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Intermediate

What is UX

Full name: User Experience

Also known as: user experience

Definition

UX, user experience, is everything a person goes through with your business, from the first search to the follow up, and above all where they get stuck.

Why it matters

A confusing step loses customers who already wanted to buy.

Common mistakes

Judging the experience from your own point of view instead of watching customers go through it.

Related terms

Worked exampleIllustration

Four booking screens, pains marked

Illustrative: a fictional cosmetics clinic that takes bookings through a link in its Instagram bio, no real business.

  1. Screen 1

    The link in the Instagram bio opens a page that loads slowly on a phone. Fix: a lighter page.

  2. Screen 2

    A form asks for an ID number and an address before it shows a free slot. Fix: free slots first, details after.

  3. Screen 3

    After 18:00 the only way to book is a phone call. Fix: a booking link that works around the clock.

  4. Screen 4

    No confirmation arrives, so the client wonders whether the booking worked. Fix: a confirmation in the same WhatsApp chat.

Every pain is a place where someone who wanted to come gave up.

Illustration

Remove the friction

Tap the booking link100
  1. A slow page on the phone−20

    80 still on the way

  2. ID number asked before free slots−20

    60 still on the way

  3. Phone only booking after 18:00−10

    50 still on the way

  4. No confirmation, so some never come−10

    40 still on the way

  5. Arrive at the clinic40 / 100

40 of 100 who wanted to book arrive.

Illustrative: 100 people tap the booking link in a fictional clinic's Instagram bio. Four pains stand between them and a visit. Fix one and watch how many arrive.

UI is the tip, UX is the whole iceberg

UI: What you see and tap. UX: The whole experience of booking. Of 100 people who tap the booking link, 40 arrive. The 60 lost all drop off under the water, at the four red items. Switch on a fix under the water, or redesign the screen above it, and compare.UI⁨What you see⁩⁨and tap⁩UX⁨The whole experience of⁩⁨booking⁩⁨✕ a page that loads fast ⁦−20⁩⁩⁨✕ free slots before details ⁦−20⁩⁩⁨✕ booking after hours ⁦−10⁩⁩⁨✕ a confirmation that arrives ⁦−10⁩⁩⁨40 of 100 arrive⁩

Of 100 people who tap the booking link, 40 arrive. The 60 lost all drop off under the water, at the four red items. Switch on a fix under the water, or redesign the screen above it, and compare.

Illustrative: 100 people tap a fictional clinic's booking link, the numbers of the ux page's booking path. Red is the people each missing item loses.

UX covers everything under the water too: speed, order, hours and the message after booking. The screen is only the part you see.

Definition

Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group define user experience as all aspects of the end user's interaction with the company, its services and its products. So UX is not only a screen: it is the search result, the WhatsApp reply, the booking form, the confirmation, the visit and the follow up, seen as one journey. UX design is the work of shaping that journey on purpose, most of all by finding the places where people who wanted to buy give up.

Why it matters

People who give up rarely complain, they simply do not finish the booking or the order, so the loss looks like weak demand instead of a problem you can fix. Looking at the whole journey, not only the website, shows where those customers drop out and which pain to remove first.

Directly related: UI, Prototype, Onboarding.

Improvement tips

  • Watch a few real or prospective customers try one task, such as booking, and write down where they hesitate.
  • Walk your own journey as a customer, from the search result to the follow up, on a phone.
  • Remove one pain at a time, starting with the step where most people give up.
  • Build the site so that people with disabilities can use it. In Israel, the Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities (Service Accessibility Adjustments) Regulations, 2013, require website accessibility under Israeli Standard 5568, which is based on the W3C's WCAG guidelines, at level AA. Educational material, not legal or tax advice. Check your own case with a lawyer or an accountant.

Common mistakes

  • Polishing how the site looks while the path to booking or ordering stays hard.
  • Adding more options and fields, so every step asks more of the customer.

Related terms

ProductBeginner

UI

UI, user interface, is what a person sees and taps on a screen, the buttons, text, menus and their layout, and it tells the eye where to look first.

ProductIntermediate

Prototype

A prototype is a cheap, early stand in for a product or service, built to show people and learn what to fix before paying to build the real thing.

ProductBeginner

Onboarding

Onboarding is the guided path a new customer takes from first contact to the first real result, such as a first visit kept, so they stay and do not drift away.

ProductIntermediate

Activation

Activation is the moment a new customer first gets the result they came for, such as a first booking kept, and an early sign of who will come back.

ProductIntermediate

Retention

Retention is the share of customers who keep buying or using your product over a set period, counting only those you already had at the start.

MarketingBeginner

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the share of people who took the step you count, such as booking or buying, out of those who reached the stage before it, like clicks.

Quick check

What does UX cover?

Choose an answer

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to invest in UX before launching my business?
You need to walk the customer's path before launch: find the business, ask a question, book or buy, get a confirmation. Fixing the obvious pains costs little at that point. A big design project can wait until real customers show you where they get stuck.
When does UX first matter for a new business?
From the first customer who tries to reach you. The experience starts before any product: the search result, the reply time, the first message.
How do I test the experience on a small budget?
Give a few real or prospective customers one task, such as booking a treatment, and watch without helping. Jakob Nielsen wrote in 2000 that the best results come from testing no more than 5 users and running as many small tests as you can afford, for one group of similar users. If you serve very different groups, test about 3 people from each.
Is UX only relevant for software and apps?
No. A clinic, a shop or a home service also has an experience: how fast you answer, how easy it is to book, whether a confirmation arrives, what happens after the visit. Every step a customer goes through is part of it.
Why does UX matter for a business that is already running?
Because some of the people who reach you already want to buy and still give up on the way. Finding and removing those pains brings in customers you are already paying to attract.
What goes wrong when a running business ignores UX?
Enquiries that do not turn into bookings, the same questions asked again and again, and no shows after unclear confirmations. From inside the business it all looks like weak demand.
How do I start improving UX without stopping daily work?
Pick one path, such as booking from a phone, and walk it yourself this week. Fix the worst pain you find, and check next month whether more people finish.
How can a business owner see that the experience is poor?
Look for where people stop: enquiries with no booking, forms started and not sent, bookings with no show. Repeated questions to the staff point to the same places.
What does UX mean in plain words?
How it feels to deal with your business, step by step: finding you, asking, booking, arriving and coming back. Good UX means few places where a customer gets confused or gives up.
What does a UX designer do?
A UX designer studies how customers move through a product or service and reshapes the steps where they get stuck. In small teams the same person often designs the screens too, the UI.
Do I need to hire an expensive UX agency to improve my product?
No, not to start. Talking to customers, watching them book and removing the worst pain already show you where to begin. Outside help makes sense when you cannot see why people give up.
What is the difference between UX and UI?
UX is the whole experience, from the first search to the follow up. UI is the screen part of it: the buttons, text and layout a person sees and taps. A beautiful UI cannot save a journey that asks too much, and a good journey still needs a clear screen.

Sources: Don Norman and Jakob Nielsen, "The Definition of User Experience (UX)" (nngroup.com), Jakob Nielsen, "Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users", 18 March 2000 (nngroup.com), Equal Rights for Persons with Disabilities (Service Accessibility Adjustments) Regulations, 2013 (nevo.co.il)

Last reviewed: 2026-09-24

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What Clients Say

From different fields, at different stages of business

Dan Manto

Eclipse Capital

Real Estate Investment and Finance, USA

Arty McLabin

GameReady

Game Development Education and Outsourcing, International

Anna, Beautician

Anna

Beautician

After I finished a cosmetology course at a leading company, I was confused. I didn't know how to open a business, what to sell from home, or how to bring in clients. Since I reached out to Mobius, everything has changed. We built an organized plan with clear steps and no unnecessary risks. Today I see results, and I'm growing and developing every month.

Mark, Massage therapist, Gan Yavne

Mark

Massage therapist, Gan Yavne

When I finished a massage course, I imagined a different world. I found out it's a hard field, and financial stability isn't easy to find. When I came to Mobius, something changed. We started an organized process and built a business plan. Without Mobius? I probably would have given up. Today I believe in myself and in my own path.

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