Why Business Doesn’t Get Design. And How to Fix It?

The Great Divide: When Business and Design Collide

You stayed up late perfecting a user-friendly checkout flow. Your research shows it reduces frustration and boosts completion rates by 30%. Excited, you present it to leadership.

The response? This looks nice, but where's the 'Buy Now' button? We need to FORCE conversions!

Sound familiar?

This clash happens because business and design teams are essentially speaking different languages - and it's costing companies millions in lost opportunities.

The Language Barrier: A Tale of Two Mindsets Business Speaks "War"

Corporate vocabulary reads like a battle plan:

• Conquer market share

• Capture eyeballs

• Destroy competitors

• Hook users

It's all about aggressive growth, metrics, and immediate wins. Numbers rule everything.

Design Speaks "Human"

Designers use a different dictionary:

• Reduce friction

• Build trust

• Create delight

• Solve problems
  

We focus on real people's needs and long-term relationships.

Why This Gap Hurts Everyone

1. Short-Term Wins Become Long Term Losses - Dark patterns might spike conversions today, but they erode trust over time. Users remember being tricked.

2. Innovation Suffers- When "ship fast" beats "do it right," you get features people hate but tolerate.

3. Talent Leaves- The best designers won't stay where user needs always lose to quarterly targets.

   
   
   
   

   

   
   

Bridging the Gap: A Designer's Survival Guide

1. Speak Their Language (Without Losing Your Soul)

Instead of:"We need to improve the onboarding experience"

Try:"Simplifying onboarding could increase 30-day retention by 15%, adding $2M in annual revenue"

2. Show the ROI of Good Design

• Amazon found every 100ms faster loading increased sales by 1%

• Forrester reports good UX can yield conversion rates up to 400% higher
  

3. Tell Compelling Stories

Present data and anecdotes:"After we reduced form fields from 12 to 5:

• Completion rates jumped 35%

• Customer service calls dropped 20%

• One user emailed us: 'Thank you for not making me hate your company
  

4. Find Allies in Leadership

Identify executives who:

• Care about customer satisfaction scores

• Understand lifetime value > short-term gains

• Have design-savvy backgrounds
  

The Turning Point: When Design Wins

At one major retailer, designers convinced leadership to remove forced account creation at checkout. Results:

• 45% increase in guest checkouts

• $25M additional revenue in Q1

• 12% reduction in cart abandonment

The key? They framed it as "removing $25M worth of friction.

Your New Superpower

As a designer, you're uniquely positioned to:

• Advocate for users

• Translate human needs into business impact

• Prevent short-term thinking from ruining products

The companies that get this right (Apple, Airbnb, Duolingo) don't just make money - they create beloved products.

Let's Fix This Together

Next time you're in a meeting:

1. Listen for the business priorities

2. Connect your design solution to those goals

3. Present the data and the human impact
   

Here's a table as example that bridges design language with business language, helping you articulate design decisions in terms stakeholders and business teams can relate to:

Design Language	Business Language	Explanation
Reduce friction	Increase conversion rates	A smoother user journey means users are more likely to complete desired actions.
Improve usability	Reduce support costs	Easier-to-use interfaces mean fewer customer support queries.
Enhance accessibility	Expand market reach	Inclusive design opens the product to a wider audience.
Streamline onboarding	Improve customer retention	A faster, clearer onboarding boosts first impressions and engagement.
Clear visual hierarchy	Faster decision-making	Users can understand and act quickly, reducing bounce or hesitation.
Intuitive navigation	Lower drop-off rates	Users stay longer and engage more when they can find what they need easily.
Consistent UI patterns	Strengthen brand trust	Familiarity and polish increase perceived professionalism and reliability.
Optimize for mobile	Capture mobile-first audience	Meeting users where they are improves reach and engagement.
Shorten task flows	Boost productivity (for B2B tools)	Time-saving interactions translate to business efficiency.
Data-driven design	Increase ROI on product decisions	Using metrics to inform design ensures focus on what truly matters.
A/B testing designs	Improve key KPIs (CTR, LTV, etc.)	Validating changes with data helps optimize business outcomes.
Emotional design	Build customer loyalty	Evoking emotion creates memorable, sticky experiences that drive repeat use.

Because great design isn't just pretty - it's profitable.