User Workflows for UX Design

As you know, the main goal of any digital product development is delivering outstanding results. But how can teams ease users’ processes within each solution? 

There are different ways to interact with digital products, and knowing User Workflow is key to handling each interaction for each user of a product to achieve their intended goals.   

In this article, we'll explain User Workflow, Workflow Diagrams, and their influence on UX Design. Are you ready?

What is a Flow in UX Design?

In UX Design, a flow defines users’ paths when interacting with a product— it’s the process of mapping the routes a user can choose to take from the first input to the last interaction. 

The concept of flow within UX design arose when psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi established a flow as a mental focus on specific tasks.

Through these flows, design and development teams can get a better understanding of, for instance, how many screens need to be to achieve a specific task in a digital product. 

Flows are also key for team members to know which components must be on each screen and in which order they would be more helpful for the product’s final users. 

Here, empathy mapping and affinity diagrams can be used to improve the experience of existing User Interfaces, harnessing data for products to comply with useful flow patterns. 

While detailed user flows help with decision-making, visual design is always subject to tests and changes. There are always chances to improve UX Workflows, even after launching!

What is a User Workflow in UX Design?

A User Workflow encloses the path a user takes in a digital product. When users aim to complete a task, workflows are in charge of guiding them through each intermediate step. 

Since the goal is for users to achieve their desired outcome, understanding user needs and pain points is fundamental. 

That’s why there are some key questions to consider: What are the users' goals? Which are the most important features for them? Is there any extra info needed to perform a task? 

Answers will define the final Design and Development while also influencing the product's content. For instance, an informative blog will not have the same flow as a sales website. 

The Difference Between User Flow vs User Journey

The user flow focuses on the user’s interactions with the digital product, while the user journey includes all touch points with the solution.

User journeys include, for instance, online advertising, delivery, and customer support. Contrariwise, user flows concentrate on specific tasks and the steps to achieve them.

Main Types of User Workflow in UX Design

As with everything, User Workflow Design includes a series of steps with particularities to consider when optimizing the UX Design Process. Among workflow UI and UX, we can see:

1. Sequential Workflows in UX Design: This type of workflow refers to processes where each step depends on the completion of a previous action. Only after successfully completing all needed steps of the chain is the sequential workflow complete.  

2. State Machine Workflows in UX Design: Here, the flow works in an event-driven manner rather than a step-completion one. Likewise, this workflow must consider all the states and transitions of the achievement logic. 

3. Rule-Driven Workflows in UX Design: While Rule-Driven workflows follow the principles of Sequential ones, they also contemplate specific rules that may arise, making them ideal for products that may have more than one goal for each step. 

What is a User Workflow Diagram?

A User Workflow Diagram (UX Diagram) is a visual representation of how each step of the user flow works. Based on data, teams can link user actions with product functionalities. 

A Diagram UX helps designers improve how the user navigates through a product, better understanding the User Workflow and the product’s information architecture. 

Moreover, by harnessing iterative approaches in UX diagram design, teams can leverage user feedback to optimize the process and save both resources and money. 

How to Design a User Workflow Diagram?

1. Users: Before anything, be sure you understand your users! By having an overall idea of who will interact with your product, you’re one step closer to guaranteeing seamless user flows. Not sure where to start? Ask your users! Harness User Personas and User Research Methodologies to guarantee compliant solutions with their pain points.
   
   
2. Goals: After defining your users, set up your goals— both in terms of commercial intentions for your business and each specific goal users should aim at achieving while interacting with your digital solution. Here is the step to define which type of product adapts the best to your users and start brainstorming flows for them.
   
   
3. Entry Points: Where are your users in the wide digital ecosystem? Where do people who are searching for products similar to yours take part in online communities? How much time do they spend online or interacting with different digital solutions? Pay attention to your users’ behavior and make sure your digital product considers the particularities of each digital environment to make choosing your product a smart choice for them! 
   
   
4. Visualization: With a thorough knowledge of your users and their preferred solutions, it’s time to think about how your product will ease their task accomplishment. Here’s when data-driven analysis and qualitative User Research blend marvelously! Once you blend all gathered data, translating it into a visual model can ease thinking processes.

5. Prototyping: With a solid, visual-focused structure, you can move on to low-fi prototypes or UI mockups to test specific workflows. Likewise, you can also make sure your idea and structure suit the processes your users are accustomed to making. 
   
   
6. Reviewing and Testing: Of course, rather than ending with high fidelity prototyping, it’s key that User Workflow Diagrams are tested with users! With Usability Testing, design teams can learn about potential improvements in structure, content, and visual design, saving you time and money.

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How to Improve User Workflows in UX Design?

There are several aspects to notice when improving user workflows— let’s check some edges to consider to guarantee smooth user journeys and experiences.

1. User Workflow Process

Creating user workflow examples can be seen as straightforward, yet the outcomes of a User Experience Workflow can be different for each case. 

To place an easy-to-understand example, we'll use an eCommerce website, as these tend to have a typical or predictable user flow. The typical flow would be:

Accessing the site > Choosing a specific product > Adding it to the shopping cart > Filling the required fields > Completing the purchase.

This example can be easy to understand, yet the truth is that different users can make different stops or path variations before completing the purchase process. 

While a user could return to previous pages to look for different products, due to SEO efforts, another user’s landing page could be a product one rather than the homepage. 

Since users take many routes to meet their needs successfully, the processes may have several not-thought-of variables. That’s why creating User Workflows is key!

2. User Workflow Hypotheses

Gathering data for each user workflow is key to evaluating which processes users go through in any conversion funnel. 

A data-driven development and design mindset can also let teams, from a Product Developer to a Project Manager, know what reasons are leading to, for instance, cart abandonment. 

Let's go back to the prior eCommerce site. If the main goal is completing a sale, why aren't users achieving this? Are these users still on the site, or did they abandon it altogether?

This stage is where Workflow Hypotheses start taking shape. Are users leaving the site due to a lack of navigation clarity or unintuitive forms required to fill out to make a purchase? 

In all cases, it's crucial to have contingency plans to improve the experience, such as A/B Testing, Usability Testing, and User Testing, to help teams discover more about user flows.

3. User Workflow Wireframing

Guaranteeing a smooth User Workflow is also key to making team members more thorough when developing digital products. 

In this process, designing wireframes when diagramming is key to easing User Interface Workflow Design and defining how different screens or pages interact with each other. 

Developing and improving user flows requires a deep understanding of who the users are, what are their goals, and how they interact with digital products. 

With User Personas and User Feedback, teams can also grasp more detailed data on when users may need more design-based guidance and where users tend to stay longer.

What is a User Workflow Engine?

A workflow engine is an application that runs digital workflow UX software, enabling businesses to design and develop workflows, even with low-code visual builders.

These applications translate manual workflows to software-managed processes to redirect information paths and channels for more efficient resource use. 

Still, there are some differences— while workflow software is often used for everyday tasks and simpler processes, workflow engines are also connected to database servers. 

What is User Workflow Automation?

According to Zapier, while 94% of SMBs run repetitive, time-consuming tasks, over 90% of workers said that automation improved their operations.

The concept of Workflow Automation applies to a wide range of business edges, with Sales, Marketing, and Operations alongside the most commonly used. 

Often, companies automate processes to speed up processes and increase productivity while also ensuring error margins stay at their lowest. 

Yet, when discussing Workflow Automation in a UX Design Workflow, specifically on User Workflow, there are some edges to consider. 

The first edge design teams must consider regarding automation is ensuring consistency, both with UX best practices and with business and product goals. 

There's little to no use in a digital product that forces users to learn new ways to complete everyday tasks— keep consistency in buttons, labels, and menus and take advantage of visual resources to guide users to every possible interaction route!

Along with consistency, you’ll also need to highlight clarity at all stages, like taking care of help texts and tooltips to guarantee users can complete all tasks they want to. 

Lastly, and unsurprisingly, smart devices are taking the lead in digital products, so pay attention to responsiveness and mobile-friendliness in your automated workflows! 

Conclusion

UX Workflows are a must-have in the UX UI and Product Designers' kit box, as they allow you to guarantee efficiency across all instances of your product. 

While workflow details depend on each product's purpose, it’s always key to pay attention to what real users who will use the product have to say.  

In the end, users are the most valuable asset for all team members, from a Product Designer, and a Product Developer to a Project Manager, so pay attention to their insights!