User experience design — abbreviated as UX — might sound like just another of those weird jargon terms techies throw around, but it can (and probably already does) affect your brand. The business world has gone digital, and in this Internet-saturated culture, good UX can make your brand, while bad UX can break it.

Here’s what you’re going to want to know.
What Is It, Even?
Simply put, UX is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s the experience users have with the way a website, app, or other digital medium’s design. Essentially, it’s the way users interact with a given technology. For example, Tinder uses a card UX. Users can swipe cards to the right if they want to match with a potential partner, or to the left if they don’t.

Why Does It Matter?
UX matters, because it’s going to determine whether or not someone continues to use an app or site, and as you may or may not know, returning customers are more valuable. A returning customer spends about 67% more than a new one. In fact, building the loyalty of just 5% more customers could lead to an increased profit margin per customer of between 25% and 100%. For millennials, the things that create brand loyalty are a great product (as 77% of surveyed participants reported), followed closely by brand recognition and trust at 69%.

So how does UX determine whether or not someone is going to come back? Research shows that 68% of users will leave a site if its UX is poorly designed, and 44% of online shoppers will tell their friends about a bad shopping experience.

How Can Good UX Help Your Business?
By now you should get that UX is an essential part of doing business online, but you can’t simply leave your UX as just usable. If you do, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to improve your business. Every one dollar invested in UX returns up to $100. IBM gets returns of 1:100 for its usability testing. After Amazon improved its UX, it saw gains of about $300 million a year. When McAfee redesigned its program, it cut its support costs by a staggering 90%. Basically, it’s worth spending the money on a creative UX design.

User experience design is an integral part of competing in the digital business world. With an innovative design, you can build brand loyalty, and improve your business. If you’d like to learn more about what UX can do for your brand, feel free to share your questions in the comments.