UX Impact: Data Claims
Advocate for the impact that UX can have on business outcomes by leveraging this compilation of 80+ data claims.
Over the past decade, numerous studies have been conducted to illuminate the business impact of investing in UX.
This field guide is a compilation of high-level data claims that I’ve found to date organized using the 20 levers framework.
New insights will be added as studies are released. The top findings from my perspective are starred (⭐️).
If you have UX impact data claims I should consider adding or if any listed here need to be edited or removed, don't hesitate to reach out.
Download a PDF version here.
Last updated: Feb 15, 2025
1. Make Money x Direct Impact (32)
A. Sales (3)
“While over 60% percent of brands believe maintaining a consistent brand is important when generating leads and communicating with existing customers, 81% of companies still deal with off-brand content.” (link, 2019)
“Of startup unicorns surveyed, they believed that design lead to higher sales (14%).” (link, 2016)
⭐ “Among all customers, 73% point to experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions, behind price and product quality.” (link)
B. Conversion (8)
“93% of buyers make decisions based on visual appearance. 85% of buyers claim color is the primary reason for buying a product. 80% of people believe color increases brand recognition. 90% of snap judgements can be based on color alone.” (link, 2025)
️⭐ “During the first 0 to 5 seconds of page load, each additional second of waiting causes a 4.42% loss in conversion rate (note: load time calculated with a 3G connection).” (link, 2024)
“Mobile sites loading in two seconds or less have a 15% higher conversion rate than average mobile sites.” (link, 2023)
“Your site’s conversion rate can drop to 34% if it takes 2 seconds to load.” (link, 2022)
“66% of customers are willing to pay more for a great experience.” (link, 2020)
“The same research states that good UI can increase conversion rates by up to 200%, and good UX can double this — up to 400%.” (link, 2016)
“According to a survey by Forrester, when organizations work on enhancing their UX, they experience 14.4% increase in customers’ willingness to pay.” (link, 2016)
⭐ ️“Research by Google’s core web vitals shows that a 1-second delay in load time can result in a 7% decrease in conversions.” (link)
C. Growth (11)
“’Customer-obsessed’ [1] organizations reported 41% faster revenue growth than those at non-customer-obsessed organizations. (link, 2024)
⭐️ “According to a report from Maze, research mature orgs deliver 2.3x better business outcomes such as increased revenue (4.2x).” (link, 2023)
⭐ “A significant 70% of companies view UX and customer experience (CX) as crucial factors distinguishing them from competitors.” (link, 2023)
⭐️ “Companies that invest in improving their customer experience often see substantial benefits, such as a 32% rise in cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.” (link, 2022)
⭐️ “Consistent branding can increase revenue by 33%.” (link, 2019)
“Consistent brand presentation across all platforms increases revenue by up to 23%.” (link, 2019)
️“Top-quartile MDI (McKinsey Design Index) scorers saw 32% higher revenue growth and 56% higher total returns to shareholders (TRS).” (link, 2018)
“Of startup unicorns surveyed, they believed that design lead was accretive to fundraising (75%).” (link, 2016)
“As stated in the research by Forrester, on average, every dollar invested in UX brings 100 dollars in return, translating to an extraordinary ROI of 9,900%.” (link, 2016)
“Customers are willing to pay more for the experience qualities that matter most to them: 43% of consumers would pay more for greater convenience, 42% would pay more for a friendly, welcoming experience and 65% of U.S. customers find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising.” (link)
“According to a study by Adobe, 75% of design professionals believe that staying current with design trends is crucial for keeping a product competitive and relevant.” (link)
D. New Value (0)
N/A
E. Retention (15)
“77% of business leaders believe that deeper personalization leads to customer retention [1].” (link, 2025)
“Brands that excel at personalization are 71% more likely to report improved customer loyalty.” (link, 2024)
“67% of customers cite unpleasant experiences as a reason for churn.” (link, 2023)
⭐️ ️“Companies that invest in improving their customer experience often see substantial benefits, such as a 42% increase in customer retention.” (link, 2022)
“47% of consumers will tell others about a bad web experience they had and are less likely to return to the site.”(link, 2020)
“43% of customers say they spend more of their hard-earned money on brands to which they are loyal.” (link,2019)
“94% of consumers cited design as the main reason for leaving or mistrusting a website.” (link, 2018)
“32% of all customers would stop doing business with a brand they loved after one bad experience.” (link, 2018)
“Of startup unicorns surveyed, they believed that design lead to higher customer retention (44%).” (link, 2016)
️ ⭐️ “If customers don’t feel that a business cares about them, 68% would stop transacting with that business.” (link, 2015)
“According to HBR, acquiring a new customer can cost 5 to 25 times more than keeping an existing customer.” (link, 2014)
“Companies that regularly ask for and act on customer feedback see a 15% increase in customer retention.” (link)
“Consistency in design across different platforms (web, mobile, etc.) can improve user retention by 20-30%. Users appreciate interfaces that behave similarly, allowing them to transfer their knowledge and skills seamlessly between devices.” (link)
“Improving UX design to increase customer retention by just 5% can lead to a 25% to 95% increase in profits. (link)
⭐️ “According to a Motista study, customers who feel connected to a brand emotionally will have a lifetime value that is 306% higher.” (link)
2. Make Money x Indirect Impact (41)
A. Satisfaction (4)
“39% of user frustrations on desktops are from slow loading webpages.” (link, 2023)
️⭐️ “Companies that invest in improving their customer experience often see substantial benefits, such as a 33% boost in customer satisfaction.” (link, 2022)
“68% of consumers believe a business should tailor its experience based on their tastes and preferences, according to Oracle.” (link, 2015)
️⭐️ "Research by Baymard Institute shows that addressing performance and accessibility issues can boost user satisfaction by 29%." (link)
C. Brand Perception (9)
️⭐️ “WebFX says that 75% of your product’s credibility comes from design.” (link, 2025)
️⭐️ “According to a report from Maze, research mature orgs deliver 2.3x better business outcomes such as improved brand perception (3x).” (link, 2023)
️⭐️ “First impressions are 94% design related. For first impressions, visual appeal even beats usability, and a positive first impression can increase overall satisfaction.” (link, 2022)
“It takes about 50 milliseconds (ms) (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website (esp. visual appeal) that determines whether they’ll stay or leave.” (link, 2022)
“The elements consumers appreciate the most in website design are photos and images (40%), color (39%), and videos (21%).” (link, 2021)
“A Forbes study found that consistency in the color palette for your brand’s logo, digital content, and promotional material can improve brand recognition by upwards of 80%.” (link, 2019)
“Judgments on website credibility are 75% based on a website’s overall aesthetics.” (link, 2018)
“According to a survey by Forrester, when organizations work on enhancing their UX, they experience 15.8% decrease in probability of switching brands.” (link, 2016)
“According to a study by Microsoft, 77% of customers view brands more favorably if they proactively invite and act on customer feedback.” (link)
D. Usability (15)
“If you focus only on checkout usability issues which have been documented by Baymard Institute to be solvable, the average large-sized e-commerce site can gain a 35.26% increase in conversion rate through better checkout design.” (link, 2023)
"A significant 70% of customers abandon their purchases due to unfavorable user experiences." (link, 2023)
"A remarkable 73% of customers feel that brands fail to provide a seamless experience across different channels, including their websites." (link, 2023)
“According to the Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate is just about 70%. Among the top reasons why customers abandon their cart at checkout, around half are due to poor UX.” (link, 2023)
“An overwhelming 86% of visitors landing on a company’s website home page seek information about the company’s products and services as their top priority.” (link, 2023)
“It takes 2.6 seconds for eyes to settle on key areas of a web page.” (link, 2022)
⭐️ “42% of consumers will leave a website because of poor functionality.” (link, 2021)
“When looking at a website for the first time, 38% of consumers look at a page’s layout or navigational links” (link,2021)
“38% of people look at a website’s page layout or navigational links when visiting a website for the first time.”(link, 2021)
⭐️ “94% of online users said in a survey that easy navigation is the most important website feature.” (link, 2021)
“60% of consumers rate usability as an important design characteristic for an online shop.” (link, 2020)
“A well-designed user interface can increase your website’s conversion rate by up to 200%.” (link, 2016)
“83% of people say a ‘seamless experience across all devices’ is very important.“ (link, 2018)
⭐️ ️“Mobile users are 5 times more likely to give up on a task if the website isn’t optimized for mobile devices.” (link)
“If a website takes more than 3 seconds to load, 40% of the people will leave that site.” (link)
E. Engagement (11)
⭐️️ “88% of people will stop engaging with a website if the design is unattractive.” (link, 2025)
“38% of people are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience.” (link, 2025)
“On 70% of mobile landing pages analyzed, it took more than 5 seconds for visual content above the fold to display, affecting user engagement.” (link, 2023)
"74% of people are more likely to return to a mobile-friendly site, and 67% are more likely to buy a product or service from such a site." (link, 2023)
"52% of users indicated they are less likely to interact with a company that doesn't employ responsive mobile design." (link, 2023)
⭐️️ “38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive.” (link, 2021)
“39% of users will stop engaging if the images don’t load.” (link, 2019)
“Research conducted by Toptal shows that 90% of users will continue shopping because of great UX.” (link, 2018)
“Of startup unicorns surveyed, they believed that design lead to higher customer engagement (21%).” (link, 2016)
️⭐️ “Due to poor performance, 90% of users have stopped using an app.” (link)
“According to Google’s annual UX report, 70% of users now expect a dark mode option in apps.” (link)
3. Save Money x Direct Impact (6)
A. Sales & Marketing (0)
N/A
B. Support & Service (4)
"90% of CX Trendsetters report positive ROI on AI tools for agents." (link, 2025)
"Nearly two-thirds of consumers say they expect more personalized service with AI." (link, 2025)
“70% of customers expect anyone they interact with to have the full context of their situation.” (link, 2025)
"85% of consumers go out of their way to switch to a company that has better customer service.” (link)
D. HR & Ops (0)
N/A
4. Save Money x Indirect Impact (18)
A. Maintenance (1)
"Approximately $2.6 billion in annual revenue is forfeited due to sluggish website loading times." (link, 2023)
B. Bugs & Errors (2)
Accessibility
"Automated static analysis checkers are helpful, but it's important to keep in mind that they can only catch 30% of accessibility issues. We need to rely on human intervention too." (link, 2024)
⭐️ “The WebAIM report found that 97.8% of home pages had automatically detectable Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 AA failures. Home pages averaged 59.6 detectable errors.” (link, 2019)
C. Training Time (0)
N/A
D. Collaboration (5)
General
⭐️ “Senior executives stack-ranked the top 3 greatest design weaknesses: Employ design metrics (17%), Create a bold user-centric strategy (10%), and Embed design in the C-suite (10%).” (link, 2018)
“Adobe’s executive creative director Steve Gustavson argued that 50% of companies Adobe surveyed attest that design plays a huge role in how they achieve success.’” (link, 2017)
“16% of respondents of a survey by UserZoom said that everybody on the team owns user experience. What is more, 14% claim that at C-level each business unit is responsible for UX.” (link)
Design System
E. Internal Tools [DS] (6)
Design System
"67% of maintainers are dissatisfied with their design system's current stance on accepting contributions." (link, 2022)
"Regular system audits can reduce inconsistencies by up to 25%." (link)
"60% of design system users said they faced issues with documentation or updates according to UX collective poll." (link)
⭐️️ "A report from Atlassian showed that 45% of teams cited design debt as a major blocker to innovation." (link)
⭐️ "40% of teams cite unclear documentation as their biggest barrier to adoption." (link)
⭐️️️️ "A design system team of 5 supporting 200 consumers would need to improve efficiency by ~2% to break even. Based on efficiency alone, this outlined scenario provides $35M in annual net value." (link)
F. Process (4)
General
⭐️ “Research by UXPin suggests that 50% of UX improvements can be made with minimal effort, provided they’re prioritized correctly.” (link)
Research
⭐️ “Companies, where user research is well integrated across the product development process, are more likely to notice a positive impact on business metrics (30%-70% difference compared to the companies where user research is only the designer’s job).” (link)
Design System
️ “When accessing [Cycle Time] in projects with our clients, we’ve found a Goldilocks zone between 20–40% greater cycle capacity.” (link, 2024)
⭐️ “We found that when participants had access to a design system they completed their objective 34% faster than without a design system. (That’s equivalent to adding another 3.5 designers to the team each week!)” (link)
If you want to track the impact of UX design on your business, start with key metrics (usability, design KPIs, SaaS, etc.).
Seeing the change in your personal data is more important than all the statistics from the reports out there, and mixing it with storytelling is a powerful tool for influencing.
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