The Invisible ROI: Reviewing How We Measure the Business Impact of design

24 Apr

When Numbers Aren't Enough: The Measurement Paradox

Far too often Designers don’t speak the language of Business, while many executives do not speak the language of Design either. This usually leads to misunderstandings and frustrating conversations where designers struggle to translate inherently qualitative contributions into the hard numbers executives crave.This is can be called the measurement paradox of design: the things most easily measured are often the least significant aspects of design's true business impact, while the biggest value adds of design are the hardest to measure. And just to be clear: I'm not suggesting we abandon financial metrics. ROI matters. Cost savings matter. Revenue growth matters. But when we limit our evaluation of design to these metrics alone, we’re not capturing the real picture. This is what many organizations miss – we need a more nuanced conversation about measuring design's business value.

Measuring the Business Impact of Design: Current Debates and Frameworks

As organizations recognize design as a strategic business function rather than just an aesthetic addition, the methods and frameworks for measuring its business impact continue to be topics of discussion. But the conversation has shifted from discussing effectiveness to examining impact. For decades, the industry focused on measuring design effectiveness through metrics like increased sales, participation rates, or click-through rates. Today, the dialogue centers on the broader impact design has on clients, the industry, society, and even humanity as a whole. This represents a fundamental shift.

Connecting business outcomes directly to design interventions remains challenging because there are typically many overlapping activities with no direct pathway between design and business results.

Moving Beyond the Attribution Problem

One of the most persistent challenges in measuring design impact is the “attribution problem”. How do you definitively prove that positive business outcomes resulted specifically from your design interventions rather than countless other factors? The Design Business Council acknowledges this reality: "Attributing business outcomes to a design is essential but in many cases difficult to prove... there are so many overlapping activities and no direct pathway".

This gets at the heart of why traditional measurement approaches often fail for design – they assume linear causality in a complex adaptive system.The attribution problem isn't just a measurement challenge; it's a fundamental misunderstanding of how design creates value.

Design doesn't operate in isolation; it influences and is influenced by multiple organizational systems simultaneously. Its value emerges from these interactions rather than following a simple input-output model. Especially in connection and collaboration with the wider Product organization, but also with many other fields and departments from Marketing, to Sales, Legal, Data and Analytics to name just a few.

The Multi-Dimensional Measurement Matrix

If we accept that traditional financial metrics alone are insufficient and that attribution is inherently complicated, where does this leave us? Reviewing the literature around this - it seems useful to look at multiple domains and timeframes.This approach draws inspiration from the ROI Methodology's five levels of evaluation, from immediate reactions to financial ROI. However, adding in 4 dimensions that relate to the unique contributions of design makes sense:

1. Experience Impact
- Customer satisfaction and delight
- Reduced friction points
- Increased engagement and time spent
- Brand perception shifts

2. Organizational Impact
- Cross-functional collaboration improvements
- Decision-making velocity
- Innovation culture metrics
- Employee engagement with design thinking

3. Market Impact
- Competitive differentiation
- Industry influence
- Trend-setting indicators
- Market perception shifts

4. Long-term Strategic Impact
- Platform building vs. product building
- Ecosystem development
- Future-proofing metrics
- Sustainability indicators

Each of these dimensions requires combining quantitative and qualitative methods - and having established a baseline, so it’s clear where you’re starting from. AND how you’re measuring each dimension will depend on your organization, your strategic business goals and working with your wider organization to define the KPIs (key performance indicators) to track.

Leah Buley and her team at InVision wrote a comprehensive industry report on “The New Design Frontier”, back in 2018 that outlined five distinct levels of design maturity in a study of over 2200 organizations. Doing this kind of assessment and establishing the current design maturity is a great way of setting a baseline. With the acquisition of InVision by Miro, the report seems to no longer be accessible online - but I’m adding a couple of summarizing articles below.

The Timing Question: When To Measure

A critical aspect of design measurement that often gets overlooked is timing. When should we measure and expect impact?
The answer is more nuanced than many realize. Short-term metrics might show minimal impact or even negative results as users adapt to new experiences. Long-term metrics might capture value, but by then, attribution becomes even more challenging. Additionally, design's greatest value often emerges during unexpected shifts in the market or technology landscape, when adaptability becomes crucial.This is why we need "horizon-based measurement" – different metrics for different time horizons:-

Horizon 1 (0-6 months): Learning and adaptation metrics

Horizon 2 (6-18 months): Behaviour change and efficiency metrics

Horizon 3 (18+ months): Strategic positioning and resilience metrics

From Measurement to Narrative

Aside from figuring out when to measure and expect impact, design teams always face the challenge of not being able to present 100% quantitative numbers that are easy to digest in executive circles. So it’s crucial to reset expectations and add storytelling to the numbers design can measure. The most effective design leaders are great at combining quantitative evidence with compelling narratives to illustrate impact.The Situation-Complication-Resolution framework for example provides a valuable structure for these narratives. (Or if you need more inspiration I can truly recommend the “Storyteller tactics”card set from Pip decks, no association).By clearly articulating the business situation, the complications that arose, and how design resolved them, designers can create a coherent story that executives can follow.This narrative approach doesn't replace metrics – it contextualizes them. It answers the crucial "so what?" question that executives ask when presented with design metrics in isolation.

Cultural Impact: The Hidden Multiplier

Perhaps the most underrated aspect of design's business impact is its cultural influence within organizations. When design thinking principles permeate an organization, there is a hidden multiplier effect that amplifies all other business activities.This is where metrics like employee engagement, cross-functional collaboration, and innovation culture become crucial indicators. These cultural shifts don't just create a more positive workplace; they directly influence business outcomes by improving decision-making, reducing development cycles, and fostering innovation.The challenge, of course, is that cultural impact is among the hardest aspects to measure quantitatively. This is where qualitative research becomes vital for getting insights and feedback.

Practical Steps Forward

So where does this leave design leaders and executives trying to measure design's business impact?
These seven steps were found to be useful in various different studies and settings (some of them are just good project management skills):

1. Define success before you begin: Clearly articulate what success looks like

2. Establish baselines: Measure key indicators before design intervention to enable meaningful comparisons

3. Implement multi-dimensional measurement: Use the 4 dimensions approach to capture impact across domains

4. Balance qualitative and quantitative: Recognize that some crucial impacts require qualitative assessment

5. Create measurement narratives: Connect the dots between design activities and business outcomes through compelling storytelling

6. Adjust for time horizons: Set appropriate expectations for when different types of impact should become visible

7. Look for unexpected value: Some of design's greatest value adds may emerge in areas you didn't anticipate

The Executive Imperative

For executives, the message is clear: if you're only looking at financial metrics to evaluate design's business impact, you're missing most of the picture. As the ROI Institute acknowledges, sometimes the intangible benefits "are more important to an organization than a positive ROI. This doesn't mean abandoning financial accountability. Rather, it means developing a better understanding of how design creates business value – directly and indirectly, immediately and over time.The most successful organizations see design not as a cost center but as a strategic capability that creates value in multiple dimensions. They invest in measurement approaches that capture this and understand that design is most impactful when customer obsession and design thinking principles are spread across the whole company.

The Future of Design Measurement

As we look ahead, I see the conversation around measuring design's business impact moving on further. We're moving beyond the false choice between "creative freedom without accountability" and "rigid financial metrics that miss design's true value."The future lies in integrated measurement systems that capture design's impact across multiple dimensions while maintaining clear connections to business outcomes. Combining real-time data collection, qualitative insights, and longitudinal studies to create a comprehensive view of how design drives business success and affects culture.The debate isn't about whether to measure design's business impact – but about how to measure it in ways that capture its full value.

Further reading

The Design Value Framework, The Design Council (UK), 2021

The business impact of Design, McKinsey, 2018

Measuring design impact - Design Business Council

ROI Methodology

Calculating the ROI of UX: A 5-Step Framework | User Interviews, 2025

Google HEART Framework

The madness of not measuring design at all, Adam Bunke, 2024

How to measure design impact, Tanner Christensen, 2021

Rethinking Product Development ROI Frameworks - Julian Pscheid, EMERGE, 2023

Business Impact Model for Design Teams - Design Dept.

Measuring the impact of design | Aalto Design Factory