6 Ways on How API Integration Can Improve UX

Before detailing the role of APIs in enhancing UX, let’s first talk about what UX is meant to achieve. User experience, or UX, is the principle of making otherwise complex and demanding tools easy for a customer to use. Any developer would aspire to create simple, manageable, and maneuverable design for their UX design companies. After all, UX is one of the things that make developers worth their salt.

Most people outside of tech understand UX to be about the “look and feel” of an application. But great UX goes beyond that. It encompasses the body of interfaces that a user will get to know when using the product.

This is where application programming interfaces, or APIs, come in. APIs are software intermediaries that allow two separate applications to communicate with each other. Prime examples of APIs that everyday users encounter are digital payment platforms linked to ecommerce sites or an option to share a WordPress blog post via Twitter. Oftentimes, the more interactions enabled by an application—and the more seamless these interactions are—the more appealing an app’s overall UX will be.

As proof, here are some ways that API integration would improve an app’s UX. These are insights that you can adapt for yourself when you develop your APIs on a platform like Stoplight and eventually market them to be more competitive.

1. API integration can be used in the service of each app’s end users. Part of what determines an application’s value is how well it adheres to needs of its users. Ask yourself: what is it that the app’s target audience needs? Is it a way to pay for goods and services using certain payment gateways? Is it a way to download a file from a site and move it to a personal storage account, like their Google Drive? Once you figure this out, you can integrate an API that will suit your end users’ unique needs.

2. API integration can be used to determine a natural, easy workflow for going through an app. Do you wonder about the “natural” progression that users seem to follow when using an application? It could be a process of them choosing a product from an ecommerce site, moving it to their virtual shopping cart, and then paying for it via bank transfer, credit card, or PayPal. You can integrate APIs into these steps to mirror this natural flow—and thus, to increase satisfaction with the app’s overall UX.

3. API integrations can also be sued to maintain the app’s external presence, even when users are not immediately on it. A key example of this is an API that links a website to a mailing list. This enables market automation via content that goes right to the user’s inbox. The app’s leadership need not worry about being out of sight and out of mind from their customers. They can keep this from happening and stay present by integrating the proper API.

4. API integration can keep users within the app so that they don’t have to keep logging on and logging off. A common pain point for app users is having to log on and off repeatedly, and this can keep them from returning to the app. APIs that enable automatic filling of web forms and authentication will be a great boost to any app’s UX.

5. API integration can tighten the app’s existent security measures. If you have a feeling that an app could use upgrades in security, you can integrate an API whose features do just that. That ensures that peace of mind and trust in the app’s services are a firm part of its UX.

6. API integration is vital for keeping the app to the times. Lastly, being up-to-date with API integration can prepare the app itself for future technologies, or variants of the technologies it already subscribes to. This will keep the app’s UX from seeming outdated and will prevent its obsoletion.

There are many ways that APIs contribute to UX, from helping an app’s users keep in touch with it to safeguarding their wellbeing while they are on the platform. So, don’t skip out on integrating functional APIs into an app and always hold its UX to the highest possible standard.