A Practical Guide To UX Strategy — Smashing Magazine
IMPACT to save 20% off today).For years, “UX strategy” felt like a confusing, ambiguous, and overloaded term to me. To me, it was some sort of a roadmap or a “grand vision”, with a few business decisions attached to it. And looking back now, I realize that I was wrong all along.
UX Strategy isn’t a goal; it’s a journey towards that goal. A journey connecting where UX is today with a desired future state of UX. And as such, it guides our actions and decisions, things we do and don’t do. And its goal is very simple: to maximize our chances of success while considering risks, bottlenecks and anything that might endanger the project.
Let’s explore the components of UX strategy, and how it works with product strategy and business strategy to deliver user value and meet business goals.
Strategy vs. Goals vs. Plans
When we speak about strategy, we often speak about planning and goals — but they are actually quite different. While strategy answers “what” we’re doing and “why”, planning is about “how” and “when” we’ll get it done. And the goal is merely a desired outcome of that entire journey.
- Goals establish a desired future outcome,
- That outcome typically represents a problem to solve,
- Strategy shows a high-level solution for that problem,
- Plan is a detailed set of low-level steps for getting the solution done.
A strong strategy requires making conscious, and oftentimes tough, decisions about what we will do — and just as importantly, what we will not do, and why.
Business Strategy
UX strategy doesn’t live in isolation. It must inform and support product strategy and be aligned with business strategy. All these terms are often slightly confusing and overloaded, so let’s clear it up.
At the highest level, business strategy is about the distinct choices executives make to set the company apart from its competitors. They shape the company’s positioning, objectives, and (most importantly!) competitive advantage.
Typically, this advantage is achieved in two ways: through lower prices (cost leadership) or through differentiation. The latter part isn’t about being different, but rather being perceived differently by the target audience. And that’s exactly where UX impact steps in.
In short, business strategy is:
- A top-line vision, basis for core offers,
- Shapes positioning, goals, competitive advantage,
- Must always adapt to the market to keep a competitive advantage.
Product Strategy
Product strategy is how a high-level business direction is translated into a unique positioning of a product. It defines what the product is, who its users are, and how it will contribute to the business’s goals. It’s also how we bring a product to market, drive growth, and achieve product-market fit.
In short, product strategy is:
- Unique positioning and value of a product,
- How to establish and keep a product in the marketplace,
- How to keep competitive advantage of the product.
UX Strategy
UX strategy is about shaping and delivering product value through UX. Good UX strategy always stems from UX research and answers to business needs. It established what to focus on, what our high-value actions are, how we’ll measure success, and — quite importantly — what risks we need to mitigate.
Most importantly, it’s not a fixed plan or a set of deliverables; it’s a guide that informs our actions, but also must be prepared to change when things change.
In short, UX strategy is:
- How we shape and deliver product value through UX,
- Priorities, focus + why, actions, metrics, risks,
- Isn’t a roadmap, intention or deliverables.
Six Key Components of UX Strategy
The impact of good UX typically lives in differentiation mentioned above. Again, it’s not about how “different” our experience is, but the unique perceived value that users associate with it. And that value is a matter of a clear, frictionless, accessible, fast, and reliable experience wrapped into the product.
I always try to include 6 key components in any strategic UX work so we don’t end up following a wrong assumption that won’t bring any impact:
- Target goal
The desired, improved future state of UX. - User segments
Primary users that we are considering. - Priorities
What we will and, crucially, what we will not do, and why. - High-value actions
How we drive value and meet user and business needs. - Feasibility
Realistic assessment of people, processes, and resources. - Risks
Bottlenecks, blockers, legacy constraints, big unknowns.
It’s worth noting that it’s always dangerous to be designing a product with everybody in mind. As Jamie Levy noted, by being very broad too early, we often reduce the impact of our design and messaging. It’s typically better to start with a specific, well-defined user segment and then expand, rather than the other way around.
Practical Example (by Alin Buda)
UX strategy doesn’t have to be a big 40-page long PDF report or a Keynote presentation. A while back, Alin Buda kindly left a comment on one of my LinkedIn posts, giving a great example of what a concise UX strategy could look like:
UX Strategy (for Q4)
Our UX strategy is to focus on high-friction workflows for expert users, not casual usability improvements. Why? Because retention in this space is driven by power-user efficiency, and that aligns with our growth model.
To succeed, we’ll design workflow accelerators and decision-support tools that will reduce time-on-task. As a part of it, we’ll need to redesign legacy flows in the Crux system. We won’t prioritize UI refinements or onboarding tours, because it doesn’t move the needle in this context.
What I like most about this example is just how concise and clear it is. Getting to this level of clarity takes quite a bit of time, but it creates a very precise overview of what we do, what we don’t do, what we focus on, and how we drive value.
Wrapping Up
The best path to make a strong case with senior leadership is to frame your UX work as a direct contributor to differentiation. This isn’t just about making things look different; it’s about enhancing the perceived value.
A good strategy ties UX improvements to measurable business outcomes. It doesn’t speak about design patterns, consistency, or neatly organized components. Instead, it speaks the language of product and business strategy: OKRs, costs, revenue, business metrics, and objectives.
Design can succeed without a strategy. In the wise words of Sun Tzu, strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. And tactics without strategy are the noise before defeat.
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Useful Resources
- “UX Strategy: Definition and Components”, Sarah Gibbons, Anna Kaley
- “UX Strategy: Study Guide”, Sarah Gibbons, Anna Kaley
- What Goes Into a Proactive UX Strategy (video), Jared Spool
- “How To Develop An Effective UX Strategy”, Chloé Garnham
- The Little Book Of Strategy (free PDF), Peter Bihr
- “Enterprise UX Strategy”, Cassandra Naji
- “UX Strategy Guide” + Blueprint (Template), Alex Souza
- Product Strategy Playbooks
- UX Strategy, Jaime Levy
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