There is no single factor that can ensure business success. Building a successful enterprise requires entrepreneurs and employees to balance all sorts of different threads that come together to form the fabric of a business.
One of those threads is user experience (UX). It is a wide-ranging concept that encompasses all manners in which users, or in many cases, customers, interact with a company, its services, and its products (shout out to the Nielsen Norman Group for that definition).
Even the most superlative product is unlikely to succeed unless it can offer some baseline of agreeable user experience. I don't care if you've developed the greatest computer in the history of mankind; if you have a confusing website and a business model that requires me to visit a remote Alaskan village to pick it up, then what does it even matter?
That was obviously an extreme example—although some adventurous consumers may relish an excuse to trek out to the Alaskan backcountry—but the general point holds: UX cannot be overlooked. The following blurbs provide a more detailed (and less outlandish) explanation as to why that is.
Clarity and efficiency
These are usually the first objectives that come to mind when people think about how to shape a strong user experience. Efficiency is a product of clarity, which is the element that allows users to navigate seamlessly through the consumer pipeline. Any snags in that process could jeopardize an otherwise admirable sales effort.
A business's level of success in enabling clarity and efficiency in an online capacity will largely depend on how it handles on-page SEO. This branch of SEO includes site speed, calls-to-action, formatting, and much more that is inextricably linked to how a user experiences both digital business components of a business and its service-related performance.
Pleasing aesthetics
There are lots of objective elements that go into determining the success of a business, but when it comes to down to how customers choose to engage with it, subjectivity wins. Most consumers have trouble prioritizing utility over appearance. A no-name brand food could be a dollar or two cheaper than a flashy competitor, but its bland yellow packaging turns off consumers and helps convince them to pay more for what is essentially the same item.
Websites are the same way. Nobody wants to visit a website or get directed to a landing page that has been designed awkwardly and uninspiringly. Perhaps a business that relies mainly on foot traffic and word-of-mouth buzz can get away with it, but even that sort of an operation will lose out on customers who take online presences more seriously. Pleasing aesthetics will give them one less reason to look elsewhere.
Excellent service
As Rank 1st has discussed previously, online marketing is far more than a numbers game. You can check off all the SEO boxes you want, but it won't move the needle in the end unless you're anchoring those efforts to service that allows you to convert at a high rate.
Providing good service through a website is less of a rarity than it might seem to be. It starts by being proactive. Let your customers know that you are there to attend to their needs and answer their questions. Consider having a live chat representative they can consult, or at least have prominently displayed contact information and be responsive when inquiries come in. Display some clients that trust your brand and perhaps even include testimonials or case studies from them. The possibilities are endless in terms of how service can be used as a mechanism for boosting UX!