Behaviour design - a neglected aspect of good user experience

Research and practice in user experience (UX) has tended to focus on the design of products and services – in particular interface design. This paper looks at an often-neglected aspect of user experience – the behavior of the employees of organizations providing products and services. Case studies are given illustrating the potentially huge impact this can have on the quality of UX. The lessons from these are collated to identify 12 types of employee behavior that affect user experience. Optimal UX occurs when employees understand the role that their behaviors play in user satisfaction and commit to putting user welfare at the heart of employee-user interactions. Approaches to designing and training these behaviors are discussed.