Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Design ROI: Cover a Little, Get a Lot

Gold
Thursday, September 8, 2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Share the love for this talk
Design ROI: Cover a Little, Get a Lot
Speakers: Gonzalo Goyanes
Link:

Summary

In recent years, hundreds of articles have been published on the best way to measure, demonstrate and argue quantitatively "what is the Return on Investment of UX & Design?" In this talk, Gonzalo will explain how to make small measurements but with great impact – rather than trying to cover a huge universe of variables to measure design's ROI, which only makes us lose ourselves in theory. It will be based on a "fictional" environment but one similar to his (hundreds of designers and hundreds of digital products across 10 countries.) Takeaways How to demonstrate your value to management by translating your work into numbers and milestones How to implement a Global DesignOps that permeates your whole company    

Key Insights

  • Design-driven companies that promote continuous iteration and user-centric methods show higher revenue growth and better financial returns according to McKinsey studies.

  • Aligning design metrics with corporate financial goals requires translating tactical KPIs into the language of profit, revenue, and cost savings at the highest organizational levels.

  • Design ROI should be conceptualized simply as how design work either increases revenue or reduces costs to tie contributions to business outcomes.

  • Separating design goals into what we want to achieve (customer-facing outcomes) and what we need to achieve (tools, processes, team development) clarifies ROI measurement.

  • Experience metrics like NPS and usability scores complement revenue and cost measurements to capture the holistic value of design.

  • Design system efficiency can be quantified by measuring reduced time to market and saving working hours, providing a concrete ROI example.

  • Investments in long-term assets like documentation, reusable research, and training yield deferred ROI difficult to measure immediately but crucial for sustained value.

  • Context matters: early-stage design teams focus on quick wins to demonstrate value, while mature teams measure strategic impact aligned with business goals.

  • A common challenge is maintaining a shared language across organizational tiers to articulate design’s business impact effectively.

  • ROI measurement is not about finding a perfect formula but developing relevant, context-sensitive metrics that foster trust and help design teams integrate into strategic decision-making.

Notable Quotes

"Investing in design practices has a clear impact on business benefits, proven after 33 years of research."

"Promoting design means business growth, it’s been empirically demonstrated."

"Only when we translate our success into the company’s language can we really quantify our contribution to overall strategy."

"If teams have a clear ROI strategy, they’re more likely to be involved early in product creation."

"Profit is simply revenues minus costs, so we measure design’s contribution by the effect on either side."

"Don’t spend too much time trying to translate experience goals directly into business metrics; show the value of experience separately."

"We found a three percent decrease in time to market using our design system, which translates into measurable business savings."

"Investments in training may not yield immediate profit but can be justified by linking skills to efficiency gains and future savings."

"The success of ROI measurement depends mainly on the maturity stage and context of your design team."

"Our aim is not just to demonstrate design’s value for growth, but to become an essential part of the company’s overall strategy."

Ask the Rosenbot
Bruce Gillespie
Learning from journalism: Balancing impactful communication with compassionate storytelling
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Robin Beers
Research as a Catalyst for Organizational Transformation
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Amy Brana Stuart
Rest in Peace Fly-in-fly-out Design
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Saara Kamppari-Miller
Theme Three Intro
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
How AI will Change DesignOps Tooling
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Ashley Sewall
Exit Interview #5: Designing My Life After Tech
2026 • Rosenfeld Community
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW
Leading through the long tail of trauma
2022 • Enterprise Community
Kelly Goto
Emotion Economy: Ethnography as Corporate Strategy
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Josh Clark
Sentient Design, AI, and the Radically Adaptive Experience (1st of 3 seminars)
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Dave Malouf
Theme 3: Introduction and Provocation
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Karen McGrane
AI for Information Architects: Are the robots coming for our jobs?
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Billy Carlson
Ideation tips for Product Managers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Leah Buley
Closing Plenary: The Crisis of Digital
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Jen Cardello
Curating insight: Strategies for integrating knowledge across research functions
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Llewyn Paine
[Demo] Deploying AI doppelgangers to de-identify user research recordings
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold

More Videos

Maggie Dieringer

"We created a self-service UXR hub to empower teammates with research fundamentals amid downsized research teams."

Maggie Dieringer

Creating Consistency Through Constant Change

January 8, 2024

Sam Proulx

"I don’t know anyone who uses the configuration out of the box without customizing it heavily and extensively."

Sam Proulx

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Screen Readers

June 11, 2021

"A producer is probably in JIRA day-to-day, running tasks, creating tickets and epics, while a program manager tracks board-level timelines."

Panel Discussion: Communicating the Value of DesignOps

November 7, 2018

Carol Massa

"Designers are often perceived as high risk to the business, which conflicts with healthcare’s safety-first mindset."

Carol Massa

Designing Health: Integrating Service Design, Technology, and Strategy to Transform Patient and Clinician Experiences

December 3, 2024

Kit Unger

"Many of us in this field are tired of not having our value understood."

Kit Unger

Theme 1 Intro

June 8, 2022

Changying (Z) Zheng

"Operations often move around organizationally, from design to product operations and back, reflecting evolving team needs."

Changying (Z) Zheng

Practical DesignOps: From Ideas to Tools That Teams Actually Use

September 25, 2025

Peter Morville

"Categories are dangerous but not bad."

Peter Morville

The Architecture of Understanding

May 13, 2015

Emily Lessard

"No printing or shipping. Digital is just fine and much more sustainable."

Emily Lessard

RFPs Without Tears: Writing Inclusive RFPS that Don't Scare Away Talent

December 9, 2021

Louis Rosenfeld

"We want you to come in with a learning agenda—it’ll help you get more out of the event."

Louis Rosenfeld

Welcome / Housekeeping

June 7, 2023