply measuring the impact of design once is not enough, it must be monitored regularly to create a change in the attitude of companies over the long term.

3. Make sure you will be able to get all the important inputs

Three types of data are needed to enable value-based design measurement:

Quantitative market research:

One of the reasons design ROI is rarely measured is because it is not included in brand tracking surveys or customer satisfaction studies.

Sales & profit margin data

To tie analytics to business results, you need financial data related to the brands that use the design or plan to use it.

Investment costs for design

To prove ROI from design, you must understand how much it costs.

Essential elements

This model is extremely simple in concept but not easy to implement

Understand how design drives purchasing behavior

The secret to measuring the value created by design is to determine how effective the design is priority, or more precisely, determine the role of design in promote purchasing behavior.

This analysis answers 2 questions:
1) What are these? impulse purchasing decision?
2) What role does design play in these drives?
Design elements can be separated: from graphics and colors, to product & service design, or website experience design, point-of-sale experience...

In this example, we see that design plays a major role in promoting purchases of brand A, with product design & packaging design are two important factors. online shopping experience becomes easier & more satisfying.

Link purchasing behavior to sales and profits

After understanding the impact of design on purchasing decisions, the next step is to transform them money to show how design drives sales and profit growth.

The concept is simple – customer purchasing power generates 100% of sales and profits.

The output of this analysis is: revenue, profit and business value generated by design.

Quantify ROI from design

After completing the financial analysis, you simply apply the cost of the design investment to measure ROI.

This model can not only be used to quantify the value created by existing designs but can also predict opportunities to create more value.

This approach has very practical applications.

Linking design with finance helps senior management understand its importance. Design is the main issue need improvement.

As the example reflects, using this approach we can place design in its proper role within an organization and encourage the creation of better and more effective designs that drive differentiation and sales.

Checklist

Here are the key principles to follow to ensure you get actionable results:

1. Measurement should be simple and easy to explain

Any method for measuring the value of design must be transparent.

2. Have you defined design correctly?

The first step in measuring how design creates value is to define exactly what “design” means in a particular case – logo, brand identity, packaging, product design, or website design, or the design of the entire customer experience.

3. Do you understand how design drives value and drives methodology?

The goal is to determine the behavioral impact of the design.

4. Do you use research in the design process?

The key to truly measuring the impact of design is to conduct a quick quantitative study into customers' purchasing motivations, including questions about the impact of design on choice.

5. Can you link to financial data?

Research alone is not enough to dispel skepticism among financial managers and other managers about the value of design.

6. Do you test different scenarios?

One goal of measurement is to determine the financial improvement of a design change over the current design.

7. Measurement should be done at regular intervals

To be truly useful, measurement must be done not just once, but before and after design changes, to track results and calculate ROI.

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Author:

Joanna Seddon is President, Global Brand Consulting, OgilvyRED, specializing in helping clients maximize the financial potential of their brands and marketing strategies.

Translated & illustrated by GUDJOB