Design and Its Role: 7 Levers That Deliver Real Business Results

Metrics instead of opinions: HEART + GSM

Start with HEART (Happiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, Task success) and the Goals-Signals-Metrics process. It is a shared language across teams that ties UX to business metrics.[6]

How to use it immediately

• Translate business goals into UX metrics: e.g., Task success for checkout -> conversion and revenue per user.
• Report per-user rather than total sums to separate user-base growth from real experience improvement.[6]

Accessibility as growth and compliance

Scale: about 1.3B people experience significant disability (1 in 6).[2] Inaccessible products limit the market and increase service costs.

Market and law: the European Accessibility Act applies from 28 June 2025 and covers websites, mobile apps, consumer devices, and terminals, among others.[4]

State of the web: in 2025, 94.8% of home pages had detectable WCAG 2.2 A/AA issues. This is a fast investment map with high ROI.[3]

What to implement

• Minimum WCAG 2.2 AA standard in the Definition of Done.
• Accessibility audits and tests with users with disabilities in every release.
• An EAA compliance plan for products and service channels.[4]

Design systems and tokens as an OPEX lever

A design system reduces UX/UI debt and shortens delivery time. Design tokens standardize colors, typography, and spacing and are now standardized by the Design Tokens Community Group (W3C). This ensures consistency across channels and tech stacks.[9]

What to implement

• A roadmap of components critical to top user flows.
• A token repository as a single source of truth and a pipeline to the front-end application.[9]

Research and experiments reduce risk

Investments in usability research and A/B testing translate into commercial outcomes when metrics are tied to goals. NN/g case studies show practical ways to connect UX metrics with business results.[8a]

What to implement

• A research plan based on hypotheses with success metrics at the feature and product levels.
• A quarterly UX benchmark based on the HEART metrics set.[6]

Privacy by design and governance at the design stage

Article 25 GDPR imposes the duty of data protection by design and by default. The EDPB guidelines emphasize effectiveness and measurability of implementations, not declarations.[5]

What to implement

• Data maps and minimization as acceptance criteria.
• Explicit effectiveness indicators for data protection measures (e.g., fewer complaints, shorter time to fulfill rights).[5]

AI in products: responsibility and competitive advantage

The EU AI Act has a phased implementation. From 2 Feb 2025 bans apply to prohibited practices, on 2 Aug 2025 requirements for GPAI enter into force, and on 2 Aug 2026 broader obligations for high-risk systems begin. This affects UI, user notifications, and documentation.[8]

What to implement

• Transparency UI patterns (when AI is used and what the risks are).
• Model-error reporting paths and explainability elements in UX.[8]

Hard data on ROI: IBM and TEI

In Forrester's Total Economic Impact analysis for IBM Enterprise Design Thinking, the cumulative ROI was 301% over a 3-year horizon (composite model, sponsored study). This is a good reference point for building your own ROI calculations.[7]

How to calculate design ROI in your company

General formula ROI = [(incremental revenue + cost savings - initiative cost) / initiative cost]

Sources of impact that most often add up financially

• Conversion and average order value after improving key flows.
• Retention and adoption of new features.
• Delivery time thanks to the design system and tokens.[9]
• Service cost thanks to better clarity and accessibility (fewer tickets).[3]
• Legal risk thanks to privacy by design and EAA compliance.[5][4]

90-day implementation plan

Days 1-30

• Audit the 3 most important end-to-end flows.
• Define G-S-M and the HEART set for the product.[6]
• Accessibility scan and EAA compliance plan.[4]

Days 31-60

• Privacy by design workshops for product teams.[5]
• Start the component backlog and design tokens repository.[9]
• Hypotheses for 2-3 A/B experiments tied to commercial goals.[6]

Days 61-90

• Deploy the first components and refactor critical screens.
• Baseline report: conversion, retention, task completion time, ticket volume, accessibility metrics, privacy indicators.
• A roadmap for the next two quarters with KPIs and owners.

The most common CFO questions

Is design a cost or an investment?

It is an investment that you can measure on revenue, cost, and risk metrics. Public data confirms higher growth and TSR among design leaders.[1]

How to avoid "innovation theater"?

Tie every experiment to a HEART metric and a business KPI. Enforce a Definition of Done that includes WCAG 2.2 AA and privacy by design.[6][3][5]

References

1. McKinsey, The Business Value of Design - top quartile: +32 p.p. revenue and +56 p.p. TSR. PDF. ↩︎↩︎
2. WHO, Disability and Health - Key facts: 1.3B people, 16% of the population. Link. ↩︎
3. WebAIM, The WebAIM Million 2025: 94.8% of pages with detectable WCAG 2.2 A/AA issues. Link. ↩︎↩︎↩︎
4. AccessibleEU, The EAA comes into effect on 28 June 2025: scope of products and services. Link. ↩︎↩︎↩︎↩︎
5. EDPB, Guidelines 4/2019 on Article 25 - Data Protection by Design and by Default: requirement for effective implementation. PDF. ↩︎↩︎↩︎↩︎↩︎
6. Rodden, Hutchinson, Fu (Google), HEART + Goals-Signals-Metrics, CHI 2010. Summary | PDF. ↩︎↩︎↩︎↩︎↩︎↩︎
7. Forrester TEI for IBM Enterprise Design Thinking: ROI 301% (3 years, composite model). PDF. ↩︎
8. EU AI Act milestones: 2.02.2025 (bans), 2.08.2025 (GPAI), 2.08.2026 (high risk). Latham & Watkins | Goodwin. ↩︎↩︎
9. NN/g on metrics and ROI - materials and case studies. Podcast. ↩︎
10. Design Tokens Community Group (W3C) - specification 2025.10. Announcement | Specification text. ↩︎↩︎↩︎↩︎