Enterprise applications shared a common dreary aesthetic: busy and cluttered interfaces packed with drop down menus and designed in a palette of greys often requiring days to fully navigate basic working environments. Now that assumption of tolerating friction has reached its end, a restructure in software is driven by the consumerization of B2B SaaS products.
B2B vendors no longer compete only on feature lists but also face fierce competition where usability and intuitive experiences need to more closely align with the familiar interfaces of most consumer applications.
The Cost of Legacy Software
As business software procurement in the 2000s followed an ‘up from the top’ process where C-Suite executives were buying massive suites to ensure they met a basic compliance list coupled with an established vendor relationship has led to the developers having absolutely no need for building a user interface on their own.
These software suites operated in functional silos, completing vast backend computations but placing immense strain on the user required to manage it. The result is significant costs down the line with thousands of hours spent each year training a new member on counterintuitive processes and throttling employee productivity with the introduction of so-called ‘shadow IT’. This is the process where end-users resort to unapproved consumer apps instead of their work applications.
Product-Led Growth Depends on Design
Current software is now a far departure from the past and is in part driven by the adoption of product-led growth (PLG). Users can simply add team members to specialized, cloud-based applications without needing to go through IT to request them, however as this now implies all control to the end user, SaaS platforms will no longer succeed without delivering value to a user very quickly. If a user can’t understand how to operate an application within 10 minutes then a purchase decision is being abandoned.
B2B developers must build applications with all aspects of consumer-grade UX principles. There is an emergence of negative space in user interfaces, clear visual hierarchies and context based onboarding rather than reading through a 100 page manual on a new user to learn to work on an app.
Branding Driven By Clarity and Action
While the entire push toward usability goes beyond just UI, it affects brand names directly. Legacy enterprise software would normally require end-users, or at least those managing or using the software to have knowledge of industry specific jargon in order to use any part of the tool. With modern B2B platforms, semantic clarity is prioritized to minimize the friction when onboarding new users.
We are seeing this change in modern, action-oriented branding for applications like Teach ‘n Go where it is all about momentum. By using verbs for product branding, you tell your users that you care more about speed and getting tasks done than a steep learning curve.
Micro-Interactions and Reduced Cognitive Load
Beyond the branding of a product, what truly brings the consumer experience into the B2B sector are the use of micro-interactions. Micro-interactions are very small, single purpose animations or user feedback loops designed to guide the user in what they should do. An example is when a file is clicked on to download it, a checkmark will appear. These seemingly insignificant details help reduce the mental burden of trying to learn how to use complex software.
Modern B2B tools embrace deep integration. Instead of having users jump to five different tabs to perform one task, new SaaS tools make it easy for you to pull in data through an open API into a central hub. This allows software to adapt to your workflow, not the opposite.
Endnote
The days of clunky enterprise software are behind us. The modern workforce expect business applications to be on par with the software and tools that are used outside of work. Providing an enterprise experience equal to a consumer experience is an essential feature of B2B SaaS platforms.
