Purpose: UX Goals help define the outcomes users want to achieve — not just what they do — aligning product features with real user needs.
Design Thinking Phase: Define
Time: 45–60 min session + 1–2 hours analysis
Difficulty: ⭐⭐
When to use:After initial user research, before ideation or prototypingWhen aligning cross-functional teams on what “success” means for the userTo prioritise features that drive meaningful outcomes over vanity metrics
What it is
UX Goals are outcome-driven statements that articulate what users are trying to achieve, not just what they’re doing. They bridge user needs with actionable product direction, often framed as verbalised desired outcomes such as “feel in control of my finances” or “quickly book an appointment without calling”.
📺 Video by NNgroup. Embedded for educational reference.
Why it matters
UX Goals anchor design decisions in user motivations and desired outcomes. They help design teams avoid feature creep and advocate for utility and usability instead of designing around marginal wants. Clear UX Goals also improve collaboration across product, design, and engineering by aligning on what success looks like from a user’s perspective — not just business KPIs.
When to use
- At the start of MVP scoping to exclude non-essential features
- During prioritisation discussions when business goals clash with UX
- To evaluate if existing designs truly enable users to accomplish what they came to do
Benefits
- Rich Insights: Helps uncover user needs that aren’t visible in metrics.
- Flexibility: Works across various project types and timelines.
- User Empathy: Deepens understanding of behaviours and motivations.
How to use it
UX Goals can be extracted from existing research or developed collaboratively in cross-functional workshops. Here’s a high-level approach:
- Review findings from user interviews, journey maps, or usability sessions.
- Identify recurring patterns around user frustrations, motivations, and workarounds.
- Rewrite behavioural observations into goal-framed statements. Useful format: “The user wants to [DO SOMETHING] so they can [ACHIEVE SOMETHING].”
- Disambiguate functional goals (“book appointment”) from emotional goals (“reduce stress before hospital visit”).
- Sort goals by frequency and impact to prioritise design opportunities.
Example Output
- “Be able to book a session without downloading a new app” (functional goal)
- “Feel confident that my private info is secure when joining online sessions” (emotional goal)
- “Quickly reschedule an appointment without calling support” (functional goal)
Common Pitfalls
- Confusing goals with tasks: “Upload a document” is a task. The goal is “reassure the user that they’ve provided all necessary paperwork”.
- Overloading technical jargon: Goals should read like plain language, ideally mirroring terms users themselves use.
- Ignoring emotional dimensions: Many UX goals are rooted not only in utility but in confidence, trust, or peace of mind.
10 Design-Ready AI Prompts for UX Goals – UX/UI Edition
How These Prompts Work (C.S.I.R. Framework)
Each of the templates below follows the C.S.I.R. method — a proven structure for writing clear, effective prompts that get better results from ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or any other LLM.
C.S.I.R. stands for:
- Context: Who you are and the UX situation you're working in
- Specific Info: Key design inputs, tasks, or constraints the AI should consider
- Intent: What you want the AI to help you achieve
- Response Format: The structure or format you want the AI to return (e.g. checklist, table, journey map)
Level up your career with smarter AI prompts.Get templates used by UX leaders — no guesswork, just results.Design faster, research smarter, and ship with confidence.First one’s free. Unlock all 10 by becoming a member.
Prompt Template 1: “Generate User-Centred UX Goals from Interview Notes”
Generate User-Centred UX Goals from Interview Notes
Context: You are a UX researcher preparing findings from early interviews for a fintech app.
Specific Info: You have interview notes from 8 sessions focused on onboarding frustrations, trust issues, and alternatives users have tried.
Intent: Extract clear UX goal statements reflecting what users want to ACHIEVE, not just what they do.
Response Format: A bullet list with 1–2 functional and 1–2 emotional goal statements per user.
If any themes are unclear, ask questions to clarify patterns or gaps.
Then, suggest one follow-up research area to go deeper.
Prompt Template 2: “Transform Task Flows into UX Outcome Goals”
Transform Task Flows into UX Outcome Goals
Context: You are a product designer reviewing a user journey to schedule an appointment in a native health app.
Specific Info: The task includes selecting a provider, choosing a time, and confirming availability, with frequent drop-offs at step 2.
Intent: Translate each major step into a goal-statement that reflects what success means to the user.
Response Format: Table format with columns: Step, Observed Behaviour, Proposed UX Goal Statement.
If user motivation for any step is unclear, prompt for clarification.
Then, recommend a second prompt to validate proposed statements with user data.
Prompt Template 3: “Generate Alignment Goals Across UX and Business KPIs”
Generate Alignment Goals Across UX and Business KPIs
Context: You are a UX lead facilitating alignment between product, marketing, and design.
Specific Info: The current roadmap is focused on feature parity, but usability studies show users struggle to complete initial tasks.
Intent: Generate a shortlist of UX goals that can be mapped to business metrics for better prioritisation.
Response Format: Table with columns: UX Goal, User Impact, Corresponding KPI, Risk if Ignored.
If misalignments arise, propose discussion points or workshop formats.
Prompt Template 4: “Prioritise UX Goals from Survey + Interview Inputs”
Prioritise UX Goals from Survey + Interview Inputs
Context: You are a senior product designer synthesising mixed-method research.
Specific Info: You have quant results from a feature survey and qual feedback from 5 diary study participants.
Intent: Cluster common goal patterns and prioritise which matter most for MVP evaluation.
Response Format: Table with Goal Statement, Frequency, Severity, User Type, MVP Fit.
Prompt for missing goal types if emotional aspects are underrepresented.
Prompt Template 5: “Evaluate an Existing Design Against Key UX Goals”
Evaluate an Existing Design Against Key UX Goals
Context: You’re auditing a v2 release for a customer support interface.
Specific Info: The main personas are returning customers looking for account help, with known pain points around automated flows.
Intent: Score how well current flows serve user goals and where gaps exist.
Response Format: Goal-by-goal matrix using 3-point scale (Meets, Partially Meets, Misses) with reasoning.
Flag any missing UX goals based on the flow’s intent.
Prompt Template 6: “Draft UX Goals for a Hypothetical Use Case”
Draft UX Goals for a Hypothetical Use Case
Context: You’re teaching junior designers how to define UX goals without direct research.
Specific Info: The scenario is a fictional service that helps students book peer tutoring sessions online.
Intent: Generate example functional and emotional UX goals to illustrate correct framing.
Response Format: Shortlist of 4–5 example UX goals, split into 'Functional' and 'Emotional'.
Include one realistic user quote per goal to practice voice of the customer.
Prompt Template 7: “Write UX Goals for a Low-Tech or Older Audience”
Write UX Goals for a Low-Tech or Older Audience
Context: You’re designing a digital experience for customers aged 60+ enrolling in a health benefit program.
Specific Info: Patterns show confusion around mobile verification and distrust of digital forms.
Intent: Write UX goals that emphasise clarity, trust, and enablement.
Response Format: 3–5 goals clearly reflecting confidence-building behaviours and task completion desires.
Ask for clarification if demographic-assumptions are too broad.
Prompt Template 8: “Validate UX Goal Statements for Clarity and Bias”
Validate UX Goal Statements for Clarity and Bias
Context: You’ve just rewritten 10 preliminary UX goals for a legal tech tool aimed at self-represented litigants.
Specific Info: Some goals were reworded by marketing and may feel messaging-heavy.
Intent: Check goal language for neutrality, plain language, and direct relationship to user needs.
Response Format: Table format with Original Goal, Clarity Score (1–5), Noted Bias, Suggested Revision.
Recommend one round of user validation if scores are low.
Prompt Template 9: “Reverse-Engineer UX Goals from Session Recordings”
Reverse-Engineer UX Goals from Session Recordings
Context: You’ve just watched 3 usability session clips for a checkout experience.
Specific Info: Users encountered confusion over guest vs. account login and optional fields.
Intent: Infer what users were trying to achieve and how the design fell short.
Response Format: 3–5 inferred UX goals based on implicit behaviours, with annotations.
Suggest follow-up testing criteria from these themes.
Prompt Template 10: “Create UX Goal Cards for Team Workshops”
Create UX Goal Cards for Team Workshops
Context: You're planning a co-design session involving UX, engineering, and PMs.
Specific Info: The team is struggling to empathise with edge cases and over-indexes on core flows.
Intent: Create printable UX Goal Cards (Plain language, one per user goal).
Response Format: Text list with one card per line, labelled by Persona or Scenario.
Ask for use case scope if too generic or narrow.
Recommended Tools
- Dovetail – Highlight and tag recurring user needs from raw research
- Miro UX Goal Mapping Templates
- FigJam – Great for collaborative synthesis of qualitative insights
