.png){kind=logo}
As we browse web pages in today’s digital world, a seamless user experience is expected as standard. In fact, a whopping 76% of consumers admit that they get frustrated when organizations do not deliver personalized interactions.
The rise of AI (artificial intelligence) is transforming how businesses run their website, allowing them to harness the power of advanced algorithms to produce a high-end outcome without the need for complex design work. With 92% of companies now using AI-driven personalization to drive growth, users are each seeing a different version of the website which has been tailored to their own experiences and preferences.
In this article, we delve into the different ways that AI-driven personalization is transforming user interface design, as well as the challenges that this is posing.
AI can provide a personalized user experience through their past behavioral data. The complex algorithms use past buyer behavior, demographic information, browsing history, and social media activity to provide the user with a UX (user experience) that aligns with their interests and preferences.
By being able to analyze vast amounts of data in an instant, AI-driven personalization is a powerful tool that can adjust an interface to provide relevant content, product recommendations, or feed content that better suits the end user.
Nowadays, AI is transforming the online experience as we know it, continuing to create a more advanced landscape that aims to revolutionize the web. Here are some of the key ways in which AI-driven personalization is impacting UX design:
Responsive web design has always been crucial for designers, ensuring that a page loads according to the screen size of the device. Nowadays, this is simply not enough, and a website can go one step further to create personalized content for each user.
Designers can use AI technology that identifies any patterns in the behavior of a user, establishing what elements they interact with the most and providing a webpage that is optimized according to their preferences. The dynamic nature of responsive design means the user is more likely to stay on the page and find what they are looking for, boosting the engagement rate.
AI chatbots are becoming increasingly common, allowing website users to ask questions for an immediate response. In fact, more than 987 million people use AI chatbots every day, saving them the time of having to find a customer service operative to talk to.
The virtual assistants continually develop based on previous interactions, refining their responses to be able to solve common customer issues. They are also able to provide personalized recommendations based on individual order history, increasing sales and providing a unique user experience.
As well as refining the UX design itself, AI-driven personalization is now also capable of producing website prototypes.
Based on the predefined requirements input by the designer, AI can produce a proposed wireframe based on trending design practices and the standards of the industry. This can save hours of design work and produce various options to pick from, streamlining the design process while creating a functional output.
Once the wireframe has been produced, the designer is able to tweak it as needed, adding that human touch that may have previously been lacking. This process is significantly boosting UX expectations, creating advanced solutions that bring together all the capabilities of modern technology.
Once the wireframe has been finalized, businesses can then use an AI landing page maker to generate landing page designs based on the needs of their business. Create new landing pages for different search queries, marketing campaigns, or locations can be a timely process, so using AI can help produce personalized landing pages with ease.
Especially for smaller businesses without the ability to facilitate complex design, this approach allows them to create personalized landing pages that can improve UX design and maximize conversions.
For those with visual impairments, a website must be created to work in unison with accessibility technology, such as screen readers. A huge 73% of disabled customers experience accessibility barriers on more than a quarter of websites they visit, and this can reflect negatively on a brand.
AI-driven personalization can create more accessible UX design by optimizing websites for accessibility needs. The algorithm can detect whether the user requires a larger font size, voice recognition features, or contrast adjustments, allowing the user to be able to interact with the interface from the get go.
This is a huge step for inclusivity, providing a seamless experience for those dealing with visual impairments. As well as allowing them to access the products or services of a website, it helps them achieve independence through their online capabilities.
Predictive search uses AI features to predict user intent when they begin to type into a search bar. Using a combination of their search history, purchase behaviors, and previous website interactions, relevant suggestions can be generated as the user begins to type.
This feature is a great way to connect the user with the outcome they have been looking for, likely increasing the chance of conversion and customer satisfaction. The personalization means that the accuracy of results is improved and the time spent searching is minimized significantly.
Although this can be incredibly beneficial in many scenarios, there have been drawbacks when it comes to inaccurate predictions. If search results are personalized too much, the extent of the search results is going to be limited, potentially hindering searches which may be outside of the user's regular shopping behavior.
(Image source: Target)
Although the capabilities of AI are transforming the online landscape for both website owners and users, there are a range of challenges that come alongside AI-driven personalization.
Many users are voicing their concerns regarding the safety of their data. Since AI-driven personalization analyzes large amounts of personal data, such as browsing history and purchase behavior, there is a higher risk of data breaches.
Although there is legislation in place to govern how personal data is stored and used by websites, this does not solve the issue of how private data is being used. To protect brand image and reputation, a website must disclose how it gathers and stores data, allowing users the option to control their own information.
Although AI has come an incredibly long way over recent years, it is still not a foolproof solution. Many aspects of UX design simply cannot be replicated by AI technology, creating a robotic feel that doesn’t connect with the emotions of end users.
Outside of repetitive tasks and recognized patterns, AI may struggle to produce useful outputs. Whether this be not knowing the answer to a question asked by a customer to a chatbot or producing a website wireframe that doesn’t tick the boxes, poor AI outcomes can subsequently reflect on the brand image of the business using it.
Without full human control, AI-driven personalization can lack creativity and that all-important personal touch. While designers are able to get to know a business and handcraft a website design that aligns with their brand values, this same level of emotional appeal is not necessarily possible through AI systems.
From a user perspective, the huge rise in AI-driven UX design can be considered a huge downfall in website design. With people being shown similar content styles based on their personal data, the user interfaces we see across different sites can blur into one and lose the unique browsing experience as we know it.
Whether a user loves it or hates it, there’s no denying that AI-driven personalization is continuing to take over the world of UX design. With the ability to adapt to the needs of each individual user, people can enjoy a personalized experience that caters to their needs.
As much as technological advancements have transformed the landscape, there are still challenges that leave users fearing the privacy of their data and the risk of over-automation.
The intuitive capabilities of AI are continuing to evolve every day as the algorithms use historical data to inform its output, finetuning the user experience to provide a seamless interface that allows users to find exactly what they have been looking for.
