Everyone Wants “Wow.” But If You Want to Improve User Experience, Here’s the Part They Miss.

Key Takeaways

• “Wow factor” is a symptom, not a requirement. Improve user experience by fixing the root cause—confusion.

• Users feel “wow” when friction disappears, not when visuals get fancier.

• Clarity improves user experience more than motion, gradients, or decoration.

• Removing what slows users down improves user experience faster than adding new features.

• The biggest UX wins come from diagnosing problems, not polishing surfaces.

A founder once told me he wanted one thing from the redesign:

“Give me a wow factor.”

So I asked the only question that made sense:

“Wow… what?”

He paused, thought about it, and said the most honest sentence I’ve ever heard:

“I don’t know. Just… wow me.”

And that was it.

No users.

No goals.

No flows.

Just: wow.

And this is exactly where teams go wrong when they try to improve user experience by adding more visuals instead of fixing the real problem.

Designers know this moment well — we smile politely, die a little inside, and then open FigJam to start diagnosing what the actual problem is.

Because here’s the part founders rarely say out loud:

“Wow factor” isn’t an instruction. It’s a symptom.

What they really mean is:

• Something feels off.

• The product feels heavier than it should.

• The story isn’t landing.

• The UX is confusing but I can’t articulate why.

  
  

And because they can’t articulate the root cause, the request becomes:

“Add wow.”

But the real “wow” is almost never motion.

Or gradients.

Or a shiny hero section.

The real wow is…

• When a flow finally makes sense.

• When friction disappears.

• When a user immediately understands “what this thing does.”

• When clarity replaces cognitive load.

  
  

The wow happens when the product stops making people think.

It’s the quiet moment when users go from:

“Huh?” → “Oh.”

That’s the magic.

That’s the moment everyone is actually chasing.

Design is not decoration.

Design is diagnosis.

Fix the confusion → then you get the wow.

Why “Wow Factor” Has Nothing to Do With Visuals — and Everything to Do With How You Improve User Experience

Teams spend months adding features, polishing visuals, layering on “delight,” and wondering why nothing feels better.

But wow isn’t something you add on top.

It’s what emerges once you remove everything standing in the user’s way.

Clarity scales. Cosmetics don’t.

A Question for You

Founders, PMs, designers:

What’s one “wow” request you’ve heard that really meant something else?